This was my first race traveling with a bike box, and there were definitely a lot of unknowns. But in the end, I’m really glad everything went smoothly.

I’m really grateful to my family for supporting me in doing this. The original plan was to make this race a road trip, but after doing it a few times over the years, they were understandably over it . So I got my bike box ready and flew out instead.

Pre Race

The race was on Sunday, and I flew out Friday morning. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and got to SNA before 5. Alaska Airlines didn’t assign me a seat until that morning, which really stressed me out—I was afraid I might not even get on the flight . The bike box fee was $35, and I packed both my race gear and regular clothes into my tri bag as a carry-on.

I was also worried about rental car since I never picked up at airport as well. Anyway, we were able to pick up our rental car that was big enough for me and my friends’ bike.

We stayed in doubletree that’s 10 mins drive to expo and startline.

I don’t think I’ve ever checked in on the first day before. The line was incredibly long—I’ve never seen anything like it! Even just buying merchandise took me 30 minutes of waiting. 

Pre-OWS 

This was the only unfortunate part of the trip. I had been wearing my shoes the entire time at the expo to protect my feet, but just five minutes after switching to sandals before the pre-swim, I accidentally hit a metal rack and cut my foot. It was bleeding heavily, so I decided to skip the swim to avoid the risk of infection. I’m really grateful to my friend for helping me take care of it and speeding up the recovery.

The weather on race day was amazing. I think I never race with this condition. Cloudy, but not cold. The water temperature was 72.1F.

22:38(downstream river)

The swim start was a bit chaotic. It took about 20–30 minutes just to get to the start line, with only two athletes starting per wave. As soon as you jump in, you can immediately feel the current. I had to stop a few times to clear my foggy goggles, but I still managed to finish in 22 minutes.

T1 5:52

Since the swim didn’t take too much out of me, I was able to run to T1 and use the wetsuit stripper service without needing to walk.

2:41:39

The bike course was relatively easy overall, but there was one significant hill that slowed me down. Although my average speed wasn’t quite what I had hoped for, it was still an improvement from before. I felt a slight cramp in my right thigh, but fortunately, it didn’t get worse and I was able to finish the bike leg without any issues.

T2 3:34

I tried to save as much time as possible by running into T2, quickly changing my shoes, and heading straight out for the run.

 1:41:29

When I started running, I felt great and had no issues. But before long, I could feel the cramp starting to come back. I slowed down, gave my body a chance to recover, and it eventually settled. When I reached the first aid station, I took in water, electrolytes, and salt. That helped a lot—I was able to maintain a solid pace for the next few miles. I made sure to keep taking salt and everything I needed at each aid station. I didn’t feel any fatigue until around mile 10, when the cramp started to creep back in. Luckily, there was another athlete who had been running with me since mile 7, and they encouraged me to stay focused and keep pushing through.

 4:55:10

In the end, I got the best of my 70.3 result with 20th of 152 in ny age group. I was thinking if I got to do that pre OWS, can I improve some time for swim? If I pushed little bit harder, can I ride faster? If I didn’t sit down to wear my socks on T2, can I beat the guy with 19th and had 5 seconds earlier than me? There are lots of ifs, but there are always lots of things you cant predict during the race. I will say, if l didn’t get panic at swim and bike issues on bike such as flat tires, I am really grateful and nothing I should complain about.