After losing my bike shoe in Bellingham, WA and thus not having the race I wanted, I was really looking forward to racing again. I had to wait four weeks , however, until the Victoria ITU International Triathlon in Victoria, Canada on June 29.

I had heard from many friends that Victoria was absolutely beautiful, and I was not disappointed. After flying to Vancouver, my father and I took a ferry boat to Victoria. The ferry ride was so much fun and stunningly beautiful. Seeing the majestic Cascade Mountains tumbling into the sea right in front of us was awe inspiring to say the least.

I spent the day before the race doing my pre race light training and trying to find out more about the course. I was pleased to see that the swim was going to be in a beautiful, clean lake. After swimming in manure in Mexico and subsequently blood colored water in Florida, I have come to expect the worst from the swim venues. The lake in Victoria was a nice surprise. I was even more pleased when I got in the lake and discovered that is was not too cold!

After driving the bike course with my dad, I could see that it was going to be very technical. The course consisted of 5 loops with a lot of sharp turns in a very small space. Many of the turns came after some downhills, so I knew that I was going to have to be very alert and careful during the race.

I was most excited for the run course which was a four loop course. Each loop started with a wonderful, rolling cross country trail and finished with a long stretch along the highway back through the transition. I absolutely love running on trails, so needless to say I could not wait to do it during the race.

Race day arrived and while I was pretty nervous, I was really looking forward to racing. The field was a competitive one as the race was serving as Canadian Nationals. All but one or two of the best Canadians were at the race along with some athletes from the United States and Australia.

The race started out fairly well for me and my swim, while not exceptional, was a decent one. I had a pretty good transition and made it on to the bike with both shoes on. I was very relieved when both feet went into my shoes without a problem. I quickly got into a pack of about 6 to 8 girls. We worked fairly well together and ended up catching another group of about 5 to 6 girls on the 2nd or 3rd lap. The leader was still ahead of my pack, but we could tell that we were making up ground.

I entered the bike to run transition with about 12 other girls. I knew it was just going to be a foot race from that point. I went out hard on the run. I usually try to build into it, but I was just so excited to get on the cross country trail that I could not help myself. By the end of the first loop, there were only three athletes ahead of me and two with me. I continued to push on the run, and with one loop to go I was in 5th place - going back and forth with a strong runner from Canada by the name of Lauren Groves. I tried to pull away in the middle of the fourth and final loop because I knew that I was going to have a hard time outsprinting her on her home course. In the end, she sprinted past me to earn the fifth spot. I came in right behind her in 6th.

All in all I was very pleased with this race. The girls that were ahead of me are all ranked pretty high in the world rankings and I was ahead of others that are also ranked fairly high. My good run gave me a lot of confidence and I also picked up on some things that I need to work on for both the swim and the bike.

The Victoria ITU Triathlon was extremely well run. All of the officials and volunteers were very helpful and friendly. I had a great time before, during and after the race!