Hold onto your pants! part 2 (race report)

Gosh, this was a blast!
This sprint, almost a mini-sprint, really, was held at Bottomless Lakes State Park. The main lake where they hold the swim is pretty saline, but cold and calm. I was standing at the shore in my wetsuit, talking to Karen (my other Athena nemesis/friend) about how I always get so breathless in the water. But you know what? That didn't happen this time. Cool! I took off in the 2nd wave (women and older men) and it was just stroke, stroke, stroke. I was "gliding", doing this thing where you stop as your hand approaches the water for 1 second, and then catch and pull. I felt like I was flying, as it were, through the water. It was 400 meters, and out and back swim, (I think the swim was a bit longer than that and several athletes agreed with me) I exited the lake between two orange buoys, and a guy was standing by with a hose as I ran into transition to hose off my feet. Off with the wetsuit (I'm getting more efficient at it these days) and then on with the bike gear. I skipped trying to dry off my feet - never seems to work anyway - and forced on my socks and and shoes and grabbed my gear and headed out on the bike.
Swim split: 10 minutes

The road was rougher than I thought it would be, so I didn't get down in the aero bars much. About a quarter mile out you climb up about a grade 6 or 7 hill, and then it's rolling for most of the rest of the 14K (8.4 miles). At one point, I actually passed Karen, who I never pass, and she says that woke her up! She then passed me and there was no catching her after that.
Average bike speed: about 16.8 mph

On the 4K run, I was starting to get pretty hot, so I dumped water from the two aid stations on my head and sipped on my bottle of HEED. I tried my "1 minute sprints", and although my time was only slightly decreased (by about 30 seconds or so per mile) I felt better than I can recall, and I can tell I'm getting faster. I never did catch up to Karen or the other Athena, who I didn't recognize, but came in as the third athena.
Average run time, about 12 minutes per mile.
Results: 3rd overall Athena
I'll post a picture of Husband's plaque soon. It's cool; it says, "Hold Onto Your Pants!" 2006 Bottomless Triathlon. They have to mail us ours, they accidentally had "MALE ATHENA" etched into and have to get them redone.
I highly recommend this fun, fast, triathlon just outside of Roswell, New Mexico.