It's been a while since I've done one but next Spring, I'll do it again, just for grins. I've done some pretty challenging races and that's what made it fun.
Years ago, I joined my friend in Southern California for a race up in Big Bear. Big Bear Lake is at 7,300 feet and that means oxygen is a bit harder to come by. Not a lot, but enough to make the race more challenging. When you're biking or running, you can breathe whenever you want to and as much as you want to. Swimming is different. Weaker swimmers and those who hadn't gotten up to altitude a couple of days early to acclimate to the altitude had a rough time with the swim. I usually came out very near the front of the pack.
It's good to be out in front for a triathlon swim. It means you don't have to worry about getting kicked in the face by the swimmer ahead of you. That's a huge plus. The bad news is, that you can expect to be passed by faster riders or runners than you for the rest of the race. Oh well.
My friend (Beach House) is a faster runner than me. He's a much faster runner than me. My goal when I did that race was to try to beat him and that meant I had to build up a lead. The first couple of races we did together, I was able to do that. Then he learned to swim. Oh well.
He came here for a race and it was glorious. We started with a 1.2 mile swim in the Savannah River. They time the race so you're swimming downstream and you can clock some ridiculous speeds. The bike is flat. When you live in the Lowcountry, there aren't a lot of hills to train on. The half marathon is just as flat - another plus. He has yet to catch me on that race, mostly because I've improved on the bike (and maybe a little because he's older than me).
You'll never guess what song goes through my head when I run a triathlon. Okay, you might guess.