Triathlon #2, Complete!

It's been awhile since I have updated here. I suppose the busyness of life took priority. Thankfully, what has kept me busy (or one thing), led to a successful completion of my 2nd Triathlon last Saturday!
Final Results:
Distances: 300 meter (pool) swim; 12.4 mile bike; 3 mile run
Total Time: 01:25:51
Swim: 7:31
Bike: 44:17
Run: 26:44 (pace = 8:37 mile)
T1 4:10 and T2 3:08
17th in my 25-29 division
900 participants!
It was amazing to have clear, sunny, blue skies on the morning of the race and on my 45 minute drive to American Fork, UT, I felt so lucky that the skies had cleared since it had been raining from Sunday through Friday and then rained again the following day. But for some amazing reason, the sun hung high in the sky and cheered me on for the entire race. I think the temperature hovered around 60 degrees with little wind.
The pool edges were completely packed  and the wait to get in the pool was a bit excruciating. Happily I talked with fellow racers about the race ahead and other races we've done (or plan to do this year). But waiting in line, feeling exposed in my swim suit and knowing what lay ahead, felt overwhelming. When I got out of the pool, the women directing us to the Transition area told me 'you better hurry!' (Perhaps I wasn't zipping out of the pool like the others.)
Nonetheless, I reached my goal, which was to beat a 9 minute mile on the run portion. After last years race I realized I needed a lot of work to prepare for the bike to run transition. Wow, it's tough getting off the bike to then run 3 miles. Normally, 3 miles is not a major feat (with proper preparation), but after biking at full capacity for 45 minutes, my legs were burning and exhausted.
So in my training I worked on speed and form. I focused on a 4 mile distance and tried consistently to be close to an 8 minute mile. For 4 Saturdays in a row I did a 9-12 miles bike with a 3-4 mile run immediately after. And even with all that my toes barely started to feel normal after the 1st mile and my legs felt fiery and tight for all 3 miles.
I am very satisfied with my run time and I think given the amount of training I did, I could not have done much better.
One of the great things about doing races is that afterwards, there are new goals to set and attain. so here are my new goals:
1. 7:50 mile pace by August in preparation for the Seeley Lake Montana Triathlon (although my race time will not be 7:50, I may be able to get down to 8:15)
2. 8:30 mile pace (average) for the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay in June! It's coming so fast!!!!
3. Improve my bike time to 40 minutes for next year (same race)
4. Swim in under 7 minutes! (This will be quite the feat since my swimming is less that impressive)

Tips on decreasing pace time:
1. Do small anaerobic sprints (fartleks) throughout your run. Ideally, One minute of sprinting for each mile should help a lot! (this helps your pace time and eventually helps your overall speed)
2. Run hills to strengthen!
3. Time yourself and set small, attainable goals. My 1st goal as I trained for this race was to break my 9 minute pace. Then to run 4 miles in under 35 minutes. Then to run it in 33, baby steps, you get the idea.

Next year's race I enter the most difficult division 30-35, so I will have to raise the bar even more in the next 4-5 years to be competitive! Are you with me? Let's RUN!