Tri-ing for Children's Triathlon

Well, finally got my second tri of the season in this past weekend.  I had two others on my list to do but scheduling kept me from doing them.  Anyway, I was excited to do this race because I heard the bike and run course was pretty flat and fast.  I signed up for the sprint race for two reasons.  First off, it's been about 5 to 6 weeks since I did a triathlon ( I have done a 1 mile swim race and 2 running races over this time) and secondly, the this long course (Oly) simply did a second loop of the same for the bike and run which I don't care for.  Anyway, this race was one of the earliest starts I've done with the Oly swimmers sarting at 7AM.  The transition was closed by 6:45.  Ann had meetings in Madison which was a little over an hour away so I had to get up at 4AM to make it on time with the drive.  Left the hotel a little late and had to speed to get there.  The parking lot was a ways away and I debated on taking the wetsuit due to water temps.  I hurried and got checked in, marked and got my timing chip.  I only had about 15 min to get my transition area ready and felt rushed.  I saw a fair number of people with wetsuits so I debated on wearing mine.  One problem....I forgot it in the car a mile away in the parking lot!  I told myself this will be a good challenge for me since I've never done a race without one and my swimming needs some work.  My wave started and I stayed towards the back knowing I would be slow.  Felt ok at first then my form started getting poor.  I struggled and it felt like it was taking forever.  About 2/3rds through, the wave that started after mine caught up to me and over took me.  I wasn't happy with my performance at all.  Saw bottom and stood up looking at my watch.  It read 11:30ish which was about 3 min slower than my usual time.  I felt much more tired also.  Ran to T1, grabbed sunglasses, race belt and helmet and took off.  After catching my breath on the bike I was able to get a good average speed going.  My goal....pass and don't get passed.  I knew I had to make up a lot of time on the bike for my poor swim performance.  In total, I was passed 3 times by guys on super bikes that looked like they did this for a living (LOL) and I passed what seemed like 50 people or more so I felt good about this.  Average MPH was 20.5.  Had a decent T2 and started off.  This was my second race on the tri bike and for only the second time I had no leg cramps at all.  maintained a good run pace and finished pretty strong.  Overall, I was happy with the race performance overall but need substantially more swim work.