I decided to race in the off-road tri somewhat last minute. My goal all year was to compete in the Patriot Half Ironman and my training has been focused on that to the exclusion of all other races. When that race was canceled due to tropical storm Hanna and poor management by setupevents.com, I was left with nothing on my plate. I decided that since I was in ok shape, I would try this race.I was lucky to have my wife; my sister and her husband with their two kids come out to cheer me on, as well as my friend and pro photographer Rick. The pictures of the race are provided by Rick of Digital Red Eye Productions and my sister.

All week leading up to the race I was checking the weather for Sunday’s race and it was hot. Everyday I checked, the temperature went up a degree to finally settle on 97 the day before the race. This race started at 11am, after an 16 and under tri, so, I won’t be running until after noon, and it will be warm by then.
I decided to go shirtless on the swim and then bike and run with a bike jersey. I told my sister and Rick no pictures of me with my shirt off. I really didn’t want to screw up the white balance on the cameras. If you look at the group photo of the start you might be able to pick me out, I’m the one that looks like he is under a black light.

Time to Get Wet

I’m a slow swimmer. In my first triathlon, I was 352nd slowest out of 360 racers. In small races like this, with 52 racers, everyone is fast. With that in mind, I held back at the start of the race so I wouldn’t get in anyone’s way in the water. I didn’t start to swim until everyone was two strokes away from me.

The swim course was 500 meters long. It was a right triangle with three buoys that you swam around clockwise. You had to complete 2 laps.

At first, I thought I was doing ok, but no, I wasn’t. I tried to stay on the outside away from the crowd, but ended up WAY outside, you could even say off course. I had a hard time sighting the buoys so that didn’t help matters. FYI, when you are as slow as I am, you are never in the crowd.

Before long it was just me out there. I didn’t want to get lapped, but I was. After that I just wanted to get out of the water and still have energy to do the bike and run. Carrie said that I was even more off course on the second lap. My 500 meter swim was probably closer to 750 meters.

When I got out of the water, there was one guy in the transition area, but everyone else was gone. My time, 21:50, the next slowest, 20:08. Finally out of the water, now I can make up time on the bike.

Going into the transition I was a little dizzy. I sometimes am after swimming. My stuff was laid out perfectly, but I had a hard time putting on everything. My fan club was happy I made it out of the water without drowning.

It's Biking Time!

Getting on the bike my legs were heavy from the swimming and arms were wobbly on the handlebars. My arms forced me to go slower on the turns than I would normally as I didn’t have faith in my strength. The bike course was a long 9 miles, long enough to catch a few fast swimmers.

Within the first mile, I passed my first competitor. He was changing a flat and from the look of him – tall and skinny – I knew I would see him later. After 3 miles, I had passed 17 riders. It seemed like I would see someone on every hill. I didn’t want to hammer the hills, but I couldn’t slow up when I saw someone in front of me – I just had to pass them.

I was having a great ride. I’m not an expert rider, but it felt great to be on the bike. I enjoyed passing people. In MTB races, I get passed all the time; this was not the case here. Here, all I could do was pass people, since I was the last out of the water, and everyone was in front of me.

By mile 6, I had passed 25 people. When I started the ride I had the crazy notion that I would pass half the field and 6 miles in I was 1 rider away from doing that. At mile 7, I passed my last three people. There were all together, so I got them at the same time. I dialed it back the last 2 miles so I could have some legs left for the run.

As I was finishing up the bike I saw Rick again. He was cheering me up a slick hill.

I passed him and rolled into transition. I passed 28 riders on the course and finished the bike with the 13th fastest time. I was 52nd (including relays) after the swim and was 21st after the ride. I only stepped off the bike once and that was because someone stopped while riding a log pile.

A funny thing happened when I came up to 3 riders. One had stopped to let the other two pass and just as I was going to pass him, he started riding again and cut me off. I was pissed because he was clearly slower than I was and what he did made no sense. I said, "Dude, what’s up with that?" He replied he was sorry and moved over a couple moments later. That was the only issue I had passing people. When I came up on people I would say, "Please, when you have a chance." Everyone moved over in their own time and I thanked them as I passed them. I even got a couple, "You rock!" as I passed them. I was never passed on the bike.

Once again, I was grateful for the cheers from my fans on transition. On the way out of the transition, I stopped for water to dump on my head. Did I say it was hot yet?

I saw Rick again in the beginning of the run course. Hey Rick, I really appreciated you cheering me on in the run. It’s tough to get moving and you gave me a mental shove to keep me moving.

On to the Run

The run is 4 miles long (I really think it was longer) and starts you up a big hill seemingly to kill your spirits. I can run in heat, and have trained on many a hot and humid day. I can deal with the heat, I sweat a lot and it keeps me cool, but heat still saps my energy, as it did this day.

I ran a steady pace in the beginning. Before long, the tall and skinny dude from the beginning of the bike course flew by me. I knew he would too, so it didn’t bother me. He was running faster than I could have run had I not swam or biked.

After a mile in the run I decided that if I wanted to finish, I would have to change some things. I figured that if I walked the uphills, I wouldn’t lose much and would gain a lot. I knew this was hurting my time, but it was this or not finish.

Somewhere around mile 2, I decided to jump in the lake after the race. That thought got me to the finish.

I had on my trail running shoes with the quick laces so I wouldn’t have to tie the shoes (for faster transitions). These laces are great for road running, but they aren’t tight enough for trail running. As I ran over roots, my ankles were turning one way then the other. It’s a good thing I have loose ankles.

I was passed by 4 people the rest of the way. No one looked particularly in good spirits. I’m sure I looked as tired as they did. I passed one person while running, a relay team member. My time of 52:52:49 was 25th in the run.

I came across the finish in 2:11:42, in 23rd overall position. I managed to beat 29 faster swimmers over the rest of the course. It’s nice to be fast on the bike, but I have to get faster in the water too.