What started out as a crummy day turned out to be a good one. I woke up early so I could get up to campus and set up my transition area for the triathlon, but it there was still a ton of snow on the ground and it was still falling. Sure enough, when I checked in, they announced the bike leg had been canceled. I was very disappointed and my heart kind of sank a bit. I've trained primarily for the bike leg, given my knee and shoulder issues restrict my swimming and running, so that was a blow. Obviously, trying to beat my time from last year was out the window since the race was only a duathlon this time around.
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Chatting with Kelly and Jess just after finishing.
They were in the first wave, while I was in the second. |
However, the weather cleared up a bit just before the race started and when it was my wave's turn to start the race, I was amped and determined to go all out on my run, regardless of pain, knowing I wouldn't have to follow it with a bike leg. It hurt and I was certainly sucking wind, but I gave it my all and didn't stop despite the cold. The swim was cake. I cruised past people in the short 300-yard pool event and mostly, people were conscious of faster swimmers, letting them pass when needed. I really wish that leg was longer, because it's the only place where I have an edge over most triathletes.
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| Me at the start of the race (in all black). Note the damn snow, just like last year. |
I finished in 36:38 minutes, good enough for 5th out of 10 in my age group and 48th out of 112 overall. In the end, I'm still bummed I didn't get to use the bike I went through the trouble of borrowing, but with the time I logged on the other two legs, I'm still confident I would have finished in under an hour this year and possibly finished higher up. However, I did have one of the top 10 fastest swim legs in the whole race. To counter that, I also had one of the top 10 slowest transitions. I probably could have shaved a minute off my race if I didn't take my sweet effing time getting to the pool.
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| Jess, Kelly and I hanging out during the post-race raffle with our new bling. |
Jessica and Kelly each won prizes in the raffle and Jess was given a medal for finishing first in her age group which was kind of cool. She acted very surprised and with good reason, because when the official results were posted today, she actually took fourth in her age group. What a fraud! Haha! Also, ran into some old friends and some acquaintances I work out with at the Roy Rec Center. After the race, I joined Jon McBride and Gentry Reinhart, -- my old pals from The Signpost -- for some lunch at the Shooting Star Saloon in Huntsville and we followed that up with a Weber State football game (also in the snow). The day still didn't end, as I took Jen to an Ogden Mustangs hockey game later that night (also in a cold ice rink).
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The famous Shooting Star. My stomach
didn't sit right for the rest of
the day, though. Worth it... |
What a day... A cold one.
Total distance: 3.1 miles running, 300 yards swimming
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