Race morning my friend Brent Hopson and I had a quick pancake breakfast at the Inn and drove to the transition area to set up. It was about 55 F outside and sprinkling lightly off and on. Check in, body marking, set up went without a hitch. There were bathrooms next to the transition area and on the beach by the swim start. I put my wetsuit on – then off – for another last minute bathroom run – then back on. Then off to the water.

The water was clear, calm and 63F. Wetsuits were a must. There was a 2 wave start, from waist deep in the water; men first, followed 3 minutes later by the women (69 total). The swim was a counter clockwise loop around a string of buoys. Racers were counted in and out of the water for safety. There were plenty of kayakers, jet skis and safety boaters on the swim. A couple of passing boats did provide for some waves about halfway through. Brent was 3rd out of the water and I only saw him again once on the bike. I came out and started the climb up 60 stairs to the transition area. The ‘stairway to heaven – or stairway to transition’ was tough after the swim with slightly frozen feet.

T1 went well and off I charged on the bike. The bike was an out and back course on lightly traveled country roads. The course was easy to follow and there were signs and volunteers at every intersection. I encountered large hills and light rain on the first 3 miles of the bike followed by gentle rollers throughout the remainder of the ride. There were no flat parts of the ride that I remember. The out part headed west and I had the wind at my back and thought, “damn I’m fast today”. As I reached the turnaround (and asked them to bank the road for next year) I realized the fun had just begun. The wind slowed me down a bit on the return and I tried to pace myself knowing I had 2 big climbs to just before T2. Those climbs were quite a challenge; I was standing up and peaking out at about 10-12 mph at the top with my heart in my throat. Fortunately I caught my breath and was able to look good coming into T2 and wave to my wife and daughter as they lied to me and told me I looked great.

T2 went much faster than Sylvania did for me last year. This was mostly due to avoiding over-hydrating on the bike and Yankz for my shoes. The next excursion was 6.2 miles of beautiful trail running (hard packed dirt and close cut grass). The run did loop back on itself, but traffic was light so there wasn’t much overlap of runners. I zipped out on the run and nearly fell down the first hill on the trail – it was quite steep. I remember thinking, “that is going to be tough just before the finish”. I hit the first mile at 8:00 on the nose my shins were on fire. Mile 2 was at 8:40 and that was the pace I stayed at for the duration. The first 2 miles were in the woods with some moderate up and down climbs. The next 2 were out on a grassy hillside and I remember going up hill through this, but can’t seem to recall any declines. Oh well. When I saw mile marker 5 I picked it up a bit but was afraid to spring (the hill). At mile 6 I went up ‘the hill’ and again had the heart in the throat syndrome. As I crossed the finish line I saw the clock at 2:39 and was thrilled (this was within 1 minute of my Sylvania time).

Brent finished 11th overall and 2nd in his age group, great job Brent! I came in 15th, 4th in my age group. Post race pancakes and sausage was cooked by the Cub Scouts. Participants received a commemorative beer glass (or milk glass) as well as a Dry-fit logo T-shirt. There was a little glitch with posting the finishing results (computer file got corrupted) but other than that, the race was fantastic. The TriFort Triathletes were the host club and did a very nice job. They are hoping this becomes a points race for Mid-East in the near future. Overall a great early season Olympic distance that will test your winter training.

Ford

p.s. Did I mention the hills?