Tri for the Cure 2009

TRI FOR THE CURE 2009

SPRINT TRIATHLON

SWIM 750 meters (1/2 mile)

BIKE 18.3k (11.4 miles)

RUN 5k (3.1 miles)

You might want to make sure your comfy....this is kind of long! And I want to tell you guys all thanks again for all of your support. You are the best!

Done! All went well I'm not sure of my exact times as I don't think I did my watch right. I didn't want to use my garmin, so just used my waterproof watch/lap counter. I think it was around 1:54. Which would be about a 3 minute improvement over last years, not much but I'll take it! Woke up at 3:45 although my alarm wasn't set to go off until 4:15. Had a little oatmeal with yogurt mixed in a cup or 2 of coffee and off I went. I was pretty nervous this morning on my way there, but once I got into transition things were all good.

Me in transition before the race. Behind me you can see the run start and the dam road

Just a general shot of the transition area, one small part of it. You can see it on both sides of the road.

Transition is just amazing! I forgot how big it is! When you are talking 3000 bikes and women it is just incredible! It's hard to tell from these pics but trust me there are a lot! Which reminds me...I biked my rack in the wrong place...:) 6 instead of 9 ...maybe I'm a little dyslexic or something. But when I realized it I decided not to move it at that point. Our rack was not really all that crowded so I don't think it really mattered. So on to the swim, met a really nice woman in the corral while waiting to swim. We chatted for quite a bit and that made the time go really fast, before I knew it was our turn and in the water we went! Water felt pretty good, a little initial shock but once you were in it was fine. It was about start time that I realized I was in about the middle of the group instead of the back were I usually line up but to late to do anything at that point. The horn sounds and we're off! I had a really hard time finding my rhythm. I think I was at the first turn before things started feeling better. I was feeling pretty good though, behind me were a bunch of blue caps (my wave) and I was starting to catch the slowest from the wave in front of me. Although about this time the fastest from the wave behind us were also passing. I did run into quite a few people this time but no major problems. Before I know it I'm getting out of the water, I think my time for the swim was around 19 minutes, that would be an improvement over last years 22 minutes. I made an effort to run up the boat ramp thru transition ( I really wanted to speed up my transitions times which were crazy long last year, however as I said transition is crazy huge!) Felt like I did pretty good got to my bike shoes on, shirt on take a drink and head out, although I did get stuck behind a girl who was just kind of moseying along, I couldn't pass her because it was to narrow. The bike starts off on a small uphill which was not a problem, but it always seems like the first 5 miles of a bike ride is all about warm up. This ride is pretty flat although I think it's a bit uphill and we were going in to a headwind. There is one pretty rough hill just passed the 1/2 way point. Passed a lot of people and got passed by plenty too. It's amazing because you see every kind of bike you can imagine out there. Even saw one with a basket on front! You also see all size and age women it really is incredible not to mention inspiring to see some of them out there! So anyway made it up the hill and from there it was easier, slightly down hill an flat. At this point I saw one lady walking her bike and it looked like her handle bars had fallen way forward or something..yikes not sure what that was all about! Getting off the bike again could tell that I have not done my brick work like I should legs were a little wobbly, but I have a long way to the other side of transition to get it together. Had to stop for a pit stop in the bathroom, and as one girl put it those porta potties rocked...I mean literally rocked! The were not very stable at all and some of them just king of threw you around inside. LOL! Business taken care of and it was off to run....well walk....I did a lot of walking I'm afraid to say. It's not only my bricks that didn't get worked on this last month. :( The start of the run, about 3/4 of the first mile is all up hill. You have to run up from the boat ramp to the dam road. and then out about a mileish or so on the dam before you turn around and head back. And I got to tell you it is so hot up there on top. It's all black top surrounded by rocks (you know the dam) and there was no breeze at all. I was getting the chills on and off (something that happened last year too, think I may need to get more electrolytes) on the plus side the end of the race is downhill. One thing that I don't much like is you can't see the finish line until you are on it. You run down the hill and then have to round a corner and then it's right after that. It would be nice to be able to see the finish line before you hit it. I believe I finished with a smile on my face and could not resist raising my arms and doing a little cheer. I got my finisher metal grabbed a water and headed over to the CWW tent to see who was there. Met up with a girl I've become somewhat friendly with ( she had passed me on the hill in the run) We grabbed a beer and a bagel and chatted with the coach a little. Yoli is such a great coach, she is so full of enthusiasm. At that point I headed back over to transition. I wanted to try and see my friend come in from the bike (they had started about an hour later then me) My timing was almost perfect I had only been standing there a few minutes when the headed in off the bike. I snapped some pics of them and saw them off on the run. Then I headed up to a portion of the run where I could cheer for them as the came in (after getting another beer of course) Got to cheer for a bunch of people which is fun, it really makes a difference to have people cheering. Snapped a few more pics of my friends as they came down the hill and went to the finish line to say hello to their families. I'm really proud of these two for doing it.

My friends and I after they finished. Way to girls!

They were the two that were going to do it last year and then both had to drop out the week before. Neither has been able to train much, and one of them had a baby about 3-4 months ago, and was on complete bed rest for the last 3 months of her pregnancy...way to go girls! Wow that's quite a long race report, and I'm sure that I left something out. I have to say though that this is such a well run race, I can't believe the job they do considering the amount of people and all the logistics of a triathlon.



Not sure how well you can see this but this is a line of people leaving, now there are still alot of people racing too and that line stays that way for a long time. In fact this was when my friends were running and it was not much smaller when I left an hour later.

Feeling pretty good all in all, iced the knees a little and I can feel some stiffness, but all in all just a walk in the park...along with a bike ride and a swim.

Official time with last years time in red

OVERALL RANK 1588 OUT OF 2890
CLASS RANK 192 OUT OF 286
SWIM TIME 00:20:11 (22:14) RANK1152
T1 00:05:00 (7:11)
BIKE TIME 00:43:43 (43:06) RANK 1337 SPEED 15.6
T2 00:04:55 (5:25)
RUN/WALK TIME 00:40:32 (39:19) RANK 2155 PACE 00:13:04
TOTAL TIME 01:54:23 (LAST YEAR 1:57:17)