Race Day Report From the Rookie

Total Time        58:59  
300M swim:     7:23
11.2 mile bike: 33:25

2 mile run:        14:52




Jelly (on left) and Kelly. Both came out to cheer us all on. 









Me and Craig who was indispensable with race info.
        
 
 So I wake up at 4 am to leave by 5 am for a 6 am race check in and an 8:06 am race start time. Quite an early day on Sunday. Got up chugged some coffee, ate some granola packed the car and hit the road. The race was at the Texas Ski ranch. It was cloudy, little to no wind and temps about 67 degrees with water temp at about 77 degrees. It was raining off and on for the whole drive down there.
   I was pretty anxious about everything leading up to the race. I was obsessing about all the details from where to put all of my numbers to fixating on the upcoming swim. Everything turned out great in the end. I got there right when the transition area opened and the line to get in wasn't too bad. You had to get your body marked with a black waterproof marker. The put your race number on both your arms and the front of both your thighs and write your age on your left calf. For some reason the girl marking me wanted me to pull up already short tri shorts a little higher to mark my legs. So in order to see my numbers I had to hike up the shorts just a little more than normal. I got into the transition area after that and found my assigned rack based on my age group. I got a pretty good spot which was the second bike from the end off the main aisle. Spread out my towel to lay out my shoes, race belt and helmet. Right about then my friend Craig found me and we toured the transition area to try to figure out where the swim exit, bike exit and entrance and run exits all were located. Then we had about and hour to kill till the race started.
  By this time my roommate Steven, Kelly and Jelly showed up. We chatted about some details like where they might want to post up to get the best vantage point of the goings on. Soon after the National anthem started and they called all the age group divisions to the swim start area. This is right about when everything started to speed up and get a little crazy. The race announcer was jamming some tunes and getting the crowd pumped up like some sort of rock concert. Later on my friend Jenn said the atmosphere of the music, water and everyone in swimsuits seemed more like a spring break party instead of a race start. All that was missing was beer bongs and a bikini contest. Steven pointed out Mike Rosenthal who is a former NFL football player who was in my division and told me he was the only one I needed to beat. I thought no problem. This guy is huge and can't possibly be able to race.

  The first two groups were off and my group waded into the water. The look on the faces of the guys around me confirmed my suspicions. Everybody was just as anxious as me which made me feel a lot better. Countdown from 10, 9, 8....3, 2, 1, GO!!!! I dove in and started swimming. I immediately felt the drag from my race shirt and thought that next time I'll probably swim shirtless. A few strokes in and although my energy level was through the roof I wasn't panicked by swimming in a group and in open dark and murky water. I was just frustrated that every other stroke I was running into somebody. Next time I think I will start near the front and make the faster guys go around me. I rounded the buoy and started to pass people in other colored swim caps. I was catching up to the stragglers in the group in front of me. I got out of the water with no problems and jogged through to the first transition area. I wasn't wobbly or off balance like I thought I would be and I even passed 3 or 4 guys going into the transition. It was at this point I could hear the voices of some of my friends cheering which put a huge smile in my face. Thank You Jenn!!!
  My transition was about a minute slower than the guys in the lead and I almost made a huge mistake when I tried to lean on my bike to put on my shoes. Yes, I almost knocked over an entire rack of bikes. I dropped my cap and goggles, put on my helmet, bike shoes and race belt and jogged it to the bike exit. I ran another 10 yards pass the cluster*&%! of a bunch of guys trying to clip into their bikes. Everything was still happening very fast and all I could think was I needed to get as much distance from the bike start as possible.
  I immediately started pedaling and passing people left and right. I dropped down into the aero position and just started racing. I quickly passed Mike Rosenthal and thought, I probably don't have to race him any more. I couldn't believe how good I felt on the bike and it wasn't until about mile 6 that the race experience started to slow down. My pace didn't slow down but my heart rate finally leveled out and I could start to think clearly. The first thing I thought was I was thirsty and needed water bad. Every time I reached for a drink the guy that was behind me was kept catching up so I need to find a more efficient way of hydrating. The bike course was 11.2 miles mostly flat with just a couple of short climbs and a few sharp turns. This was probably my favorite part of the race and it definitely helped me build confidence. I got to the end of the course and heard my friends cheering me on again at the bike finish. I clipped out of the bike and slipped a little as I was dismounting. I ran down my row but realized I was on the wrong side. Oh well. I also realized there were only a few bikes on the rack so I knew I was doing pretty good.
  I slipped on my Nike Free's, dropped my helmet and ran out of there as fast as my cement laden legs would take me. I knew the run off the bike was going to be hard but oh man was I tired. I felt like I was crawling but I still was maintaining a 7:26 pace. I just felt like I couldn't catch my breath. It was a 2 mile run and the first mile was slightly uphill with a mild head wind. It felt like the most intense monumental effort to just put one foot in front of the other. I hit the first mile marker and thought, really?, mile 1 is that all? Uggghh. I pushed through and by mile 1.5 I started to feel like I was in my groove and hit my stride. We ran around the lake that we swam in and on the last curve before the final push to the finish a guy from my group passed me and I told him, "Good Job" but was actually thinking I'm sooo about to pass you. With about 50 yards to go I kicked in my final gear and past that same guy plus another dude ahead of him finishing with nothing left in the tank. I crossed the finish line in the sand bent over to catch my breath. I thought, This is it. This is my race and my moment. I walked back to cheer on my friends who were still fininshing and yelled out< "Go Mike" when Rosenthal crossed the finish line. He did pretty good too. My friend Craig had a great race and he beat his time from the last time he raced it.
  Thank you to all of my friends who came out to cheer me on and those who train with me and help me with everything from training tips, transition bag, aero bars, timing chip holders and motivation for doing all of this. Next race is the Couples Tri on July 11th and I am racing that with my brother Michael.