Grab my race number 123 – wonder what karma comes with that? Get the Shiv out on the course for a pre-race warm up to see how she holds up in the wind – oh yeah, we’ll be just fine. First tri of the season for most, so plenty of mayhem and race day jitters. Cold – no sun – cool breeze – decision time… gloves? (nah, what do I need my hands for?), jacket? (nah, I’ll work hard in the swim and on the bike – should keep me warm).
Talking with the ladies waiting to hear the loud
speaker call my wave and my wife says, it’s 8:03 – your wave starts in 2
minutes. Oh no – the kind of thing
from nightmares – kind of like showing up to school in your underwear. I’m half blind without my glasses and Claire
says all the green caps are in the water already. I push my way through the waves of swimmers
waiting their turn and watching the race unfold – jump in the water and make my
way toward the front of the swim. I hear
someone without a loud speaker counting down 15 seconds, 10, 5 – go! The swim is unusually physical for such a
small race and I get the crap kicked out of me the first half of the swim. No problem, just get through the swim and all will be good. On dry land I hear Diesel yell
that I’m with the main pack – don’t know what the hell that means, but it
sounds good… I see two big THR jersey’s in front of me - no glasses, but I figure it’s Jlo and
Chief – sure enough, we all hit transition about the same time. 
Chief and I pass each other a couple of times fumbling with
our shoes in the first 1/4 mile on the bike. The wind doesn’t seem to be a
big factor for me unless I get out of the aero position or try to drink = then
the world gets very shaky and I’ve got to settle the Shiv down a bit. After the turn around Blair Saunders passes
me – damn that guy is fast. I figure
I’ll keep him in my sights, but he just keeps pulling away. I see Smarty – ‘Let’s go Blair hunting’ I say
– Smarty is surprised to see me and says ‘Oh Shit!’. He hangs with me and while I never catch
Blair, I keep him my sights and we get into T2 about the same time. Frozen toes, frozen fingers – damn – can’t
even get my sneakers on.
Smarty and I leave T2 at the same time with Blair in search
and destroy range. The good news is I
should beat Blair today, the bad news is Smarty is going to beat me unless some miracle happens. Diesel and English yell 3 ½ minutes. Not sure what that means – is the lead group only 3 ½ minutes ahead and we have taken 90 seconds out of the 5 minute lead from wave 1? Or are we 8 ½ minutes back. Just gotta run my race and hope for the best. Steady pace, steady breathing, feeling good – just like my tempo runs I could do this for 4 miles. Blair is dust, why isn’t Smarty pulling away? Here comes QZ – working hard. Next place guy a few hundred yards back looking very strong – gonna be a close one – then Rhyno – can’t read him – hope he can close in. Then Zoo – working like a man possessed – damn – I don’t know if I can keep within 5 minutes of that dude – frothing at the mouth, running like a beast.
Turn around; Smarty is losing the pack he was with… I catch
him – hear him breathing – panting is more like it – not sure what is going on,
but he’s toast. This isn’t going to be
like NJ State Tri where we cross the finish holding hands – I’m going to give
it my best shot. I keep pushing and
start getting a side stitch – ah man, c’mon – not now! I figure Smarty is right behind me looking
for a weakness, so I don’t look back, I don’t try to stretch out the side
stitch, but I’m getting slower when I should be getting faster – can’t breathe,
shit now I’m panting… gotta keep going.
I look back with just 100 yards to go, but no one is in sight. My spidey senses remind me that it’s going to
be a close one with Zoo, so I try to sprint to the finish, but when I try to
pump my arms the side stitch just cripples me and nothing happens – no speed
comes - shit. Finish – see QZ and Rhyno - QZ hung on to beat Rhyno – turns out that 4 miles of running is not near enough rope for Rhyno to make up 4 minutes lost on the bike. Bishop takes the overall W by 23 seconds. Someone tells me Zoo nipped me by 5 seconds – damn. Smarty had some respiratory issues – sounds like what happened to me the year before – just couldn’t get enough O2 - these spring races are rough. QZ and Rhyno finish 2nd and 3rd, Zoo finishes 6th, I finish 7th, Smarty finishes 9th – 5 THR brothers in the top 10 overall – not a bad day at all.
The rest of the gang pulls through – JV takes overall women handily.
Beer and sandwiches – Rhyno wants to see my bike – he just can’t figure out how an old goat like me could out bike him.
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