WOW an actual race in my "hometown". I hadn't race in Ft Worth or in Dallas since living here. It was a week before Vineman 70.3 so I asked my coach what he thought and figured we would give it a go. I was looking forward to racing with some of my fellow FW Tri Club Members and the Daggett Middle School kids that I had helped a few times throughout the past 5 months (blog post about the program and kids).
A fellow teammate from Team RWB, Michael, came up for the long weekend. He also signed up for the race and then the day before we were out in Stephenville for a "Firecracker 100K" group ride. It was nice to have someone else around for the weekend that wanted to train and get in some solid racing. The Firecracker 100K was suppose to be a fun ride, well 3 CAT1s and then Kyle and myself were both CAT2s all ended up at the "ride". So, with that being said it went from being a ride to a race. We rode hard for about 1h45m of the total 2h15m ride. It ended up being only 90K, but still a solid day in the saddle.
Race day came and it was nice to only have to drive 10 minutes to the race start. The only downside was that it was a pool swim, which I am not a big fan of. It was a great morning for a race though, nice weather, low temps and great people volunteering (our tri club members).
Swim (300m)- 4:20
Like I said it was a pool swim, not much more to talk about. I did flip turns and went under the lane lines all in one motion. It snaked from one end of the pool to the other. I didn't pass anyone and I was not passed. There was 10 second intervals between swimmers, and I entered the water third.
Bike (13.5 miles)- 33:22
The course was 2 loops and I knew I came out of the water a bit behind the guy that entered first. I couldn't see him in transition so I knew I had some ground to make up. Out on the bike I started to see him up ahead and started to slowly pull him in. Around mile 4 we went around a corner and he was looking up the hill for me coming down, not knowing I was 25m behind him. I came out of the corner and went around him and the look on his face was priceless. He had no idea I was that close as he didn't see me when he was looking up the hill. I quickly put time into him on the bike and came into T2 with about a 2 minute lead.
Run (3.1 miles)- 19:50
Knowing that Vineman was next weekend I didn't want to push the run too hard. I settled into a good pace and knew there was a beast of a hill coming back to the finish. At the run turn around I took a split and figured out it was still around 2 minutes. I just kept running, until I got to that hill. I ran half way up it, walked for about 15 seconds, then ran the rest of the hill. After the hill it was about 1/2 mile to the finish and that was that.
Swim (300m) - 4:20 / 3rd
T1-1:00
Bike (13.5mi) - 33:22 / 1st / (http://app.strava.com/activities/65385137)
T2-0:45
Run (3.1mi) - 19:50 / 2nd / (http://app.strava.com/activities/65384510)
Total- 59:19 / 1st out of 298
Thanks to all of the FW Tri Club Members that were out there volunteering and also to Brian Luenser for the amazing photos! Also, a huge thanks to all of my Sponsors and all of the local members that were out there cheering.
Here are some photos from the day.
Before the race with the Daggett Middle School Tri Team
Coming out of T1 and onto the bike (Photo courtesy of Brian Luenser)
Out on the bike
Coming across the finish line in downtown Ft Worth
Telling Michelle that whoever created the course had a sick mind, that hill was brutal!
(Photo courtesy of Brian Luenser)
(Photo courtesy of Brian Luenser)
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