Brad Williams- Professional Triathlete ARCHIVES: Catching Up: Update Part 2

9 October-

Update Part 1 can be found HERE.

I left off with the departure from Ft Worth and heading up to Boulder. Hila was in from Japan for a month, so we packed up what I had left that the movers didn't take, and put it into the car. Pretty tough packing for 4 months and only being able to jam it in the car. We made it up to Boulder in 2 days, after making a quick stop in Colorado Springs to visit with Hila's mother.

With Atlantic City going poorly due to being sick I talked with my coach about a back up plan to try and qualify for my pro card again. I found Challenge New Albany and decided that was going to be the race to do. After a few weeks in Boulder we headed out for New Albany, via car. Driving from Colorado to Ohio wasn't all that bad. I had already planned on driving out to Milwaukee for Age Group Nationals so it was just a week ahead of schedule. I was going to spend 10 days in Milwaukee and fly in and out of there for New York City to guide Aaron again.

I ended up having a really good race at New Albany and won the overall amateur race and placed 15th Overall. So mission accomplished and no pressure the rest of the year worrying about where to qualify. We drove up from New Albany to Milwaukee and luckily were able to meet up with some friends and family along the way. Always great to catch up with people while out on the road traveling. After getting up to Milwaukee the month with Hila came to an end and she got on a plane back to Japan. Luckily, this would be the last time we would be apart for more than a few weeks at a time, as she was getting ready to depart from the Air Force as well.

A few days after Hila left I headed over to New York for a short 2 day trip, I think I was actually there less than 48 hours. I went out there to guide Aaron in the NYC Triathlon, and it was a great event. We set a course record in his category by 5 minutes, well we actually just broke his course record. It was a pretty humbling experience for me, my ultimate fear with guiding happened. Aaron was in top shape since Paratriathlon Worlds was right around the corner, and he was dragging me around the run course, yet we still ran 37 flat 10K, on a really hilly course. I never want to slow Aaron down so this was really hard for me, but luckily he still won so in the end it was alright.

Once back from NYC I stayed in Milwaukee and raced AG Nationals. The day went pretty much like I expected, came out way behind in the swim, biked through the field to the top 5 and then was run down by a few guys. When it was all said and done I was 25th Overall and 8th in the Age Group, until I was given a 2 minute penalty for dropping my swim cap on the transition run, yep you read that right, dropping my swim cap, along with about 50 other people. I ended up 40th and 12th in my Age Group after that. Still a great day and put down the 3rd fastest bike split, which I was really happy with.

After the race I loaded up the car and headed back to Boulder the following day. Made the drive straight through which made for a long day. Once back in Boulder I spent 28 days there training for 70.3 worlds, and put in a really solid block of training. Hila left Japan for good and met me in Boulder for a few days before we headed off to Canada.

I will do a race report for 70.3 worlds, so that will be the next post. Once back from 70.3 worlds we drove from Boulder to California, making a quick stop at Interbike for a few hours. Although we were really rushed while there it was still a great experience and I look forward to going back in the future. Once back in California we had a few days to getting our wedding ceremony final preparation done, and once all of that was good we had the big party! One of the most memorable nights of my life, and I was glad we had all of our family and close friends there to celebrate with us.

After the wedding we spent some time in Tahoe and in San Francisco. Hila then departed for England to get started on her DPhil (PhD for those of us in the US) at Oxford. I had a week left in California to train before I departed for Hawaii. No problems at all traveling out to Hawaii.

So here we are, 6 months later, on the big island of Hawaii, and in 2 short blog posts you are all caught up on what has been a busy and hectic 6 months.