First Race report of 2010

A couple of things before I get to the race report,,

• Monday night I was on a flight from Austin to DFW and overheard a conversation that was a perfect example of "I'm not listening". This conversation was between two ladies, one I will call Lady #1 and the other is named Gladys.
  

Gladys: Do you know Evelyn?

Lady #1: No, Who is Evelyn?

Gladys: You know Evelyn, she drives the White Suburban.

Lady #1: No clue.

Gladys: She has dark hair, real perky woman? She would win a Sarah Palin Look-a-like contest.

Lady #1: Hmm, can't remember her,, What does she look like?

 

Well I lied, I do not have a couple of things, just that one, but I am too lazy to go back to the top and change the sentence.

 

Okay, on with the race report. Last Saturday, I had my first race of 2010. This was an Olympic Distance race. (1 mile swim, 24 mile bike and 6.2 mile run). All distances are plus or minus some meters,, because I am too lazy to look up the exact distances. First off, I had an unreasonable goal for this race. I won't repeat the goal because I would like to be taken seriously. I did state my goal to Seth and I think he is still laughing. This race was a shakeout race for the Galveston race at the end of April. My goal, other than to make Seth laugh, was to make sure I had my transitions down and that I was able to push myself hard, all the way through the event. Mission accomplished (not in a George W. Bush kind of way, but in a real way where I actually accomplished the mission).

Swim time was 25:43

Swim was amazing! Felt really good. I was first out of the water in my age group. A word about the swim though, COLD,, damn COLD. It was hard to believe that we were in Texas. I got an ice cream headache,, no wait, I am an adult,, it was a Frozen Margarita headache. The first thing that happens when you get into cold water like this is your diaphragm revolts and signals to you that you are an idiot and since you are an idiot, you do not deserve to breathe for the next 10 seconds. So, while thrashing around with a bunch of other idiots, who are kicking you because they too cannot breathe, you are supposed to swim. Swim forward that is.

T1 – 1:35

Not much that you can say about transition except, wetsuit off, helmet on, shoes and socks on. And I am out of there. 1:35, fastest in my age group.!!

Bike time was 1:20:59

The bike was awesome. It felt good. Heart rate was 144 on average and my average speed was 19.3 MPH. It was just plain fun. I mean it was hard but it was fun to go that fast. I did realize though that despite the intervention and calming mantras, I hate the wind. Totally weird to be spinning fast, turn a corner and then suddenly be crawling along into a headwind. Very happy with my bike times

T2 – 1:09

Change shoes, replace hard hat with soft hat, and then hit the trail.

Run time was 52:29

Good solid run. Avg pace was 8:28. This is amazing for me, especially after a bike. Best thing about the run was the fact that I ran. I have had some tendencies to just stop running when I mentally or physically got tired. I would get distracted and then just quit running. I have been working on that so it was good to see a very solid run.

Total Time was 2:41:57 and I came out third in my age group.

Initially I was really excited about getting a podium finish, but when I got home and saw that not only was I third in my age group, I was also last in my age group. At the start of the race I jokingly made the comment that I needed all the other old farts to stay home in order for me to have a podium finish. I got my wish. Just three of us in the 55-59 age group. Of all the wishes I have made, this is the one that came true. Not the lottery number wish, the endless gas tank wish, or the being invisible wish comes true but this one did. Karma, I really expected a lot more of you. So, anyway, I am very happy with my performance. I did really well and I am happy with that,, but still, I was last in my age group!! I now wish that all the old farts will come back out and play.

The Red Licorice Events people put on a great race! Everything was well executed. RLE puts on a great event and they think of everything. Except the heater for the lake,, other than that, good race. The T3 team was out in force as well. Not only racing but cheering and supporting. All in all, a great day!