Jackson County Triathlon

Ok, first let me tell you how wonderful it is to have the wife I do. It is not every woman who would get up at 4:45AM on a Sunday morning, drive 25 minutes to wait another 2.5 hours to watch her husband "do a hobby" for approximately an hour and then wait around for him to receive his 3rd place award, which is basically about $100 worth of free stuff. So THANK YOU AMY!!! I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!! Oh, and did you know that she takes great pictures too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The race started at 8:05 for me, I was the second heat (they had us start by age group) to go, so I had to make up 5 minutes on the first heat and hold off the other heats behind me, that was my goal. Longview lake is a great venue for a triathlon, although today the wind was kicking up some strong waves that made for an interesting swim. Not to mention that I as I the swim went on, I had to navigate through the heat that went ahead of mine. I had a good swim and was first overall out of the water both in age group and everyone that competed.

Swim Time: 8 minutes 13 seconds (.3 mile swim)
After the swim to bike transition, I could see that I was right beside Chris Fugate, a friend and competitor. We actually swam together in High School, so I expected him to be with me on the swim. I know he is a very good athelete and can run very very well, so I needed to put some time on him on the bike and that is what I did. I passed him quickly out of transition and never looked back, I just put my head down and hammered the whole way. 11.75 miles was the 1 loop course.

Bike Time: 30 minutes 46 seconds. 22.9 MPH Average (11.75 mile bike, although I think it is actually longer than that).

This is me going out on the bike, you can't see in this picture, but Chris is about 5 feet in front of me.


This is me coming in to the finish on the bike.

Coming off the bike, I knew I was in the lead. I passed about 20-25 people from the first heat and no one had passed me at all. So I felt like I had a good bike leg. But I knew that the run was going to be tough.

I got off the bike, threw on the run shoes and took off as fast as I can. This was a different feeling for me, I was the only one out there, I figured someone had to be in front of me from the first heat, but I didn't see anyone at all. I figured if I had a 3 minute lead on anyone in my heat (Chris) then I should be able to hold them off, if I could run 7 minute miles. At mile 1 I was right at 7 minutes, the guy at the water station said I was the second one through, at first I didn't know what he meant, but then I realized that only one person was ahead of me. I knew I would see this guy at the turnaround (at mile 1.5) and then I could see who was behind me. At the turn around, the guy in front was about 30 seconds ahead and I could see that he was a guy that started in the first heat, so actually I was ahead of him by 4 minutes 30 seconds or so. No need to worry about running him down. Also, I could see that Chris (the other guy from my heat) was about 2 minutes behind me, he looked like he was moving fast, so I just kept up my pace. Coming home, I got a quick glance back at the final turn and knew that no one was going to catch me.

This is the first race, where I have not been physically passed by anyone. That is a good feeling!!!

Run Time: 21 minutes 02 seconds. 7:01 minute miles. 3 miles (I really wanted to break 7 for an average, but I think that is my fastest 3 mile run ever).

Final Time: 1 hour 2 minutes 10 seconds.

Overall Place: 3rd out of 448 people.

Age Group Place: 1st out of 42 people