Sometimes people get talked into doing something and this is one of those times. This race wasn't originally on my 2009 race schedule. Since I did Trizou a couple of weeks before, I didn't see any reason to add another sprint race in May. Well Thursday before the race ended with a normal master's swim practice. . .in the locker room the peer pressure started. Bob Schloegel decided to call me out for not racing. Something to the effect that I can talk about racing and being fast but unless I show up and do something, it is just all talk. Also, if I want to be one of the fater triathletes in the area, then I need to do races where other fast triathlets are at. . .
FINE!!!! I made it to work, filled out an application and was entered within a hour of the verbal lashing that was handed out. I didn't announce I was racing to anyone, figured a sneak attack was in order. :)
Well, watching the weather on Friday and Saturday, I started to rethink my decision to race. The weather report was calling for 39 degrees Sunday morning. . . Wonderful! :)
Well, the weather people were right, when we (Amy, Kloden, Jenny and I) rolled out of Independence, it was 40 degrees on the car temp reading. Ahhh. . I am sure the water will be warm though. . right?
When we got to the race, I saw a long time friend Chris Fugate (a fellow swimmer) and he promptly informed me that the water temp was 52 degrees. Huh!?!? 52? Well Couer D'Alene was 52 last summer and I almost panicked when I got in that water. . .. .so this should be fun.
In the following picture you can see the fog from the lake. . so that meant that at least the water temp was warmer than the 40 degree air temp. Oh yeah!!!
The talk in transition before the race started was what to wear on the bike and how much. I figured that once the race got going, that I wouldn't care too much about what is cold and what is not, since the pain from racing would be setting in. . .. so I just went with normal tri wear.
The swim is a 587 yard (500 meter) swim. It is basically in a very small lake (duck pond). The feeling on the bottom of the lake on my feet is well. . .not the most pleasant experience. I didn't really do much of a warmup so just got in did a few splashes and lined up.
The first half of the race went great, I was in the lead and pulling a group of about 6 (including myself along). There were some fast swimmers, such as John Riley,Fugate and Sandy Cohen there, so I knew as long as I stayed close to them I would be fine. I made it to the turn buouy and just kept swimming, only to be stopped by a lifeguard who told me I had gone too far. I look back and see the pack of 5 making the turn. . .GREAT! . what a rookie mistake.
I jumped on to the last guys feet and just settled in. I figured that any extra push here wouldn't be worth it and as long as I can keep them within 10 seconds I would be ok.
I was 6th overall out of the water and didn't really have a great swim. . . . but I was in contention at that point and that is what matters.
Swim time: 7 minutes 2 seconds
Transition 1: I ran up to transition, trying to get my wetsuit off (this is always a task by itself). By the time I got to my bike I had it 90% off and finished pulling it off my legs. I tried to put my socks/shoes on but my balance was not the best, so I sat down and got ready. I noticed that there were about 5 of us right there together. Coming out of T1 I was about 4-5th place.
Time: 1 minute 32 seconds
The bike was where I would have to put time on people if I had a chance to win this thing (little did I know that Rozencranz who is an ex-pro was just in front of me and catching/beating him was not going to happen). Out of transition and on the bike I noticed that Sandy Cohen and Chris Fugate were right in front of me. I just went as hard as I could to pass them and put some distance on them right away, knowing that either one of them had the run to chase me down.
There was the ex-pro in front of me by about 15 seconds that I could see the entire time, but never did catch. He was a good rabbit though for me. The first lap hurt as the legs make the transition to the bike. The first hill is a killer and then the climb to the back of the park finishes the legs off before the descent back to the park and across the dam. The first lap done, now it was time to contend with the traffic of other racers. . .the second lap is easier on the legs, but now one has to be on their toes to be sure to pass the slower riders without putting anyone in danager. I think I counted 2 loose waterbottles on the road. The second lap was a good build into the third and I could tell my average was picking up.
The third lap I gave it all I had and just started to prepare my mind for the run.
Bike Time: 27 minutes 47 seconds for 11.5 miles: Average of 24.84 mph
Transition 2: Not much of an event. . .I was second coming into T2 and the guy that was 5-10 seconds in front at that point, looked back gave me a smile and was gone.
Time: 42 seconds
Actually I will say that I had a good run overall. . I know I am not at sub 6 min miles yet, but my overall run time was 2 minutes faster than last year so improvements have been made. The first out and back (small loop) I could see a pack of about 4-5 guys just behind. I believe the pack consisted of Chris Fugate, Sandy Cohen, Chris Yows, and Barry Odgen. I knew all of those guys were very strong and all capable of running me down. I just tried to get into a good rythm and think about what was coming up. I knew a incline was waiting as we came off the trail and onto the main road. At that point the lead guy gave me a thumbs up and I could see the others coming on strong. At the far turnaround, they were even closer, with Fugate and Cohen making the most ground on me. Right after mile 2 Sandy comes past, I try to pace off of him, but he was just too strong. Next came Fugate and he shortly passed Sandy too. . both were running very fast. Coming across the dam, I tried to not look back to see who else was coming. I knew Chris Yows and Barry Ogden would be close. As I gave a glance back Yows was right there. I tried to surge a little to see what he had left, but I think we both knew that he was the stronger runner and had the advantage at that point. He went past me with about 150 yards to go. . I tried to keep pace and picked up the pace to a mild sprint, but he answered and held off any attempt I made. . ..I crossed line feeling like I could heave. . so I knew I gave it my all, and that is all I could ask for. . . Here is a shot of Yows and me battling it out for the coveted 4th place spot :) 
Overall, I am very happy with the race. ..
Run time: 19 minutes 22 seconds 6:28 min/mile pace
Overall time: 56 minutes 22 seconds (over 3 minutes faster than last year)
Overall place: 5th
Overall age group: 3rd
Kloden and his daddy. . LOVE MY BABY BOY!!!!
Triathlon friends: Left to right: Jared, Brian, Chris, Bob Schloegel, Barry, Tim Odonnell
All 660 competitors had to line up (sit down) in designated swim time areas. It was up to each competitor to line up. I made my way over to the fastest swim area at 5 minute 15 seconds. They then announced that if anyone was going to swim 4 minutes or faster to come over to the elite wave (they are the "pros"). Well, I didn't go over but I should have. . . We lined up for the swim and I was about the 6th guy to start. The swimmers went off every 10 seconds apart. They made us jump in (not dive) which made it awkward, but I managed and off I went. In about 100 meters I caught my first guy and then another and then another. I ended up passing 3 guys. Total Swim time: 6 minutes 23 seconds. (actual time was 5:15, but they counted some of our run time to transition).
My biggest mistake here, was that I didn't drive the bike course ahead of time, so I really had no idea what the course was like. To put it mildly, there were a ton of sharp turns in the course. Normally triathlons are not that technical, but this had some very nasty turns. I am surprised someone didn't get seriously injured. There were also two good sized hills in the race. The first one caught me offguard and in the wrong gear, but I managed to get up it and passed a guy in my age group. I wanted to do the bike course in 35 minutes and as I was coming to the last hill back up to campus, I knew I would be hard pressed to do that. Coming into the 2nd lap area, they didn't really have it marked, so I had to slow down and basically have the volunteer tell me what to do (when I was done with the second lap, I noticed they put a sign up that explained what to do, would have been nice to have that a little earlier). The second time around, I was more comfortable with what to expect and was ready for the first hill. I spun up it and just tried to go as fast as possible. Coming down the hill (right before the last hill up to campus) I remembered a nasty bump in the road that on the first lap I was surprised didn't destroy my wheel. I managed to jump that this time and just went for broke up the hill. Coming into the finish is a 80 degree turn that almost ended it for me (the volunteer really wasn't pointing where to go), but I managed to stay upright and headed for the transition area. 
