August 17th saw the final sprint of the year (well, maybe final) at the North East triathlon. I did this as an Olympic last year and ended up just not really liking it all that much. The bike was tougher than I thought, but that didn't bother me too much. The run just sucked: 6 miles out and back on a highway shoulder that slanted about 10 to 15 degrees for drainage. Liz and the ladies were going back to defend their relay title, and CGI added a sprint distance race so I figured I'd give it another try. If it sucked as bad at least I was only in it for 3.1.
The swim was not wetsuit legal again, but we had expected that and not even packed them for the race. At packet pick up the day before they had the temp listed at 76 degrees, and there was some discussion about heading back to DC to get wetsuits. Glad we didn't, because the race morning temp was announced at 78.8, and it felt even warmer than that. I was in the first wave again (a theme for this year it seems), and due to the small size of the sprint that included pretty much all men except for Clydesdales and first timers, so I would actually be racing against most of the field out on the course. The swim went off OK and I didn't notice anything odd during the race, but my time ended up being about 5 minutes slower than expected. In fact everybody's time was slow! We figure that both courses were 300-400 meters long based on normal swim paces.
I was 10th or 11th out of the swim and must have moved up a couple spots out of T1. The volunteers on the bike course yelled "You're in 7th place!" as I rolled by mile 2. Hmmm. That's a new one. I caught and passed 4 riders in the first 5 miles and then spent most of the remainder of the ride totally by myself until another guy caught me with 2 or 3 miles to go. Still, if the volunteers were to be believed I was sitting in 4th place coming into T2. Um, OK. I figured the masses would catch me on the run, but I set out with a pace I thought I could hold to be close to 24:xx on the 5K to equal or slightly beat my best at New Jersey. The lead woman passed me early on in the run, and heading to the turnaround I counted 3 other racers heading back to the finish. 1.5 miles left and I was sitting in 4th place for men overall! I quickly started to do the calculations in the my head. Top 3 men get overall spots then they start counting the age group awards. If nobody else passed me on the run I would guarantee a win my age group! Crap, at the turnaround there were two guys within about 30 seconds of me and then a larger gap until the next pack of runners, maybe 1:30 back. If only two of them passed me, and IF those two were in the 30-34 age group, I would still place! I tried to glance at their calves while they passed, but couldn't get a good read. Coming down the final hill with about a 3/4 mile to go I gave it all I had. I was passed by one guy with about a 1/4 mile left (what does his calf say??? 41! Phew) and swore I saw another guy just over my shoulder on the final turn. As I passed by Liz and Teen in the chute I yelled "How far back is he? How far back?!!" They of course thought I was crazy because there was nobody within a hundred yards or so. I crossed the line thinking I was 5th overall for men and probably won my age group!
Turns out I was right on one count: I did win 30-34 men! There were two first timers in the next wave that had better times (one must have been the guy who passed me at the end), so I ended up 6th overall male and 9th overall in the whole race! That was pretty exciting! Granted it's all a function of who shows up; the field you are racing against is your competition. To be perfectly honest, if just some of the dudes racing the Olympic were to have raced the sprint in my age group they would have blown me out of the water. But, hey, a medal is a medal! I'm going to enjoy it until the next race when I'll be shown my proper place firmly in the middle of the pack of my age group :)Liz, Steph, and Teen took first place in their relay category and Nancy, Erin, and Dara took second in the Battle of Team DCDDs. Congrats!
Next up: The Nation's Triathlon! I was not going to do this race, just mentor the TNT team and provide race day support. The Annapolis tri hit a rather large snag with their bike permits (namely: there will be no bike), and Nation's generously offered stranded participants an entry in the sold out race so I took them up on it. I'll be gunning for that sub-2:40 time. Then it's prep for the Ragnar Relay and some time off!
