Night Before Check-In and Race Meeting. Check-in and pre-race meeting were standard and easy, swag bag was weak-in addition to the finisher's shirt it had one Hammer gel, one packet of Hammer electrolyte capsules (which I had never seen before, pending trial still) and some bio-gel. I think the world has largely forgotten the art of the swag bag. Friends of mine talked up the pre-race carb load the night before but this year it was canceled for an undisclosed reason, bummer. It was striking how many families were camping here and in attendance. I knew camping was allowed but was surprised at just how many folks were taking advantage of it. Maybe another year I'll do that, but it brought back memories of my very first triathlon that entailed arriving on-site very late at night, setting up a tent for a quick sleep, and rising early to get ready and stash the tent before getting in trouble for sleeping in a reserved group campsite!
Transition area set up. T1 is 1.6k down river so the wife and I drove down and racked my Specialized Transition as to not have the hassle in the morning. Folks were friendly and the parking lot nearby was busy and dusty. The local sheriff's department had lights up and a crew watch over the gold mine of carbon and rubber overnight so no worries. I elected to set up my T2 station on race morning. Interestingly it was a free-for-all when it came to bike placement vice numbered stalls. Luckily there were numbers on the columns and I picked one that aligned with my number for easy recall as to where I parked.
Race Day Fun. I was a little annoyed that no official posted or publicized water temperature on race morning. Being the one guy who had his triathlon wet suit packed by movers and in a fleeting moment chose to go with a water skiing wet suit, I was keen to leave the wet suit behind but was leery about ice cream headaches ruining my day. I wore the suit and would leave it behind if I got to redo it, the current pushed my floating neoprene mess down the river in a decrepit 22 minutes.
No issues in the first transition area. I'd staged my hydration and gels that morning so I quickly took in a gel and washed it down before getting into a cycling rhythm. The course was a rectangular route through country roads in farming country that I grew up with. Some locals were out cheering from time to time and volunteers were usually the ones manning corners to make sure we turned at the right location. No cramping and no stomach issues had me in good spirits when I came into T2.
I was careful to not take in too much hydration on the bike as I am prone to sloshy belly problems on the run. The good news is that it paid off and I had no cramping or sloshy belly on the run. The bad news is that I ran out of energy at mile 4. I'd planned to take in two gel packets on the bike and I only ate one (got lost in my head and forgot the plan). I took in one as I started the run and ended up eating one more at about mile 4, where it was too late. Most of the run was on farmer's access roads through farm fields, the rest was through local roads. Not a ton of cheering locals but there were some out chuckling at the out-of-town-crazies come to town. Given my energy depletion, I was happy to see a fairly steep chute kicking all the runners down into the finish line on the golf course, "Yes! I will actually be able to run through the finish line!"
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| Top five finishers in my age group |
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| My stats for the day |
