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Race Result
Race Report:
Swim (33:33)
Setup transition and took bus across river to swim start. Jumped in with wave for floating start. I never heard the horn blow, but everyone took off, so I followed suit. I could not get into a rhythm for the swim my breathing was out of control and my HR was off the charts. I rolled over onto my back to catch my breath and clear my goggles. The kayaks were paying attention to me as I had pulled out to the right and had separated from the pack. The next wave had begun catching up and I refocused my effort got going. I started getting into a swim rythym and focused on my swimming. I wore a Livestrong bracelet and thought about the person I was wearing it for and lived in the moment. I swam under the bridge and focused on the buoy for the turn. The turn towards the beach really narrowed the group and it was a scrum into the beach. I was completely exhausted coming out of the water and my arms were limp by my sides but I was happy to be out!
T1 (4:31)
I was beat from the swim and sat down to pull my wetsuit off. My spot was up against the fence and there were some spectators with cowbells looking for their racers. I told them that I “had a fever and the only cure was more cowbell” and they obliged!
Bike (1:25:00) (17.5MPH)
The course starts on the flats and I got into the aero as quick as possible. I could hear a fighter airplane coming up behind me and I looked over my shoulder to watch a bunch of pros go by. I turned into a spectator on a bike – man that was cool. I began climbing up the first hill and there was a rider sitting down on the shoulder with a distinct orange bike. The friend that I was racing with has an orange bike. . . it was him. I asked him if he was OK and he said he was having an asthma attack. When I said I will stop he told me to keep going. So I kept going thinking I should have stopped and really focused on how I should have stopped. I pushed onto the bridge over the river and really tried to have a good ride. I came around the Philadelphia Art Institute and looked up the Rocky Steps and sure enough there was someone on top of the steps doing the Rocky pose arms raised in the air jumping up and down. Crossed the river again and went up and around. Then coming to the top of the next hill you could really hear the crowd below. The coolest part in the world is coming down a hill with high walls and a bridge/tunnel at the end that really focuses the sound up the road. Popping out of that the crowd was cheering for everyone and you feel like a champion. Pushing through the area to go for the 2nd loop I came out with a ton of energy. But on the far side of the crowd the energy fell back off but I still felt like a rock star. For some reason my knee started to bother me, but I guessed it would go away on the run, so I tried to put it out of my mind. I finished the ride and felt like I had a good ride. Coming back down the hill the dismount was close to the tunnel/bridge and there were a lot of endos with people trying to stop in time.
T2 (3:05)
I shuffled into T2 and it was a pretty messy transition. My wife found me over the fence and I asked if she had seen my friend and she said no. I said “he was down on the bike” and started running.
Run (59:40) (9:37)
OH MY GOODNESS, I realized what I had said and that she would tell his wife that. Now his whole family would freak because of that terminology. I felt terrible about that on the run but stopped thinking about it as I tried to put one foot in front of the other. I also REALLY had to pee and was getting passed like crazy. Meanwhile I hit all the water stations and was pouring water over myself like mad. The run takes you back through the transition area and you need to jump over curbs and things and run on some grass. But the volunteers were really on the ball pointing out tripping hazards. I was really hot, but made the turn back towards the finish and the last water station they volunteers were encouraging “you are almost there!” I thought to myself that I was so close to becoming a triathlete and was very excited. Coming into the shade and you could really hear the announcer and fans and I wanted to push it in. I came across the finish line and was very happy and then set my sights on a port-a-potty. My wife and youngest daughter met me at the finish with my little one running up to me shouting “DADDY.” That was really cool, but my older one was not with them. She had thrown up 2 minutes before I came down the chute – ouch!
We watched my friend come down the chute and he stopped and got his kids and the finished together. I realized I had never seen or heard my family and I committed to looking for them in the future.
During the race my front brake felt really soft but I did not think about it too much. Loading the bike back into the car after the race, I realized I had never locked down the brake lever after I reattached my bike wheel – yikes.
Kids Race.
Both my 7 year old and my 3 year old participated in age appropriate fun runs on the Saturday before the race. They both had a blast and each received a shirt, medal, and race number all for free. That was very cool.
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