Race Result

Racer:	Steve Smith
Race:	Terrapin 1000/1650
Date:	Sunday, January 25, 1998
Location:	College Park, MD
Race Type:	Swim - Swim Meet
Age Group:	Male 25 - 29
Time:	0:24:33
Comment:	First swim race since I was 12.

Race Report:

Dateline: January 1, 2011 -- Lander, WY

As I shredded tax files from the early 2000s, I came across a stray race result. 1998 was still a time where the internet was a small, unknown thing and in later years, when I was trying to gauge just how much my swimming had improved, I tried mightily to find this particular race, only to fail.

After my first Reston Triathlon, where I swam a 31, biked a 1:01 and ran a 44, I was hooked and realized that I couldn't swim for crap (In fact, I remember, after that race in 1997, getting into a car and driving to Boston for some object database training. I was SORE. But what I really remember was teaching my self flip-turns in the tiny hotel pool).

Anyway, I got the swimming thing mostly figured out (for a triathlete). By 2005 I was swimming 18:20. That's a 25% improvement! It took a lot of hours in the pool to get there, but every year Mike Orton would remind me why I was putting in the pool time.

I don't remember much about this race other than that I had no idea what-so-ever for a seed (not being a real triathlete at the time, I couldn't recite my splits from my recent--er, only race). So, with no seed, I was in the last heat a 65yo man and a 76yo woman. I think it was just the three of us. Thankfully, I won my heat.

In looking at the results I notice a few thing. First, my 2005 1650 PR would have won the meet by 13 seconds. Second, I was third (and last) in my M25-29 age group, won by Doug Clark. Doug is a kindly Brit that I would race against often from 2003-2005, and usually beat at shorter distances (where swimming matters). Doug swam a 20:01 in 1998 and has since gone on to be age group world champion in the Ironman. He was fun to race with and I miss racing with quality guys like him and other like him: Mike Orton, Chris Martin and Mark Bonnet-Eymard just to name a few.

Lastly, the 65yo man did beat my Reston Triathlon split by 6 seconds. Maybe I'll hit the pool tomorrow and get this year started right.