MD Race weekend

Sunday, July 17

Phew, a nice, sunny day (although quite hot and humid). Ate my normal pre-race breakfast, and drove down to the race site to set up the transition area. The XTERRA EMS Off-road triathlon kicked off promptly at 10am, and is always a tough swim for me. I survived through it, and was having a good bike section, only to get a flat tire ¾ of the way through the very technical and rocky bike course. This was my first flat in 1.5 years, and first ever in a race…and no CO2 cartridges…BUMMER! Lost ~5-6 min changing out my back tire, then worked like crazy to try to catch all the people who just passed me…dag! Caught a few of the guys who passed me, but knew I’d have to push hard in the run. Had a very quick T2 transition, and tried to get the tired bike legs going for the run…the first mile is always so tough. The run was about 1.5 miles on pavement and then 3.5+ miles on very technical single track and rock climbs…one of the best runs on the XTERRA circuit. I came out of the technical section and spotted a racer in my age group about 50 meters ahead. I started to pick up my pace with less than a mile to go…and caught him and passed him with about 400 meters to go…good strong finish. I placed 5th in my age group, which I was happy with considering the flat tire. Great times!

Broke down camp, showered, and jumped in my car for the drive to Columbus Ohio. I encountered serious rainstorms the whole drive, but it helped clean off my muddy bike from the race ;) I arrived in Columbus, OH and explored the city a bit. I am staying with my friend Becca Brown, who has an apartment 2 blocks from the main downtown area, which is pretty cool.

Challenges so far? I am having several technological breakdowns. My XM Radio was losing its signal throughout the drive (I am crossing my fingers it was b/c of the weather), my Palm pilot only turns on when it feels like it (even with charged batteries)…and I was lucky I had a print out of my directions or I’d probably be lost in the hills of Ohio now, and my wireless card for my laptop is not properly picking up signals…this could be a major problem if I can’t get it working.

Sat, July 16

Arrived at the campsite in western MD to meet up with Frank, Stacey, and Andy…only to have a huge thunderstorm rolling in. Quickly set up camp and then a huge storm hit us for the next few hours. With no end in sight, we finally decided to try to get the fire going in the rain…with the help of firestarter sticks. Fire got going on we heated up our lasagna…which was delicious! Great carb load for the race tomorrow.