Appalachian Xterra Off road Tri- Indiana PA- 8-2-2015
Standing on the beach, looking out at the buoys 400 meters out, I could feel those butterflies of anticipation in my stomach. When you’re racing week after week, they tend to diminish. You never get rid of them but years of racing diminishes the excitement.
It had been 3 years (and 2 major surgeries) since my last race. I had been training but till you put yourself up against others, you’re never really sure how successful your training has been.
The gun went off, and I had decided to take the swim conservative. Start out slow, get in a rhythm, and make sure not to go anaerobic. Had the usual bumping, getting swam over, swimming into people, and had to deal with a lot of plant growth (Lake Weed that would get all over your face, tangle up your arms & legs, and generally freak you out) that was all the way out to the 300 meter marker. I finished swim not at all out of breath, but hit the beach hammer it and immediately passed 4 or 5 people on way to transition. Karen yelled as I went by that I was doing great, but I wasn’t sure if I was in a good position, or she was just trying to reassure me.
Going into transition one, looking around I could see lots of bikes still there, that was reassuring had a great transition, passing at least 3 people there.
Getting on the bike, I felt at home. I immediately picked up the pace, and started passing people going up the first gravel road climb, before the single track. Hitting the single track I continued passing people, and came up on a large group. The young guy in front of me had just caught the group, and starting yelling to ask them if he could pass. People were great and moved over, and I simply stayed on his wheel, letting him do all the yelling. After we had passed maybe 20 people, I asked him if I could get around him. He was shocked, not realizing I had caught him, and that someone would want by. We hit a tight section and I got super close so he could feel me , letting him know I was serious. He let me past, and as we rode through another tight section, he asked if that was 51 on my calf (they body mark your age on both calves so people know if you’re in their age group). I saw a big hill approaching, and yelled back – no it’s a 59. I heard him moan, and I hit the climb hard, dropping him like a bad habit. The rest of the 14 mile bike went great, I never saw another sole. It’s a tough hilly loop, with lots of super steep hills, a river crossing, lots of rocks & roots. It’s one of the toughest on the circuit.
I hit transition 2, and noticed there were very few bikes there, so felt great. The 5 mile trail run went great. Several tree’s down you had to crawl over, rocky hills, and only had one minor mishap on a section of roots a fall that cut open my hand. Heck, if you’re not bleeding, it’s not an Xterra!
I finished 7th overall, 1st in my age group (second place was 25 minutes behind) in 2 hours 23 minutes, and felt like I still had more in the tank.
A great start to the 2016 season!!