Short Version- 4th place (same as 2011) – tough swim, great bike, solid run- short of my goal (top 2 qualify for world championship in Maui) – but:

Long Version:

Great trip= Northern Utah in late September is beautiful. Leaves changing, great weather and Ogden is a very cool little town – neat restaurants, we met lots of new interesting friends, and best of all – Karen did well traveling.

Race morning was windy, cool – high 40s-water temp high 60s, but with wet suit was not bad. There was a big crowd, mass start on swim, and they had a non-championship race go off after our start.

I warmed up on swim, lined up out on edge of start, to avoid some of the chaos of 500 people trying to end up at a marker ¼ mile out. It did not work- swim was super congested, choppy waves from wind, and all the people were tough. I kept my cool, tried to work through people, but it seemed like I was always struggling to find any room to actually swim (and not be getting kicked/ swam over/ or swim over people) – it just never opened up. What made it worse was it was a 2 lap swim, on second lap, the good swimmers from non -championship race were passing us, so even more bodies fighting for limited space! I got through it, was 260th out of 350 people- had a solid transition, and hit the bike like a man possessed. The bike is all climbing- starting at about 4000 feet elevation- climbing to peak of snow basin ski slopes, at over 7000 feet. I felt great, and worked my way past over 130 riders, and beat my 2011 bike time by over 10 minutes. Another fast transition, and attacked the huge 1.2 mile uphill (run goes right up ski slope of snow basin to trails at top), I continued to pass people on the rest of 6.2 mile run, and first person I passed was guy from Colorado who beat me last year (He finished 3rd) – so I felt good, and when I hit top of slop onto trails, I had a solid pace. At mile 3, you drop down slope some, then at mile 4 hit another climb back to top. I was still passing people, but starting to feel the effects of pushing so hard on bike. The sun had really warmed things up- it was over 80, and very intense at that elevation. I was hurting bad, and the course was super rocky, and with minimalist shoes I was wearing, my feet were screaming every time I hit a rock (and it was all rocks!)

The last 1.5 miles is straight downhill. I knew I would pay for it later, but just let it fly, almost falling several times, but continuing to pass people. I ended up posting the fastest run time in my class – and 68th fastest run time overall. Finished 125th overall (and this race has Pro’s from all over the world)

I was disappointed  I had finished 4th  in my class, but top 3 were guys who had just entered my age group – I had improved from 2011, beat people who beat me last year, had a great trip – so hard to be too disappointed!

Ken