MEGAN….8TH AGE GROUP, TIME 2:12:49

JIM….What a great event! – I never thought I would qualify for National and was honored to be there – If you ever get a chance go and enjoy the event. On Saturday there were 3200 age groupers who had qualified by finishing a prior race in the top 10% of their AG in a prior USAT race. There were really good athlete in each age group that made the race highly competitive.
This year the race was in Milwaukee – really beautiful city (sorry next year it moves to Nebraska) – and for the most part the weather was cool and good for racing. The event took place at the lake front adjacent to the Art Museum. The swim took place in a harbor that it walled off from Lake Michigan – water was deep and COLD! – On Friday there was a practice swim in waters that were 62-63 degrees – the first couple hundred yards were really tough then it was not so bad – The bike course has a couple of climbs – notably up and over one of the major highway bridges in Milwaukee – the climb was long but the grad was reasonable so it was not difficult – the run course was right along the lake and was flat.
On race day there were wave deep water starts with lots of time between waves so swimmers were pretty spread out – my wave went off at 7:55, Megan’s at 8:55 and the last waves were like 9:55 so there was racing on the course all morning. I started in bright sun by the time I got 1/2 way done with the bike the sky had clouded over and the wind had picked up – never did rain but it felt like it could. The good news is the temps were low and there was no sun soak during the bike and run. The bike course was closed to traffic but the bridge was under construction so the road surface was rough in spots – The bridge is elevated well above the city street surface and the wind at the top was considerable – That said it was a good course. The run was all on pavement and flat –
Very enjoyable weekend – great to see how good (and fast) some of the lead age groupers are.

Jim