Today was my first race of the year! For me, this was a warm up for an Oly in two weeks, but I have been trying to pick up my pace this year and I really wanted to be fast. And, I was! Great day.

Today was a beautiful day for a race! It was sunny but not too hot. This was a fairly small race at the local rec center, only about 150 people total in a sprint distance and a “novice” distance. In the men’s sprint distance, not counting Clydesdales, there were only 33 entrants. There was also no chip timing. Unfortunately, I didn’t start my watch at the swim and I wasn’t too good about managing my Garmin, so I’m approximating my times.

Swim – 400 yard pool swim. The race directors called my wife yesterday for our projected swim times. Somehow, she thought I was a lot faster that I really am and told them I had a 1:20 or 1:25 base. I can do a 1:20 100, but not four of them in a row. Anyway, I was the sixth to start. I passed one person but got passed by two others. I had a hard time with the serpintine because the lane changes were to the other side that I usually roll to and I ended up getting tangled up once or twice. I probably had a 6 minute 400.

T1 – there was a little jog to the transition area and I lost a few seconds wrestling with my socks. (But, not enough to make me want to race without them.) Proabely about 1:30. I’m certainly not complaining.

Bike – The bike course was pretty flat and I was having a great time in my geeky new aero helmet and clip on aero bars. I passed one guy pretty close to the start and finally caught up to a second at about 10 miles. I ended up finishing the 13.1 miles in about 36 minutes! I was probably pretty close to 22 mph, which is a total PR for me on a bike split!

T2 – quick change and on my way. Probably 30 seconds.

Run – for me, I was totally smokin’! There was a little more elevation on the run, but I felt good. I passed one person near the beginning and was passed by two others later in the run. I tried to catch one guy for quite a long time, but I couldn’t close the gap enough to charge him. I have been a 10-minute miler for years and years, but I finished this 5k in 25 minutes! I haven’t run a 5k that fast in ages. Probably pretty close to 8-minute miles, faster than 8:10 most likely!

Total time 1:09:05. I crossed the line sixth, but my time was 9th out of
33 in men’s. (Some guys seeded lower in the swim closed the time gap on me.) One of my wife's masters coaches finished first in 1:04 and change. I was very happy to be less than five minutes behind him. I seriously couldn’t have been happier with the race!

Wifey also did a great job! Unfortunately, she ran sick. She has had a fever and other aches and yuckys for a couple of days. She did a 1:30 and I’m totally proud of her!