The Battle at Midway (BAM) was the first of my two "A" races this year. I was really worried about the weather. Although we live in a desert, we have had a ton of rain lately. When I went to pick up my packet and check in my bike on Friday night, I got stuck in a HUGE hail storm. There was a ton of rain and hail and a bunch of lightning. I was pretty bummed because I knew they would cancel the swim for lightning and I was afraid they would cancel or shorten the bike if there was too much rain. The last thing I wanted was more running! It rained all night and gave our bikes a good bath at T1 and it was pretty cold and overcast on Saturday morning, but it was not raining! We felt some rain setting up our transition area, but a little while before the race, I could see some blue sky to the west and started to feel hopeful. As it turned out, the weather completely cooperated. It was overcast most of the time and a little bit cool, but not too cold. There was no rain and the cool weather was actually really nice to race in.

Swim – 1500 meter, 2 look swim. I watched a competitor about my age die in my wife’s A race last year and my wife was pretty nervous for me to do this swim. The last thing she said to me was “Don’t you dare die!” I had promised her to take it easy, and with the water at a brisk 58 degrees, I was in no mood to push it too hard. Once I got moving, I felt nice and had a nice, if a little bit zig-zaggy, swim. 30:11 was just about right for me.

T1 – I started to put leg warmers on, but the weather looked like it would be getting better, so I left them off. I struggled with my socks again, but I like them, so I’ll eat all the sock time I need to. After getting on my bike, I pulled on some arm warmers and did just fine. 2:10.

Bike – The course was mostly flat and really pretty. There was no rain and very little wind. The temperature was also great. It was also a little bit short for an Olympic race at 22 miles, but I didn’t complain. I pushed it pretty hard and loved it! At almost 22 mph and I could not have been any happier with this leg! Before this year I rode anywhere from 17 to 19 mph, so my extra bike work and my new aero helmet and clip on aero bars must be worth something. 1:01:07.

T2 – quick shoe change and on my way. 1:11.

Run – The course was absolutely beautiful and completely brutal. The run was mostly a trail run along the 2002 winter Olympic cross country skiing and biathlon track. They call it the roller coaster, and it was one of the worst roller coasters I have ever been on. The uphills were seriously steep. My one knee started hurting way before it should have. Even worse, the downhills were so steep that I felt cheated out of all of the elevation I banked. Seriously ouchy. I wished I had some kind of cross country skis on during those nasty things. The route was also pretty muddy with all of the recent rain. I was carrying several extra pounds of the stuff on my shoes. I stopped several times to scrape it off on these little triangle shaped barriers they had set up to mark the course. With all of those excuses, I was happy with 57:02.

Total time 2:31:39. 12/28 in my age group and 67/178 overall. The bike was a little bit shorter than a normal Olympic, but I still beat my old Olympic PR by over 20 minutes! Happy day!