Polar Bear

I raced today. When I arrived at the race venue I heard some words I hadn't really expected. "Kurt is doing the Du". G-r-e-a-t...... I won this race last year and was looking forward to defending the title so now I was going to be chasing a rabbitt. Super...... It didn't take me long to decide I would try to keep Kurt in my sights for as long as possible. This would accomplish two things. 1). It would be fun to see how much pain it caused me to try to stay with him while he tried to crack me. 2) I would use the process to in turn "crack" the guys I knew were chasing ME.
It all went down about how I expected. Kurt hadn't been feeling well (hence the DU) so I was hopeful he might have a little mercy on us on the first run loop. He decided instead to take it out fast and "see who wanted to play". When we hit the woods about 1/4 mile into it I glanced at my Garmin and saw a number I haven't seen before. We were running a 5:00 pace and I knew my time at this pace was very limited. I said screw it and kept on trucking. As Kurt started to pull away I looked at my pace again and saw I was running 5:49 pace. Now what am I supposed to do with that? Hahahah!!!! He was flying! So I backed it off to a 6:00 pace hoping I could hold it for the rest of the two miles and I really had a hard time dong that. I had effectively "Blown-Up" and was now scraping myself together for a tough rest of the race. My focus turned from keeping Kurt in view to keeping the chase pack at bay. I knew Tim Keene and Jared Buzzell were coming fast so I needed to get my act together in a hurry or I was gong to get shot out the back. I heard some footsteps and was quickly caught by two guys I didn't know. OK Boys, now we're gonna find out whatcha got! I decided to let these guys have it because I knew I could get them on the bike. I came into T1 in 4th place. Fast transition got me riding my bike before the two guys so now I was in second - again. I had an OK bike - faster than Kurt but slower than last year. I never felt great on the bike due in part to my effort on the first run. No problem, I wanted to push really hard today and see how I responded to a near blow-up. I got off the bike and tore out onto the second run. I wasn't wearing socks today - bad choice and I immediately knew that I would be shredding my feet. Nothing felt right but I still busted out of there. The run was slower than last year with some of the chase pack out splitting me. I got to the finish 22 seconds ahead of Jered Buzzell. He simply ran out of real estate as he was closing fast. So I was second, behind Kurt and ahead of Jared. I was pretty pleased overall even though I was slower than last year. It was nice to get out and tear it up. I learned a few things and will become better because I raced today. There were a ton of us there from the Midcoast Triathlon Club and it felt great to have had a part in growing such a great club. It's a great group of people just interested in having a good time and supporting each other at the races.
Mike Caiazzo won the tri. My friends Owen Lisa and Brett Helstedt were 2nd and 3rd respectively. These two guys go at each other every single time they race. I respect that, but what I really like is that they are the best of friends and no matter which one of them comes out on top you can still find them hanging out together after the race. They are doing Ironman CDA next month and you can bet I'll be watching online an rooting for both of them.
Doug Welling was 4th and it sounds like he was right on Brett's heels. Good stuff all the way around. A big shout out to my athlete "Meg". I have been coaching her and she kicked butt today. She trains hard and races hard - I like it!
Thank you to my wife for taking so many pictures today. I know people really like being able to snag a few shots without having to pay for them. She got some great shots today!

That's about it....not usually the way I race but you gotta shake things up now and then and she whatcha' get. Today I got my butt kicked but I kicked a lot of butt too. Comes around, goes around ya' know?

Giddy Up!