October 7, 2006
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I had a great race today at Pinehurst.

The day was chilly, the race was fun and I finished strong. I found out later that I was in first place until a few miles into the bike. I was in 2nd place until a mile into the run. Next year I will get a top 3 spot 🙂

Swim: As I approached the first triangular buoy on the swim, I was relieved because I thought I was nearing the turnaround point. Then I saw that there was another triangular buoy way out in the distance. Crud…I was already tired. I remembered something a triathlete friend told me once…”any pace you can maintain for 500m, you can maintain indefinitely, it only hurts more”. I kept that in my mind as I continued my hard swim effort.

Bike: One female in my age group passed me during the bike. We passed each other a couple of times, then she got ahead of me and I couldn’t catch her.

My favorite part of the bike route, and the entire day was playing ‘tag’ with a clydesdale. We kept passing each other on the bike making jabs at each other. At one point I passed him and he said “I thought I got rid of you back there”. He finally passed me for good on the bike. I caught up to him on the run and tapped his shoulder and said “Tag, you’re it.”? He admited to being a slow runner, so that was the end of our game.? It was fun. I saw him after the race was over and we shook hands and exchanged names.
Run: Three woman in my age group passed me during the first half of the run. From that point on, I watched my back and didn’t see any other females approaching. In the last mile of the run course, I began running all out. I passed a woman with ’28’ on the back of her leg. She said that my hard effort was inspiring, and she picked up her pace. After a little while she passed me. That made me work even harder, so I chased her all the way to the finish. She crossed first, but that’s okay…we helped each other out. She gave me the high five at the end and thanked me for pushing her.

Hills: The hills on the bike and run course were no worse than I’m used to training on at home.

My time was about 2:51. I pushed hard on the run, except for the aid stations, where I stopped and walked to get a drink. I had planned that.

I saw several buddies from the falls lake swim group, and one buddy from the jordan lake swim group.

I was extremely tired after the race and had difficulty staying alert while driving home. I think that means I paced myself just right.

Official Results are in…

Swim 1500 m: 30:53
T1: 2:39
Bike 40k: 1:19:13
T2: 1:53
Run 10k: 56:27
Overall: 2:51:02

I placed 5th in my age group. I saw each of the four women who beat me pass me. The woman who won first place passed me on the bike. The other three passed me on the run. My goal for the off season is to figure out how to run faster so I can keep my lead off the bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did make it into the NCTS!

Run photo: http://tinyurl.com/johnc
Bike photo: http://tinyurl.com/zonff