Mountain Man Triathlon - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

When the horn sounded, Shawn and I were in a perfect spot on the front and went hard for a 100 yards or so. We were quickly clear with one person just ahead of us. Immediatley I felt the elevation in my respiration. As soon as you put your face back down from a breath you feel like you need another. I knew it was coming and I also knew it owuld pass as I settled down. We rounded the first bouy in a line of 3 and began the long up downward leg. We had a kyaker to the left and could see maybe 100 yards in front. I had to assume that the lead swimmer was sighting well and if not the kayaker would let us know if we went off course. I was wrong on both counts.

I was swimming so well, felt great, had a high turnover, that I lost track of time, but eventually was thinking we should be able to at least see the turn marker. I kept looking in the middle of the lake for it but saw nothing. It had been so foggy in Transition, I couldn't see where it was but just assumed it would be there. It wasn't. It was way over by the far shore and by the time I stopped to look for it, I was way to the right and could see a line of swimmers making a beeline towards. I had to hammer over there and was able to rejoin back in 3rd place of this group. I likely would have been about 1:00 faster had I sighted the marker way earlier and the course was a tad long. The first swimmer went 30:50. But it was ok, I was till well up there and in the race.

I should have looked for the Olympic markers and swam right along them but man, it was hard to see!

I had a good Transition, 3rd fastest OA, and got out onto the bike only to relaize I had neglected to open the straps on my shoes, so i had to fuss with those a bit to get into them. One guy went by me but I caught him a few moments later.

Open my straps.

As I settled down I could see two guys in front of me but first place was a bit further up the road. Within the first few miles, I moved into 2nd and could see first when I was unexpectedly joined by Brian Folts, a young local fellow who seems to be obssesed with beating me. :) He's good kid. I found out from my friend Steve Rink, who let Brian stay with him the night before the race, that his plan was to try and hang with me on the bike as he's a very solid runner. He passed by and we went back and forth as we caught first place who turned out to be another friend and very fast guy, Brad Hendron. Brad was 4th at Show Low but was coming off an injury and when healthy is a sub 35 10K guy. I was suprised he beat me out of the water but found out later he had been right behind me and saw the marker before I did. So Brian and I continued to trade places and make small talk as we began the first loop. My bike was much faster on the downhills but he would ride hard to catch-up on the flats and climbs. I felt pretty sure he couldn't do this for 56 miles and was right. Eventually he dropped back to a legal draft and I began to pull away.

I didn't feel super for the first 20 miles. My HR was low, in the high 140's, which happens whenever I race at this elevation. This course has 2552 feet of climbing ranging between 7000-7200 feet above sea level. I attcaked the hills, jumping out of the saddle when climbing, and on one huge descent, I must have been going almost 50mph down on the aero bars, it was fun..and scary! Temps were cool and I had one water bottle with me and a gel flask which is all I used for the ride. There was one out and back and I could see that Brian had been passed by another rider who I didn't know and looked very strong. I just put my head down, went to work, and never looked behind me. There was a great tailwind on the long ride back to transition and I was passing the very BOP of the Olympic race which started 30min after the Half. As I approached Transition, I realized I had company. That tall rider had manged to stay with me and he entered T2 right behind me.

Nothing, that was a 2:05 improvement over last year.

So me and my tall new friend acknowledged eachother as we headed to the racks. He was in the rack in front of mine and I could see him getting his gear. We both were putting on sock, which I normally don't do but I have a blister on my left heel. I grabbed my race belt, visor, and full gel flask and hit the run first.

Nothing, I had the fastest T2.

As we began the run, this guy, his name was Dan, immediatlety passed me and was motoring. I wasn't even remotley ready to run that fast this early. He opened up a gap of maybe 50 yards by the time we hit the big climb. I knew at the top, around the 5K mark, there was a turnaround and I could see where everyone else was. Brad and moved ahead of Brian and was on a complete scorcher. Brian was suffering from trying to stay with me 2 hours before. I came down the hill and headed out Lake Mary Rd. to the far turnaround. I actually felt pretty good and ran within myself. Dan was still in sight, but now at least 1:30 up the long road. I worked through my gel flask and got some water at ever aid station.

At the turn, Dan was a steady 1:30 ahead and about 2:00 back was Brad and he had not slowed a bit. I called over to him and sid he still had plenty of time to catch me! He laughed but I knew it was true, we still had 5 miles to go. The pass came with 2.5 left and he looked great. What I didn't think he could do was catch Dan, which is exactly what he did within sight of the line and won the race! It was an amazing run, a 1:30, 6:00 faster than Dan and 8:00 faster than me. I cruised on in and took Chip and Dxter from Jamie to run across the line with me. :)

Well, I was 1:27 better than last year but there was no way I could run as fast as Brad did.

Once I was relegated to 2nd and eventually 3rd, my biggest goal was to make sure I would be the top Masters finisher as this race only gives nice awards to 1st OA and then Men and Women Masters winners. We hung out with our friends and stayed for the awards.


This is a fun race and a beautiful, challenging course.