Turtle Crawl Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

The start was done as a time trial but ended up more like a controlled run start broken into 3 waves. If you had a number between 1-100 then you were allowed to head out in the first of said waves. Soon as you crossed the mat your chip went off and the race began. I let the "need to jump in first" people go and then made my way to the mat..somehow I was seeded 59?? anyways I ran out and jumped in the ocean and swam out to the yellow marker and turned left...that's about the time I realized that there was no current and that I think it may have been slightly against me. Between the waves and the murk I couldn't tell where I was going. I think I ran over a few people and then got the favor returned to me as well. I swam for what seemed like an hour and then finally caught a glimpse of a marker, since my goggles were fogged up I didn't see the color at first..surprise it was green (the halfway point) it also happened to be about the time that the first wave of sprinters were coming through...I got killed. Needless to say the rest of the swim was fun and long and I was never happier to see the second yellow marker and then finally make it to the beach. On the bright side I couldn't see anything so no need to worry about sharks, plus there were plenty of targets!

Everything, I think I bad one of the worse days in the water since I started. The conditions where bad but then again they were the same way for everyone out there so no complaining...

Headed up the beach across the sand to the pavilion. We had to follow the wooden path around the building and up past the showers to T1. Not a bad run but I was tired from the swim. I made it to my rack and took my suit off...jumped on my bike and then out of T1.

not much, speed up a little I was jogging and muttering about the swim. Suck it up and go.

I jumped on my bike and took the fist .5 mile to settle in and get my pace going. At around the 1 mile mark I hit a TON of traffic where everyone had bunched up (Oly/Sprint) so I did the only natural thing I could think of...pass as many people as possible in large groups! I think the best was 10 at a time. Actually by doing this I was able to make the fist 6 miles fly by. I was pushing hard and there appeared to always be another target to go after. It was a nice ride until we turned onto the front part of the island and hit a strong headwind for the last 7 miles of the loop, past T2 and back around again. It did spread out on the second loop due to the sprints heading in to T2 after one lap. I continued to push and ended up playing leap frog with a group of 4-5 riders. I would get passed and then they would ride ahead for a minute or two and then either slow down or I was riding faster, so I passed them...over and over. This continued until we hit T2 and pulled into the rack. The course was flat and if not for the headwind it would have been extremely fast. I can only imagine if we had been riding counterclockwise...oh my

push harder and attack into the headwind.

Pulled a flying dismount and then ran the bike to the rack. Pulled on my shoes and out I went to the run.

nothing I was moving fairly fast at this point.

After racking the bike and heading out on the run I realized that it was getting warm and I was loosing steam...no worries only 6.2 miles to go and then I could relax. I started with a good steady pace down the shore line and out until I passed the 1.5 marker (also the turn around for the sprint) at this point I been counting the white numbers which were the Oly people and I was up to about 22 but still had not seen Brian. I kept running only to look up and see Coldfire heading right at me. I put my hands up to tell him that he was in 23nd place (by my best guess). He shook his head and told me not to worry about that and to keep pushing hard, high five and then he was gone. I rounded the corner at 3 miles and started to head back in to wards the finish. Up until this point I truly believed that Scott might be in front of me b/c my swim had been poor. I kept running with the thought that if he beat me I was going to hear it from him. At about the 5.5 I looked up and saw Scott heading out on the run...I gave him a high five and told to hang in he was close to the end.

Shortly before I got to Scott I been passed by a guy who promised me cold beer if I could hang in for the finish...well I caught him with a little under .5 to go. I told him to come on and it was only a short distance to freedom. He laughed and thanked me.

I looked up and I was about .25 mile to the finish and heading into the final leg when I saw Brian. He yelled at me that I had a guy on my six and I better not get passed at the end...I figure you should not get passed at the line b/c you should be pushing it as hard as you can go...when he said this to me I thought it was the guy I had just passed so I started to gun it in toward the line. I think I must have been moving well b/c a lot of people really got into to it and starting cheering loud...I crossed the line and looked back to see...nobody, other than coldfire laughing and clapping. Oh well Brain meant well, he claims to have seen a ghost behind me and that i needed to move faster.

Again push harder. I can run faster than this and I need to. I have a mental block about running too fast and wasting out before the finish. I know that I should not have anything left in the tank when I cross the finish...more practice.

Took a cold shower at the beach pavilition...very nice and refreshing. Then I grabbed a few waters and Gatorade to drink. Brian and I walked around and cheered people on. After a little bit we saw my friends Kevin and Sabrina with their son Hunter, so we talked to them and hung out looking for Scott to cross the line. A few minute later Scott came in around the corner and crossed the line.

We decided to look at the results of both the sprint and Oly to see how everyone did. My friend Kevin took 1st place in the Clyde's for the sprint. Naturally we stayed and cheered him on at the awards ceremony before packing up and heading back home.


Mental toughness...need to stop thinking and just run.


Good Race with plenty of activities following. The volunteers were great and they had plenty of aid stations along the course.