Mason-Dixon Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon

Started off towards the front of wave 1. Within the first 200 yards or so I could see the front group forming ahead of me. I settled in nicely in the 2nd group in the water. I always seem to have trouble finding a good group to swim with. It wasn't a problem this time. I worked with 3-4 guys most of the swim and was able to pace myself off of them. Good swim for me.

Swim time includes a 75 yard run uphill to timing mat.

Not much

Fairly flawless T1. Made up 10 seconds on the guy who ran into T1 ahead of me. Because of this I was able to get on the bike in time to catch up quickly. We ended up biking together most of the bike and this probably resulted in a better bike time.

Jumped on the bike just behind the 15 year old phenom Sam DeAngelo. We both started hammering from the start. He pulled away initially and got a significant gap on the first climb up campground rd. I eventually pulled him back after a few miles. We caught up to super-swimmer Matt T pretty quickly and made the pass. The rest of the bike was Sam pulling away on the flats and steeper climbs and me catching back up and passing on the downhills and gradual climbs. We stayed within 100 yards most of the bike. Matt T did a pretty decent job staying close until the final 5 miles or so where we pulled away.

Sam and I both entered T2 together and the race was on. Never know what to expect from a 15 year old but I assumed he could run.

Nothing. Had a tough enough time staying with that kid so I don't think I could have gone much harder without blowing.

Great T2. 2nd best time. Best time was 19 seconds. Came in to T2 a few seconds behind the 2nd place guy and left T2 a few seconds ahead of him. Never saw him after the first 1/2 mile.

Had a great transition and was out for the run a few seconds ahead of Sam. I tried to lay down the law in the first mile and discourage him. It is a fairly rough trail run so you can't really run to your full potential. I think I ran right around 6:00 for the first mile. I thought I could hear him behind me most of the first mile but I wasn't looking. I did glance back after we came out of the first woods section and I didn't see him at all. Interesting.... The second mile has some up-hill sections and I think I ran a 6:25 or so. The 2nd woods section has a bunch of turns. I looked back on the turns and didn't see anybody. I started feeling good at about 2 miles. Long course definately suits me better because the race was almost over now. The last mile or so I just cruised. Couldn't see anybody behind me. Probably ran 6:15 or so the last mile. Ran past the family and with the kids for a bit and I was done.

Turns out Sam ran out of T2 and forgot his race number. So he turned around and ran back to get it. I guess you can put that down as inexperience. This is a non-USAT race run by some great people for charity. Nobody was going to DQ or penalize him for not having a number. He finished about a minute behind me. I probably still would have outrun him but it would have been a fun race.

Nothing

Ran around with the kids for a bit. We waiting until most were done and did a run across the finish line. Everybody cheered for them like they were in the race.

Chatted with everybody from our G-burg crew. Good times.


Great race, great venue, great people, great cause. I wish more would come out for this.