Morgans Little Miami Triathlon - TriathlonOther

6 Mile canoe down Miami river. 6 canoes were launched every 2 minutes. It had been a while since I was in a canoe but I felt comfortable taking the helm and guiding us down the river. We got passed once but passed several others. Did pretty well but misjudged some ripples and got hung on a sand bar. Pushed off that and proceeded on. Almost tipped over while handing off a Pay Day candy bar to my racing partner. That would have sucked but I'd had to laugh if we tipped.


Time includes transition.

We had packed dry socks shoes and towels in a large zip lock bag on board the canoe so we were able to dry off and get ready for the run in a hurry.

(Bike was actually last event)
I was whipped after the run and especially after chugging up the crazy hill. My buddy always uses gel packs but I am leery of them upsetting my stomach.

I needed to do something for energy so I gulped one of the nasty things down and mounted my bike. Many of the racers that started earlier were finished and leaving the park. I had to dodge a lot of traffic just to get out on the course. Once I turned out of the park I rode in the middle ring for about a mile and was feeling really good. I then cranked it up to the big ring and started grinding. I could see lines of riders ahead of me and I just reeled them in one by one. However, most of them were on mountain bikes. I didn't care; I got great great satisfaction calling out "on your left". I recognized many of these people as having passed me on the run so that made it even sweeter.

Don't know if it was the gel or if I just got a second wind but I rode really strong. My computer wasn't working so I am not sure on time. I may have been even faster.

I pretty much ran (shuffled) the first 3 miles only walking through the water stations. Then came the long stretch of pavement with no shade at all. The temperature was well into the 80's. Just seeing that long road demoralized me and I was not loving life. My racing partner started complaining that he wasn't feeling well. Being the good friend I am I stopped and walked along with him. We ran/walk the final 2.5-3 miles. We would see a sign or pole and run to it and walk for 30 seconds and repeat. The hill at the end was awful, I had to scramble over tree roots, mud, steps etc. I was looking forward to the cheering section that I had seen earlier but due to our late departure there were none left. Come up the final set of stairs to no fanfare :-(.

Having not run over 5 miles in my life I was pretty pleased. I didn't expect a great time and just wanted to have fun and finish. Dealing with the hill really skewed my overall time. I wish I knew my actual pace over the road. The race was advertised as 5.5 miles but volunteers said it was 6 miles. I'll log it as 5.5.

For a $60 race I was disappointed that T-Shirts were an additional $15. I thought the food rationing at the end was kind of chincy.