Sprinted to the first buoy, and it wore me out a bit. It's been about 2 weeks since I last swam, and I haven't really swam more than once a week since Ironman Arizona. There was about 40 of us I'd say in the first wave, so I was in a good pack to the first buoy.

Turned, and it spread out significantly. I saw a pack to my right, but I knew I was on track as I was sighting much more frequently than I usually do. Never really found any feet, so I just did my thing. Felt fluid and smooth, as the wetsuit really helps me out.

Met up with some guy at the final buoy to catch a little draft as I sailed into T1.

Swim more. But unless Longview ever gets a masters swim, I really don't see this happening.

Horrible T1, but this was just a fun race anyways. Couldn't get my arms out of the wetsuit. And when I finally did, then I couldn't get it off my heels. But the strippers helped a little bit.

Slow and methodically prepared for the bike.

Practice transitions. Prepare for sprint triathlons like I did last year.

This is the low point. Hopped on the bike ready to rip it up, and I go to put my shoes in my pedals. Crap! There's no pedals on my bike. Ok, who sabatoged my bike??? I bet it was Zack! Just kidding, although Zack has jokingly told me he would. Turns out I left my pedals on my road bike, which is just sitting at the house.

So I stare at the sky for a minute. Then I turn around and see Dave Kaufman from the Longview Bike Shop. He says, "Aren't you racing?". Yeah, but I don't have any pedals. He can't help. I find Steve Farris, who is the VP of our tri club and directed this great race, and he can't help either. I wander over to the bike tent, and Dave from the Tyler bike shop says he rides the same pedals I do. So he runs to his truck, grabs the bike, mounts it, pulls them off, and puts them on my bike.

As I'm watching this, I see Kami in our tri-club take off. Her swim + T1 was 3:19 slower than me. I'm guessing I finally got on my bike about 1 minute after she passed. So I'm using her as an idea of what my bike split really was, and I'm going to guess high 40's. I'm pretty sure I had a top 5 bike split.

So I'm passing alot of people throughout the entire course. Fun course. Lots of quick steep hills with equal downhills. Not much flat except at the beginning and end. Only 1 person averaged over 22, and that was Brady O'Bryan who's like a USAT all-american and he averaged over 24.

Roll on in to T2, very frustrated with myself.

Put pedals on my bike.

Don't care. I was still pissed off at this point.

Practice transitions. Don't get frustrated when you're just racing a sprint for fun.

Felt pretty good starting. Found a really good pace that I thought I could hold and just went with it. I spotted Zach, and he was probably 1/4 mile ahead of me. Used him as a rabbit.

Kept a decent pace and finally caught up to Zach. I'm glad he was there because he really pushed me.

Coming down the final stretch I was passed by a shorter skinny guy. He said to pick it up and stay with him, and I did through the finish line. I thought I might be flirting with a sub 7 pace, and I'm really excited to see that I did it with a 6:58!

Not much. This is probably my best run ever in a sprint.

Waited for my wife Gina to cross. She did great, winning 1st place overall female! I'm very proud of her, especially since she does minimal training for speed. She's just an incredible triathlete at all distances!

Chatted with more people in the tri club. Complained about my pedals, and eventually was able to smile and laugh about it. This is just too much fun to be upset with silly things.


Pedals. Excess weight. Minimal speed training.


This is the best sprint I have ever participated. Very well organized, very friendly people. Plenty of aid stations, flaggers at every corner. Police officers at every intersection. Some of the best pasta I've ever had post-race. Tons of bagels, oranges, bananas, gatorade, water. Cookies. Cookies. Cookies. :)

Post-race massage at a sprint! Probably over-kill, but it's nice to be treated like you're at something special. I'll definitely do this race again next year, if I'm not involved with directing it.