The swim was long. The two male pro's both went around 21min, one of whom would usually swim a 1500M under 18. The swim was the same direction as IMAZ, so the sun was glaring making sighting tough. I swam a hard, steady pace and found a great draft on the way back.

Tranisiton was fine, just wearing the Speedsuit made it simple enough. I ran to the mount line and pedaled away with my feet on top of my shoe's until I was on the road and could put them on properly.

This was the same course used for Tempe International Olympic and Sprint waves were much closer together making for a hazardous crowding condition on the course. It was very tricky. I knew it would be difficult to hold a steady pace, but I wanted to really push hard on this ride. My HR was in the low 160's and I just kept it there for the entire ride. Started to feel it on the last lap for sure and was a bit concerned about the run. I decided I would either finish strong or I would blow myself up! I was very happy with the pace and the perceived effort.

Quick T2 with no drama.

Started out on the run feeling ok, it was getting very warm and I hit the first aid station for water. Ran the first mile in around 6:45 into a headwind and started hoping that I would loosed up some more. I passed one Olympic racer early on and then was lost in a sea of the BOP Sprint race. As I finished the first lap, I saw Nick and he cheered me on and said,"18 more min to go!" Yeah, right I thought, maybe if he dropped me off a cliff I would cover the last 5K in 18!

The last lap was very tough, I didn't feel that great and was ready to be done. I only occassionaly glanced at my HR as it was around 168 but I still was comitted to pushing this run to the limit. I finally got to the Mill Ave bridge with .2 miles to go. At .15 left, I passed Nick again. What's the worst thing you can hear at the ass end of a race when you are just ready to be done? "Cam Hill is righ in front of you, you can catch him!" Nick yelled. I looked down the road maybe 20 yards and could see him. He's in my AG this year and is a great short course guy with a pro level swim. In fact, Lewis Elliot, one of our local pro's drafts off Cam in Olympic races. I didn't even know he was racing. Last time we went head to head was last year at this race and he beat me by 23 seconds.

I wasn't sure if I could catch him, but figured I would give it a go. As we both descended down the bridge, I closed the gap a bit but it still seemed too far. He rounded the turn towards the finish and I followed. As I cam around the turn, he was a LOT closer. Now we had maybe 100 yards to go, downhill into a grassy area where the line was. I was usre he was going to look over his shoulder but he never did. I realized i had to go now and try and catch him flat footed. Right as I hit the afterburnners, the announcer calle dout our names and said it was a sprint finish. Cam heard that right at the moment I went by. I beat him by 2 seconds. My first finishing sprint in a triathlon. :)

Apologizing to Cam for sneaking up on him like that! He was a good sport and he was mad at himself.


I was a little dissapointed to learn that although there was a seperate Pro wave (with only 2 Pro's) they were aggregated into the final awards, so my potential 2nd overall was bumped to 4th, but it was ok. I did tease Nicole DeBoom about it and she felt bad.