Not a good day for me in the water, especially since I consider myself a swimmer now. Just didn't have it....really doing way too much zig zag swimming. Not enough power or stroke rate. On the positive side of the coin I came out of the water feeling really fresh and relaxed....I think I just cruised on this one, mailed it in.

Swim harder!

All in all, not a bad T1. First in age group and 16th overall

Not much

Nice little headwind coming back. I came into this with a strained left calf and wasn't sure what to expect on the bike. Really held back, many times standing right up to stretch it out. It twinged a few times and I thought it was going to go into a full on cramp but luckily it didn't. Tried some heel drops to stretch it out and that helped. Rolled down the big hill luckily missing all the broken pavement and rolled, smiling, into T2. Can't believe I was able to pull that off.

Hopefully not be injured!!

I knew I was looking at a pretty slow time for this race due to my injury so I took my time here....didn't have the custom quick release for the garmin so I had to take it off manually. No biggie, glad I had it on the run.

Get the quick release for the garmin! Oh, and not be injured!

My plan going in to the run was just to think about having quick and light footsteps with a high cadence. Also to try and load the right leg and favor the left. Started out pretty slow, just getting my bearings and seeing what the legs had in them. Surprisingly they felt okay, not great of course, but okay. I gradually upped the pace and the h.r. and settled into a decent pace. Really zoned out on the run and just felt really focused...if that makes any sense. I was in pain but I wouldn't allow myself to suffer. Passed Jamie the first time and he said Bob Stocks was a couple of minutes up the road. Bob passed me coming back and we said hello and high fived. I started to think about actually catching him and told myself to just run my own race and stay within myself. I was unable to catch him at the Broome County Sprint two weeks earlier and I thought that with the extra distance of the 10k I might have a chance. Saw Jamie on the second lap and he said Bob was just up the hill. Saw Bob in his unmistakable Aquafor kit and caught up to him. We ran together for a bit and I decided to try and keep my pace and my H.R. that so far was working for me. With one mile to go I could hear him talking to me from behind and thought that this could get really ugly at the finish if it came down to a sprint. I was throwing everything I had at that point, fighting off some cramps. I slowly started to pick up the pace, hoping to shake him. Turned the corner to the chute and gave it everything I had....Passed under the banner with alot of emotion...went to some very deep places in my heart to get this performance out of myself. Bob came truckin in a bit behind me and sprinted over to the swim start to watch his son start the kids race. Hugged him when I caught up to him after, then texted him later that night thanking him for bringing out the best in me. He then ended up dropping off his compex unit off to my house to help me recover. Heck of a good friend.

Nothing. Left it all out there.

Purity ice cream baby!! Waters and hugs all around. Watched Matt Stocks (Bob's 11 year old son) run in to complete his youth tri.


A little beat up going in to this one!


I don't think I've ever heard one bad thing about this race.....I'll be back for round three next year!