I headed down to the swim with my wife it was down a hill to the pond. As always I say a prayer for all the atheltes participating as well as the volunteers and the spectators to be safe especially today with the rain. I also prayed for myself asking not only be safe but be smart. Well I wasn't very smart today on the bike but we will get to that. I was in the 3rd wave so I had to wait about 10 minutes before I got going. I noticed I did not have my heart monitor on so I ran backup the hill where my wife was and thankfully it was in my bag so I gave her a kiss, put that on and headed back down to the pond. The organiziers did a real good job with spacing the waves out plus I think there were a lot less people than they expected which turned out to be great for the swim. I noticed in my wave a lot of people lining up outside so I decided to go inside because there less people there. I worked out great it seemed that there was a lot of room and hardly any contact the entire swim. I was able to swim more relaxed like I do out at Wildwood lake. I just could not believe the amount of room I had. The pond was great as well the water was very clear so you could see people ahead of you at all times before running up on them. I made it down to the first turnaround bouy and swam across to the second turnaround bouy and then headed for home. Again very little contact if any through out the race. When I got closer I tried to push it a little more and pick up the pace. I felt like the back leg went very quickly and I was out of the water in no time. I got my goggles, cap and wetsuit top off and headed for the LONG walk to the transition area. I believe it was about 800m's away and it was all uphill!

Not much here, I think I did great in the swim especially since I am a pretty slow swimmer. I expected a lot of carnage, people getting run over and all but there was very little of that from what I could see. The only thing I could have done better was to have swam faster but I think I had a good rythym and a good pace going for me. I think I was a little asleep before the swim. I think the swim got me awake and got my head into the race.

So you have to understand this about my T1 time it doesn't look real good but it was a LONG way from the swim to the transition area. It's all up hill and you are walking barefoot. I hustled up the hill from the pond to the road where it was carpeted but I fast walked back to transition. I didn't rush and neither did most people I was with. When I got to transition everything was in bags and wet so I did not rush here either getting myself together. I just made sure I had what I needed and I got going. I did break the cardinal rule of doing something I had never done before in training. I did not use socks with my bike shoes. It was just too wet and I figured it would wind up being more of a problem then it would help me. It wound up being a good move, I had no issues riding without the socks.

Not much I could have moved faster or run up the hill all the way there but I was not racing for a win here and I just didn't think it was worth wasting a lot of energy in T1 that I could have used when I got on the bike. I need to improve in transition but I think with weather and the logistics of this race this was not the race to worry about trying to do that.

So this is where my race got interesting and this is where I made my biggest mistake today. I left the boy scout camp and tried to push as hard as could given the conditions. It was very wet out so I was trying to push it but trying to be smart about it. I made it through the residential neighborhood and up RT 25 to the Grumman complex in good shape. I passed some people but not a ton of people like the last two races. When I was in the Grumman complex turning on towards the way to the runway I got caught up racing another woman who I had just passed shortly before. She caught me and I in turn tried to push the pace again but as I tried to settle back into the aero position I did not have good balance and with the wind, rain and wet surface the bike wobbled and down I went down on my right side landing hard on my hip and back sliding across the pavement. My first crash. I will say this it is funny how time seems to stop in those moments and the things you think about. I thought this really sucks that this happening right now, my race is pretty much over my time is really going to suck, OMG my poor Cervelo P2 and is it or anything on me broken. I know it sounds crazy but I thought about when I was going to crash I knew it would happen eventually but to have it happen in a race is to me like the coolest way you can have it happen. I mean I didn't want to crash and I didn't try to but it was very cool like a rite of passage. I truly feel like a real cyclist now. Back to the race, so I assessed my wounds, road rash on my right elbow, arm, back and hip. I had to put my chain back on my bike but everything seemed functional so I got back on and got moving. I did so a little more carefully, I stayed out of aero and just rode the course. At this point I was now on the runway and it was downpouring rain I mean torrential rain which really helped me. I think being wet and cool helped with the wounds and the blood. It was very windy though at that point so I was taking it easy on the runway. I was able to finish out the course pretty well. I got passed because I was a little more cautious but I did not totally back down I just figured I could not afford to take the chance of falling again. I probably lost somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes due to the crash and I had to stop to make sure I didn't lose my small saddle bag behind my seat so I lost a little more time for that stop. I did pass people on the way back once we were near the camp but I wasn't going to be overly aggresive or stupid at that point. I was stupid enough for being careless earlier I was not about to have that happen again.

It's pretty simple I would not have been so careless as I was out there. I should not have been trying to race anybody in those conditions. Lesson learned on that also to note I don't have much experience riding in the rain and in wet conditions so it was a learning experience riding in those conditions today. I can't complain though about the crash, it happened, it was my fault but I got right back on that bike and finished that race. I was not about to let that end my race today.

I did have a problem in T2 I was in the wrong row so I wasted time with that but I was not rushing. I was trying to clean the blood off me and assess my injuries a little further. I was particuarly concerned with my hip as I really wanted to kill the run since I screwed up so bad on the bike. Thankfully the adrenaline kicked in I had no problems with it during the run. I grabbed my bottle of infinit and a towel to keep wiping down my elbow which was still bleeding a little.

Well being in the right bike row would have helped but other than that not much I needed to make sure I was ok and I had what I needed. I'm ok with it like I said this was not the race to complain about it because it wasn't a typical race with the weather and the crash.

Since I didn't use up a lot of energy on the bike I felt great for the run. I totally killed the run today. I am not a fast runner for me to run sub 9 minutes on muddy, puddle filled trails with a hip the size of a softball and blood running down my arm was simply amazing. I am so proud of myself for going all out on the run. I passed ALOT of people on the run and it is usually the other way round. It was just a blast to be motoring around the trails in those conditions. Now I would love to run these trails when it is dry as I do all my running on dirt and trails so for me I felt like I was in my element. I also expected to be much slower but that was not the case today. It was a great course that took you in and around the lake and through the camp property. I felt great but towards the end I passed a few women and I had a pretty good lead on them but one of them ran me down and passed me. I really could have caught her at the end I was right there as she was definitely out of gas but I just held back. It just did not seem like the right thing to do, they had the tape stretched out already and she was coming through the finish I just let up and let her have her moment. She earned it with that burst she put on at the end. I didn't want to ruin that for her and besides I already crashed once today racing somebody I was in no condition to wreck again. Once was enough for the day. As soon as I crossed I saw my wife and one of the volunteers and I went off to medical with them to get patched up a little bit and get checked out. Once we were done there my wife and I headed home.

Nothing I can say I gave it everything I had and then some on that run. I could not be more proud of how I finished the race today. I left it all out there and just think I didn't even feel like doing this today lol.

Well if you consider the medical tent a cool down that is pretty much what I did. Honestly once the race was over I went back to transition with my wife and we got my bike and the rest of my very wet stuff. By then the adrenaline was wearing off and the pain was starting to set in. When I got home I will say I was shocked at the extent of the road rash and the softball that was on my hip/thigh.


The weather was the biggest thing today. Not much you can do about that and the crash did not help me as I lost at least 10 if not 15 minutes beacuse of that.


I think the organizers Competitive events put on a really good race today. Outside of the weather and my crash I had a great time. The swim and the run were great. The bike course for me was so so I did not care for the ride down the runway much I would have rather rode within the Grumman complex as they have some nice smooth flat roads to ride in there. I would definitely do this race again.