I had a great swim. I was right in the middle of the pack for my wave, so there was some bumping, but after LP it seemed like no big deal. The swim felt so fast - it felt like I had just started swimming, and there was the first turn, then the second, then done. When I hit the beach I was right at 9 minutes, but they didn't mark the time til a little further up the beach.

The transition times are estimated - they were included in the bike time so the times are based on my own stopwatch. We had to run a little ways from the beach and through some woods to get to T1, so the time is higher than I would expect. I made the decision to go sockless for the first time ever, and this definitely made things go faster.

The first 4 miles were pretty good, had a little wind behind me, and the road was rolling. Had my average speed up to 21 by mile 4. Then came one of the nastiest hills I've ever ridden. Only about 1/4 mile, but crazy steep. Everyone was standing and grinding up this one. For those of you who know the devil hill at Mooseman - this hill would eat the devil hill for breakfast. By the time I hit the top, my average speed was down close to 18 mph, and I spent the rest of the ride getting it back up. The rest of the course was fair, with some rollers to slow you down here and there. There were four railroad crossings, which were fine except for one thing - there were actual trains running today! As I came up on one of the crossings there was a train going by, but I was lucky and the last car came into sight just as I was starting to slow down. I was able to cross without stopping, but some competitors at this race did have to stop and wait.

During the ride I started into a back and forth battle with this guy from Rhode Island who was in my age group. Passed him and was repassed by him 7-8 times. We exchanged a few good-natured comments along the way...

Again, this was the first time I went sockless, so it was a little awkward pulling my feet out of the shoes, but it went ok. Definitely worked well running barefoot into transition, slipping on my running shoes, and taking right off. The actual transition took all of a few seconds, the rest of the time was running into/out of the transition area.

Practice getting my feet out of the shoes.

The first mile felt a little slow - some of the trail was pretty sandy. Shortly into the first mile I missed a turn (I guess I was too busy watching where my feet were going to avoid roots and rocks) and heard a yell from Rhode Island guy - I circled back and now was behind him by 10-20 feet. I stayed a little behind him into Mile 2, where I passed him on a downhill and got about 20 feet ahead, but it didn't last. He re-passed me with about a mile to go. I managed to keep him from getting too far ahead, and was hoping to make a charge in the last stretch, but when I tried to catch him at the end he had the same idea and managed to hold me off and beat me by four seconds. On the up-side, there was another guy from my age group just behind me that I managed to hold off and beat him by 5 seconds.

Talked with Rhode Island guy, seemed like a nice guy. Eventually met up with Jeff (Jackemy) and Mike (MikeJ), had some watermelon, banana, water, and a brownie, hung out and waited to see results.


I had a goal of placing in my age group, and I thought this might be a good chance since it was a small local race. It didn't happen, as there were some pretty fast guys out there, and a lot of people in the 35-39 age group. Still, I'm very happy with this race. I felt like I gave it my best effort, and I'm really pleased with my times. I met most of my goals for this race: Under 1:40/100 on the swim, and under 7 minute miles for the run. I had a goal of 22 mph on the bike, but given this course I'm happy with my bike time, which was good enough for 4th in my age group and 18th overall.

It was very nice to meet some other BTers - this was MikeJ's first ever tri, and he put in some excellent times, as did Jackemy. Also got to meet local superstar Kurt Perham, who likely would have won the race if not for a flat on that nasty hill.

The best part of the day: When I got home, my 5 year old daughter Catie asked me if I had "won". I told her that I didn't place in my age group, but I came in 5th and did my best. She disappeared for a few minutes then came back with a handmade "5th place certificate" which she presented to me. Best award ever.

Link to race pictures:
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery.asp?userid=eszalajeski&gallery...