The alarm came early. We made a split second decision to chance having time to come back after the race (thankfully!), leaving most of our stuff in the room. The breakfast was great (both before the race and after!). We made it to Bowers Harbor with plenty of time and I quickly setup. Kristin took off running, which was great because it was cold and she wanted to get her miles in.
We hit the water a few minutes before the start to discover that it was pretty cold. There were a few guys in speedos, kudos to them. The horn went off and everyone took off. I played it smart and paced myself, found some open water, and just cruised through. For yet another race, Timmy and I came out of the water right next to each other after not intentionally doing so. Not a bad swim. [Strava GPS file]
T1 was a bit tough, I was cold and a little dizzy from the swim. Once I had my wetsuit off, it was pretty quick out. Struggled with clipping in my shoes out the gate, but thankfully that wouldn't come back to haunt me.
The bike was a chance to see how the new bike climbed. With over 500' of vertical in 12.4 miles, it is a pretty hilly course. I set off and claimed the lead after a couple miles. As soon as I had done so, we turned a corner and started uphill. I made a rash decision to downshift on my front chainring, did so too quickly, and my chain dropped. My attempt to get it back on without stopping was unsuccessful, so I hopped off to remedy the situation. I discovered that my chain had wrapped around the speedfin/brake bolt underneath, hence not being able to shift it back on to the chainring. After what seemed like minutes (probably only 30 seconds), I had the chain back on. Unfortunately, I had lost the lead again and would need to make up precious time. Timmy is a faster runner and I needed to build a decent buffer against him, and other fast runners in the field. I quickly pulled the lead back and rode with a vengeance. Into T2 in the lead, but with Olympic athletes ahead of me, I wasn't 100% certain. [Strava GPS file]
T2 was fast. Happy that I managed to get out in under 40 seconds. Thankfully after proactively, yet harshly, asking random people standing in the way of the bike rack to move (they didn't appear to be racing so I don't know what they were doing?), I had a clear shot and was on my way.
Out on to the run course, it was time to find out if my extra effort on the bike would help or hurt me. I settled into a rhythm and was happy to see less than 6:30/mi pace. My heart rate was reasonable to boot, so I pressed on. There's one out-and-back section on which to gauge your competitors. Initially, it appeared I had about 45 seconds with a [Michigan Awesome] teammate charging hard. This kept me honest and driving forward. The run course winds through a nature trail featuring not less than 3 downed trees and winding, sandy singletrack. Nice touch, thankfully I knew this ahead of time. From here out it was running scared, waiting for footsteps. When I hit mile three, I couldn't see anyone behind me. I opened up my stride anyway and pushed to the finish. With little pomp and circumstance, I crossed the line in first! About 30 seconds later, and within 2 minutes, a bunch of athletes and teammates finished. [Strava GPS file]
It was fun to win overall. We love the TC area and this was a great race. Nice morale boost after a rough/tough race at AG Nationals. Put it on the list for next year. We hauled back to the hotel, showered, and back up to collect awards. This time, with a little more gusto, I was announced as the winner by name. I was also mentioned in the news that evening, though Timmy still takes that title after having won and been interviewed at last year's race! Here's the link to the news page, and a mention by the TC Record Eagle.A huge thanks to Kristin for supporting me one last time this year. To [Michigan Awesome] and PowerBar, thanks for the support as well! One more race this triathlon season, Reeds Lake. Hope to see you there. Keep dreaming!
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