We rolled into Omaha around dinner time and made our way to Sara's apartment, our friend we would be staying with. This wasn't like any other college apartment I've ever been in. A deck with a view of the pool, a fire place, full kitchen, laundry...I mean what more could you ask for? I owe her a big "thanks" for letting Kennon and I stay there for the weekend. It made my preparation in the days leading up to the race totally stress-free. After an evening of gawking at her place and catching up with Sara it was off to bed early.
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| A deck overlooking the pool...now that's hard to beat. Thanks for the homestay Sara! |
The next morning Kennon and I got up early to check out the race site. After navigating our way around Omaha we finally found where I would be biking/racing the next morning. Thankfully I brought my bike along with us and I was able to get it out to get a more personal look at the course. After a nice 40 minute spin I was able to get a really good feel for what I would be in for the next morning. And the consensus: hills, hills, and more hills. Post bike ride, Kennon and I went back to Sara's place where we spent the afternoon relaxing in the pool, shopping at a local mall, and getting my gear ready to go for race day.
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| Trying to eat breakfast while getting attacked by Sara's cat. |
Race morning came early. At 3:30am to be exact. This race started at the ungodly hour of 6am so the wake up was brutal. Luckily the race site was only about 10-15 minutes away from where we were staying so we slept as late as possible. The morning of the race had the usual greeting of teammates and friends at the bike rack. It was good to see that other Trihawks had made the drive to race in Omaha.
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| There's no room to joke around before racing. It's strictly business. (Photo cred: Kennon) |
This race was a little bit rushed...ok, it was actually really rushed. Transition opened at 5am and we had to be at the water at 5:45. That isn't very much time to get all your stuff set up, get a solid warmed up in, ect. Actually there was no time to warmup. By the time I stood in line to get my race number and got my running shoes all situated it was time to meet at the waters edge. Without getting a chance to warmup I was just hoping for the best. Going from calm and relaxed one minute to an all out effort the next is always a little bit dicey.
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| The slow walk to the water. (Photo cred: Kennon) |
When the gun went off I was able to put myself on the back of the front pack. I was catching a really good draft and I felt solid for about 500 meters. At this point the front pack of five broke into two smaller packs with me being stuck in the second. I was able to hang onto the feet in front of me for the rest of the swim which made my swim a touch easier.
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| Rolling out to go battle the hills (Photo cred: Kennon) |
Getting out of the drink and onto the bike I had a nice bit of coaching from the sidelines from Kennon. As I was getting my helmet and sunglasses on she was yelling my current place and time gap at me. I didn't tell her to do this before the race but it was much appreciated. I think that she's actually learning about racing on her own. Which was/is really cool. As I jumped on my bike I was in 5th place with two people in my sights just up the road. Within the first couple miles I was able to move into 3rd place. I've never been on a bike course with so many hills on it. I was either going 30+mph or <15mph and no where inbetween. No flats, only hills. Flying down the descents and granny-gearing up the ascents made for a hard bike course.
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| It was a bit toasty this weekend |
As I got off the bike, in 3rd, I was hoping that the hills were behind me. Sadly, I was wrong. We went running through a frisbee golf course, cross country course, and up and down some of the steepest hills/dirt paths I've ever been on. It was either a struggle to move your legs fast enough so that you wouldn't fall on your face or a struggle to even turn the legs over and not walk up the small dirt mountains. As I pushed to the finish line, with a competitor hot on my heals, I was glad the race was over because I was deep in the hurt box.
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| 3rd place finish. Not bad. (Photo cred: Kennon) |
With a bottle of ice water and a finishers medal in my hand I was happy to have finished in 3rd place and on the podium. My race time wasn't anything to write home about because each discipline measured long. Combined extra distance with continues hills and it made for a tough and slow race.
Post race my parents, Kennon, and I found a local burger joint, Danny's. It was Green Bay Packer themed, so I was really enjoying taking it all in. The big laughs and big burgers was an awesome way to refuel after the race. Kennon and I than made our way back to Sara's and immediately to the pool to relax a bit before making the drive home.
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| Nothing to do with triathlon or racing but we saw a pretty nice rainbow on our drive back so I thought that I'd include it
Up next I have three races in the next four weekends. It's going to be a big month of racing with all three races being different distances. I'll sure have a lot to say over the next month! Thanks for reading!
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