I competed in the Pacific Grove Olympic Distance Triathlon (1500meter swim, 40 Kilometer bike ride, and 10 Kilometer run) along with Cory and Christy. We all finished the race and it was such a great time! Cory finished 24th in his Age Group(AG) at 2:43:25, Christy finished 37th in her AG at 3:33:32, and I finished 6th in my AG at 2:54:00.
2009 26th 3:11:31.
Two weeks before the race I ‘decided’ to get either a cold or very bad allergies, which then progressed into upper respiratory issues. I didn’t do any training for that first week, and then only a little the week before the race, and the coughing and breathing was a little tough. We decided to stay at a hotel right across the street from the transition area, so made life a lot easier for us, so checked in Friday night. We headed over to pick up our registration packets, and then to the FCA-E (Fellowship of Christian Athletes – Endurance) booth to say hi to fellow FCA racers. After chatting a bit, it was off to dinner. We have decided that we will always go to Gianni’s in Monterey the night before, and the food did not disappoint. Saturday morning came too early, 6:00am. Denise thought she would sleep in, but with being so close to the start/finish and transition areas the announcer was loud and clear through the walls of our room, sorry Denise. Cory and I headed over and got our transition areas set up. A guy next to me says this is his first race, and doesn’t know what to do with any of his numbers, or how to setup transition. I’m no expert, but I helped him with what to do with all his numbers, and how to place his gear in transition. He only started in June, and said he wasn’t a swimmer either. I tried to give him some warning on first time tri swims, but he just said “oh I’ll be okay.” Well off to meet up with the FCA people for prerace prayer. We are very fortunate that TriCal allows us the opportunity to be involved at their races, and really supports FCA-E. As we are gathering for prayer, the leader Troy is called to give the official prerace invocation, so I am left to lead our group in prayer. Cory is first to start at 7:30, so Christy and I give him a hug, and off he goes to get ready for his start.
The morning was pretty foggy, and you could barely see the first course marker, and certainly not the buoy for the first or second turns. We watch Cory complete his first lap , and then a quick hug, then Christy and I are off to get ready for our starts. Before heading back to the beach, I saw Cory running for the bike exit, so got to cheer for him to have a great ride. I got to the beach, took a warmup swim, then realized I still had my wedding ring on, oops! Denise was nowhere to be found, but fortunately I found a friends wife and let her hold on to it for me, turns out her husband did the same thing, doh! Well, I find my spot at the start, the countdown begins, the horn sounds, and off we go! The fog has lifted so I can see the markers, sorry Cory. I am in the middle of the pack, and amongst all of the craziness of a tri swim where there is a lot of bumping, hitting, and kicking going on! This is my sixth tri, and for the first time I am comfortable in the swim, I’m not fast but I am not bothered by all of the other bodies. As I settle into my pace, I slowly start to pass some of the other racers in my group. I finish my first lap, run up on the beach and then back into the water. I continue to pass a few more people from my wave, and even some stragglers from two earlier waves. Some where on the second lap I had a coughing attack, and after a brief scare with that , gt my throat cleared and continued on. As I head into the finish, I decided to stay as much to the right as possible, where most of the racers were heading to the left, which meant that they would have a little longer run on the beach before heading to transition. When I came out of the water, my friends the Blackmons were there cheering for me. I did not know they had made it to the race so did not see them. David said I was pretty loopy and disoriented, so he got a real good laugh. Turns out I had the 9th fastest swim for my AG I got through transition without any real issue and out onto the bike course.
The bike course is four laps from Lovers Point to Asilomar and back, for a total of 24.8 miles. I did get to see Cory on his last lap, and yelled for him. It took a bit to get my legs going, so I didn’t push too hard at first as they loosened up. I followed a rider for about two miles, while making sure to stay far enough back to not be drafting him. So I finally picked up the pace, and pulled past him. I did see a couple of the FCAers on the bike and always enjoy yelling for them, and saw Christy at one point as well. The Blackmons, Denise, and the Nybergs were at the area where each lap ended, and were yelling like crazy for us as went by. At this point the bike is my stronger part of the race, and what I enjoy the most, and I was passing quite a few riders. On the second lap the fog rolled in at about the halfway point of the lap, and the wind kicked up a little, it was like this for the rest of the ride. I was feeling pretty good on the bike ride, and thought I would have a good time, but knew it would be 1-2mph average lower than I hoped to have done. A lot of triathletes take their feet out of their bicycle shoes, leaving the shoes clipped onto the pedals when they get off the bike. I haven’t conquered that yet, so I leave my cycling shoes on as I dismount and run into transition. Well, I thought I would make it a little easier, so I unclipped form my pedals, and then as I approached the dismount line I swung my right leg over the bike. Only problem was that as I did that, my left foot clicked back into the pedal …. Uh, when you are clicked into one pedal and not moving forward, you meet the pavement. Yes, in front of all those people and with the announcer commenting on me finishing my ride, I crashed! It was nothing except embarrassing. I unhooked quickly and off to transition. I ended up with the 4th fastest bike time in my AG, and the guy ahead of me was 5 seconds faster, guess I shouldn’t have crashed, ha! So I get my helmet and shoes off, pull on my running shoes, grab my visor and off for a nice 10K run.
The run is three laps from Lovers Point to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and back. I am feeling ok on the run, and though my first lap seemed to be just a tad slower than I wanted, I thought I would be able to pick up the pace on the next to laps. I saw Denise and the Nybergs before the end of the lap, and kept waiting for them to see me, finally as I am passing them with still no recognition, I yelled ‘hey!’ with my arms out in mock exasperation, then saw the Blackmons at the turn around. David was trying to will me on to superhuman running speed, but to no avail. I continued on and only noticed one or two racers pass me that had a 50-54 on their leg. They write our age on the back of our leg, go figure. At the end of my 5th mile my knee (which I had hurt earlier in the summer playing softball) started getting really sore and a little stiff. I sucked it up and did not want to give in to it with only one mile left. As I approached the finish I picked up my pace as much as I could (no crazy sprint here!) and heard the announcer call my name , I raised my arms and ran on through the finish line. My run was about a minute a mile slower than I had hoped for, but I really can’t complain, it was a really good race.
After a little time to catch my breath, I checked the results and to my surprise had the 6th best time in the men’s 50-54 year old group. My friend and fellow FCA-E racer, David Kurtze has finished in 4th and missed 3rd by 1 sec!
My Time:
Total time: 2:54:00
Swim: 36.02, Bike 1:15:38(19.7mph), Run: 57:54 (9:20/mile)
It was a fun weekend, and we had a great race. If you ever want to give triathlon a go, it has been a real blast and has been instrumental in being in better physical condition. I know several friends and family that have given it a go, and don’t think any have regretted it. My next race is on Oct 2nd at Lake Lopez, so until then, thanks for reading and for cheering from afar!
2009 26th 3:11:31.
Two weeks before the race I ‘decided’ to get either a cold or very bad allergies, which then progressed into upper respiratory issues. I didn’t do any training for that first week, and then only a little the week before the race, and the coughing and breathing was a little tough. We decided to stay at a hotel right across the street from the transition area, so made life a lot easier for us, so checked in Friday night. We headed over to pick up our registration packets, and then to the FCA-E (Fellowship of Christian Athletes – Endurance) booth to say hi to fellow FCA racers. After chatting a bit, it was off to dinner. We have decided that we will always go to Gianni’s in Monterey the night before, and the food did not disappoint. Saturday morning came too early, 6:00am. Denise thought she would sleep in, but with being so close to the start/finish and transition areas the announcer was loud and clear through the walls of our room, sorry Denise. Cory and I headed over and got our transition areas set up. A guy next to me says this is his first race, and doesn’t know what to do with any of his numbers, or how to setup transition. I’m no expert, but I helped him with what to do with all his numbers, and how to place his gear in transition. He only started in June, and said he wasn’t a swimmer either. I tried to give him some warning on first time tri swims, but he just said “oh I’ll be okay.” Well off to meet up with the FCA people for prerace prayer. We are very fortunate that TriCal allows us the opportunity to be involved at their races, and really supports FCA-E. As we are gathering for prayer, the leader Troy is called to give the official prerace invocation, so I am left to lead our group in prayer. Cory is first to start at 7:30, so Christy and I give him a hug, and off he goes to get ready for his start.
The morning was pretty foggy, and you could barely see the first course marker, and certainly not the buoy for the first or second turns. We watch Cory complete his first lap , and then a quick hug, then Christy and I are off to get ready for our starts. Before heading back to the beach, I saw Cory running for the bike exit, so got to cheer for him to have a great ride. I got to the beach, took a warmup swim, then realized I still had my wedding ring on, oops! Denise was nowhere to be found, but fortunately I found a friends wife and let her hold on to it for me, turns out her husband did the same thing, doh! Well, I find my spot at the start, the countdown begins, the horn sounds, and off we go! The fog has lifted so I can see the markers, sorry Cory. I am in the middle of the pack, and amongst all of the craziness of a tri swim where there is a lot of bumping, hitting, and kicking going on! This is my sixth tri, and for the first time I am comfortable in the swim, I’m not fast but I am not bothered by all of the other bodies. As I settle into my pace, I slowly start to pass some of the other racers in my group. I finish my first lap, run up on the beach and then back into the water. I continue to pass a few more people from my wave, and even some stragglers from two earlier waves. Some where on the second lap I had a coughing attack, and after a brief scare with that , gt my throat cleared and continued on. As I head into the finish, I decided to stay as much to the right as possible, where most of the racers were heading to the left, which meant that they would have a little longer run on the beach before heading to transition. When I came out of the water, my friends the Blackmons were there cheering for me. I did not know they had made it to the race so did not see them. David said I was pretty loopy and disoriented, so he got a real good laugh. Turns out I had the 9th fastest swim for my AG I got through transition without any real issue and out onto the bike course.
The bike course is four laps from Lovers Point to Asilomar and back, for a total of 24.8 miles. I did get to see Cory on his last lap, and yelled for him. It took a bit to get my legs going, so I didn’t push too hard at first as they loosened up. I followed a rider for about two miles, while making sure to stay far enough back to not be drafting him. So I finally picked up the pace, and pulled past him. I did see a couple of the FCAers on the bike and always enjoy yelling for them, and saw Christy at one point as well. The Blackmons, Denise, and the Nybergs were at the area where each lap ended, and were yelling like crazy for us as went by. At this point the bike is my stronger part of the race, and what I enjoy the most, and I was passing quite a few riders. On the second lap the fog rolled in at about the halfway point of the lap, and the wind kicked up a little, it was like this for the rest of the ride. I was feeling pretty good on the bike ride, and thought I would have a good time, but knew it would be 1-2mph average lower than I hoped to have done. A lot of triathletes take their feet out of their bicycle shoes, leaving the shoes clipped onto the pedals when they get off the bike. I haven’t conquered that yet, so I leave my cycling shoes on as I dismount and run into transition. Well, I thought I would make it a little easier, so I unclipped form my pedals, and then as I approached the dismount line I swung my right leg over the bike. Only problem was that as I did that, my left foot clicked back into the pedal …. Uh, when you are clicked into one pedal and not moving forward, you meet the pavement. Yes, in front of all those people and with the announcer commenting on me finishing my ride, I crashed! It was nothing except embarrassing. I unhooked quickly and off to transition. I ended up with the 4th fastest bike time in my AG, and the guy ahead of me was 5 seconds faster, guess I shouldn’t have crashed, ha! So I get my helmet and shoes off, pull on my running shoes, grab my visor and off for a nice 10K run.
The run is three laps from Lovers Point to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and back. I am feeling ok on the run, and though my first lap seemed to be just a tad slower than I wanted, I thought I would be able to pick up the pace on the next to laps. I saw Denise and the Nybergs before the end of the lap, and kept waiting for them to see me, finally as I am passing them with still no recognition, I yelled ‘hey!’ with my arms out in mock exasperation, then saw the Blackmons at the turn around. David was trying to will me on to superhuman running speed, but to no avail. I continued on and only noticed one or two racers pass me that had a 50-54 on their leg. They write our age on the back of our leg, go figure. At the end of my 5th mile my knee (which I had hurt earlier in the summer playing softball) started getting really sore and a little stiff. I sucked it up and did not want to give in to it with only one mile left. As I approached the finish I picked up my pace as much as I could (no crazy sprint here!) and heard the announcer call my name , I raised my arms and ran on through the finish line. My run was about a minute a mile slower than I had hoped for, but I really can’t complain, it was a really good race.
After a little time to catch my breath, I checked the results and to my surprise had the 6th best time in the men’s 50-54 year old group. My friend and fellow FCA-E racer, David Kurtze has finished in 4th and missed 3rd by 1 sec!
My Time:
Total time: 2:54:00
Swim: 36.02, Bike 1:15:38(19.7mph), Run: 57:54 (9:20/mile)
It was a fun weekend, and we had a great race. If you ever want to give triathlon a go, it has been a real blast and has been instrumental in being in better physical condition. I know several friends and family that have given it a go, and don’t think any have regretted it. My next race is on Oct 2nd at Lake Lopez, so until then, thanks for reading and for cheering from afar!
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