Once again, I spent the 2nd weekend of July in Chattanooga, TN for the Waterfront Triathlon. This was my third straight year traveling there for the race and once again, I regretted my decision, haha. That bike course is really difficult, and it always hurts, ALOT. Which in turn, makes for a difficult run just because your legs are fried.
In all seriousness, it is a great race. I wouldn't have returned (twice) if I did not think it was a great race. Team Magic does a great job putting the race on and making it a fun race. The swim is down stream in the river, the bike course is on the highway, and the run is on the path that runs alongside the river. It's a great course, just not an easy one.
My brother and I arrived on Saturday evening. We picked up our packets, went to the "elite" meeting, then grabbed some dinner with some good company at the Big River Brewery. Sunday morning came, we rode our bikes down from the hotel, and prepped our Transition area for the race. Luckily, I was given race number 1 since I was the returning champion. Even though most of the guys I was competing against swam competitively in college, I was still the number 1 seed in the water (not cool).
Well, 7:30 am rolled around, and I was off. It didn't take too long for Zach Winchester to come flying by me. A minute or two later, two others came by me, and towards the end of the swim a fourth guy flew by. I guess I was happy to only have 4 guys pass me, but I was out of the water in about 18 minutes which is decent for me. I ran up to T1 and took off on the bike.
The bike was uneventful. My legs didn't feel great, and I knew that I was catching everyone that was up the road, I was only making up about 2 seconds per mile (rough estimate). They were still a ways up the road, even at the turn around. I passed one guy around the 15th mile, but that was my only victim on the bike. I rolled into T2 in 4th position and had a good transition. I took off on the run with two guys in sight. I caught Winchester about a mile into the run, and with a few encouraging words from him, took off after the next guy. It took me 3.5 miles to catch the first guy off of the bike, but I managed to go by him and put enough time between him and myself to cover the time trial start. I never caught Eric Limkemann who took home the big W for the event. I crossed the finish line in second position. It was a tough run, but I felt decent about it. Well, when I checked the results, another competitor had beaten me by 1 second. He was third across the line, but if he started 1 minute back from me, then he only had to finish 59 seconds behind me. it's hard to figure out placing with the time trial starting.
It was a tough and hot day but was happy to have finished where I did. There were some fast guys there. It was a much deeper field than in past years. It always brings out the best in people when you are racing against the best. I have a short week ahead of me, and another race on Saturday (the Evergreen Lake Tri) in Illinois.
Off to the pool.
Tony
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