Smithfield Sprint Triathlon
300 m swim, 16 km bike, 5 km run

If the object was to finish the swim, I passed with flying colors. In fact, I even passed another competitor. Have you ever tried swimming three-wide in a pool lap lane? Imagine the look on the girl's face coming down the lane and seeing me in the middle passing the girl on my right!

The swim course was set-up to complete a down-and-back on each of the 6 lanes at the Luter YMCA, swum in a snake-like pattern: down, back, under the lane line, repeat. My goal for the swim was 6 min (2 min/100m). My official split was 6:22, good for 187/274 men.

Crossing the timing mat after heading outdoors marked the start of T1. I passed the three girls in front of me at the sawhorse, good for 78/274 men and 1:48. Socks were put on first (to save my feet for the Ukrop's 10k 4/5/08), followed by cycling shoes, helmet, sunglasses (for the sun finally came out and raised the temperature to mid 50s from high 40s at 9 AM), and long-sleeve clycling jersey as a wind-break.

The bike at a 10 mile loop with some slight rollers. My official time was 33:15 or an average of 18.5 mph. I dropped a slew of competitors on the bike after making the turn back to head back for the final 5 miles. I looked down to my cyclometer after passing the train and saw 25 mph! The last 5 miles was pretty easy and I coasted into T2 with my feet out of the cycling shoes and ready to head into transition. 167/274 (men).

Without a racing belt, I was forced to pin the run number to another shirt. Putting on this shirt definitely cost me some time in T2, but the elastic Yankz! I have on the running shoes more than made of for this lost time. 1:27 162/274 (men).

Looking back, the downfall was the 5k run. My PR time for 3 miles is 23:24 (sub 8min/mi). Coming off the bike, one expects heavy legs, and this was the case when I headed out on the course through Smithfield. Not 100 feet into the run did the Gatorade consumed on the bike decide it didn't want to reside in my stomach. I turned left and this toxic green goo blasted from my insides. 2 more steps, and my stomach exhausted the rest of the sugary sports drink.

I did start to cramp but after 1/2 mile I was back to running. I did not feel bad, like the feeling you get when you drive the porcelain bus after an all-night booz-a-thon. The projection of sugary electrolyte drinks and the subsequent 1/2 cramping are to blame for the 31:15 5k time.

Overall, I finished 249/493 in 1:14:05. It was a good race, with a good turnout. The weather was chilly but I brought all the right gear so as to not freeze after exiting the pool swim.

Things to remember:

Shoes for after transition closes
Remove feet from clycling shoes within 50 yd of dismount
Stick to Nuun/H20 on the bike. No sugary drinks

Opening Day. It was something to look forward to. Opening Day was always greeted with the smell of fresh cut grass and leather mitts. Opening Day meant Spring. Opening Day meant an end to Winter.

But like the ball players depicted in the classic Field of Dreams, baseball has been regulated to a cornfield in the Midwest. I don't look forward to tracking the batting averages of my favorite players. I no longer want to travel to ball parks. I gather no joy from watching professional baseball.

We, as consumers to the sport, have been taken on the proverbial ride for the past decade. We all bought into the hype that was McGwire/Sosa in the late 90s. We all cheered Roger Clemens reaching milestones well in his 40s. We all stuck with baseball through the Congressional hearings on the early 2000s. I know why. I think James Earl Jones said it best in the aforementioned film:

Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.

But baseball has marked the time, and what troubled times we are living in.

It started as a 3 mi recovery run for my wife. Her 10k plan had her completing the distance at an easy pace. We agreed to 9:45 min/mi and off we went. I continued on after the 3 mi and finished the session after 1:20:00 and 8.2 mi. As Joe Dirt would say, "Daaang"