A little race update

I have been racing triathlons for 20 years now and I just can't believe the amount of drafting that takes place in all the triathlons. I participated in the first 70.3 championship race and vowed never to do it again because of all the drafting. Where is this headed? I will tell you. I just recently participated in the Florida 70.3 even though I wasn't ready to do it. My wife thought I should do it just to see what type of shape I am in so I went ahead and attempted it.

Swim was uneventful but when it came time to the bike this is another story. I took off and was feeling pretty good even though I wasn't riding all that fast. I had packs of riders pass me and couldn't believe that they didn't care. Seven miles left into the race a group of riders past me and I sat up to get spit out the back. Well when I did the drafting marshall rode right beside me so I put up my hands and pointed to the pack in front of me. Then all of a sudden the drafting marshall gave me a red card. I asked "why" and he said because I was riding in a pack. No I wasn't riding fast enough to ride in a pack and plus I don't draft off of riders I don't know because I don't want to crash.

While sitting in the sin bin and doing my time (4 minute penalty), I complained about the call being bogus and Jimmy said he didn't want to hear it. About 2 minutes in I decided to introduce myself to Jimmy and said he probably didn't remember me. He told me that he remembered me and was glad he wasn't out there giving those penalties.

After serving my time it was off to the transition to head out for the run. The run was hot and that is all I can say. I ended up going slow and decided that I am about 30-35 minutes out of shape for a 70.3 race. Now I know where I stand and I know what to do about it.

Summary of the race:
Kevin J. crashed on the bike and finished the race
Gary J. crashed on the bike and finished the race
I served time in the penalty box
Debbie S. had a PR.

Sometimes things just don't go your way

Well it has been some time since I last wrote. I am getting ready to help my friend out with a camp in Colorado. I have run (well tried to run) two marathons a months time. First off was Boston which I was trained and ready to go and things didn't go as planned. I had problems with the downhills and ended up having to walk the downhills. I hobbled in with a time of 3:43. I couldn't walk for a week and I was thinking about throwing in the towel. Then Rene' convinced me to go run the Jersey Shores marathon with Steve which was only two weeks after Boston.

Rene' reminded me that I don't stretch enough and she put me on a program and made me stretch everyday. I only ran about two times before the second marathon in two weeks but that was okay. Well race day came and it ended up getting in the 90 degrees which people were falling out. I knew it wasn't going to be a good one when I started dumping water over my head at mile one. By mile 13 I had to take my shirt off and was really getting hot. I was on a 3:10 pace but by mile 17 I started getting tired and ended up walking some. I ended up running 3:28 which I was a little disappointed but it was my second marathon in two weeks.

Now it has been a month and I am suppose to do the Florida 70.3 race and I am just not in to it right now. Well I bumped into a guy that has a broken collar bone the other night and he mentioned he was trying to find a way to do the sidestroke so he can do the race. I thought "Heck, there isn't anything wrong with me so why am I complaining and giving up" so I will go ahead and do the race. We will see what happens.

I started thinking that I have been racing since I was in sixth grade and have been going at it ever since. It has been a fun ride and we will see what happens this year.