After hanging out with 70.3 World Champ Melissa and her husband Jared Hauschildt and the real TYR Freak of Nature, Haley Chura of Dynamo, during their visit to Athens to train the All3Sports sponsored DreamTeam Youth Triathlon squad the week before the race, I made a last minute decision to race. I wasn't tapered having rode over 240 and ran 40+ tough miles this week. I was lacking run fitness that I like due to a recent calf strain that hampered the better part of the month of pre-race training. However, these athletes' enthusiasm was infectious and the kids/parents were going to be at the race so I wanted to be a role model if my body would hold up. Hold up it did!
Overall I was 67th and in AG 8th. I missed top 3 AG by hairs. I believe that I easily could've went to worlds IMO with the aforementioned taper and a proper run build. However, I can't say I was too disappointed.
Marching out on the dock I felt somewhat more confident than usual, perhaps because I had low expectations. Plus we had a great pre-race swim the day before in my TYR Freak of Nature. The gun went off and we fell in. My swim was my fastest ever here with not too much more current than the prior races I did here. My transitions were nothing special but didn't suck.
On the bike, I was ballistic like usual. Only one guy in my wave beat me and I took great pleasure seeing my All3Sports teammate and fellow TriCoachGeorgia coach Mike Buteau on the bike course. Of course, he was kind of shocked to see me as he was on a lonely stretch and I snuck up on him and startled him with some choice wake up words.
My run was much better than I anticipated but I probably lost the most time here trying to save for the final 5k just in case I blew up. My long time Dynamo and All3Sports Coach Andrew Shanks gave me some good words of wisdom as I passed him a few times. I was in tears as I came round Broad St several times to see my kids and wife, DocSlay, cheering me on but there was no time for getting weepy as I had to finish this race off strong.
As I look back, it was awesome to see so many DreamTeam Youth Triathlon Club, Tricoachgeorgia.com, Athens-Area Triathletes, and TriAugusta Triathlon Club on course. My results show how far I have come since my early Clydesdale days. My last time racing this I went 4:44. This one was 12 mins faster at 4:32. I believe my race would have even been better had I intended to race it haha.
There were so many great performances on the day that I can't even start to mention all of them. Needless to say, I was so proud to be a part of another brilliant Augusta 70.3 and thank all3sports for all the gear and support over the years. I couldn't do it without them. Now onto IM Arizona. Wish me luck as it may be my last IM for awhile.
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