WOW!! What an AMAZING race!
Certainly the most exciting event I have ever been a part of. The Format was a 300mswim, 5mi draft legal bike, 1.5mi run- Repeat. The swim was in the Pacific Ocean with what to me, coming from Central Virginia, looked like quite large waves. The spectators gave off incredible energy the entire time, the motorbike TV cameras did a great job with coverage and didn’t crash anyone around a 1/2 mile lap, the announcer was Greg Welch- amazing, the lap counter was Paula Newby Fraser- amazing, pretty unreal atmosphere!
I did a good job staying in the race until surprisingly the first run- which is so weird cause I usually never worrying about my run. I had a slow transition out of T2 and my body just felt totally rocked and I couldn’t get up to speed, then I got rocked some more in the second swim with googles full of water after getting busted by a wave on the way out- unable to see back to shore I got badly split from the back and had the second bike to tackle myself ( I was the only one solo as those behind me had each other). It is amazing how a small mistake or failure of your body to respond for a split second can drop you instantly out from a race in an event this like this- but that also is what makes it so exciting!! My last run felt awesome though and I was happy to finish strong in 8th place. Even though I got rocked a bit and it certainly was not my best race of the season- I still had so so so much fun- by far the most fun I have ever had in a triathlon…totally amazing!! I am also very motivated now to work on my transitions and quick speed- as this was definitely exposed as a major weakness that I knew about- but now I really know =) I think the spectators had even more fun, although that is hard to imagine…
My dad came to watch and it is the first time he has seen me race triathlon professionally. He is not that familiar with the sport nor is he a triathlon fan- however, he still had an AMAZING time and got so caught up in the race, I have never seen him so excited for an athletic event. It was very clear to me that this is an event with huge potential for a general audience and might just bring triathlon into the general consciousness of many Americans. I am so incredibly excited to follow the future development of this race series. Anyone who has the opportunity to should definitely go watch one of these events next year- Words can’t describe the atmosphere and excitement. I can’t think of the last time I felt so much pain and excitement at the same time. Simply brilliant – new – exciting – innovative – and so so awesome!
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