The Tranzformation of FACTORe: The Crystal River Triathlon

So I did my first triathlon. My nemesis was the swim. I feared the swim. I wasn't looking forward to the swim. I gave up my lunch hour for the past month and swam laps at my gym every day instead of having lunch at the regular spots. Did it pay off?

here is a pic of me coming out of the swim. all the people with orange hats are in my group. There were 11 people in my class as you can see in this picture that I came out of the water in great shape.

I was in disbelief when I came out of the water. I thought that all the people in my group had left me in the dust. When I turned around to see most of them behind me I started thinking to myself "I can do this. I might get a top five finish and get on the podium." After all, I just want to finish my first TRI (anybody that knows me knows this is a complete lie...I am way too competitive to ever be satisfied with only finishing.)

I moved to the transition T1 with confidence. I had practiced T1 and T2 plenty over the past 2 weeks and had it down. The bike and the run were both out and backs which means you can see how far behind or ahead you are when you pass you competition on the way back. I wanted to use the bike, my best of the three legs of the race to maybe build enough lead to hold off 5 people on the run. The first 7.5 miles was easy and I held my form and didn't bury myself trying to go too hard. I got to the turnaround and then headed back. I had did it. I opened up a decent gap and was feeling good about getting on the podium. There was only one rider close to me. I put my head down and concentrated on spinning and keeping pressure on the pedals the entire way around and not just pushing and burning out the quads...I have a run coming up and want to leave something in the tank. As I rounded the corner for T2 I heard my Mom, Larry, My wife and Chris (CPARider) cheering me on. Yes this does help having family there to support me. My mother carted me around to every sport you could imagine for years and I owe tons to her for always being there. I finally let her make a sign and scream "That's My Boy"...haha. It was special. I shot to T2 knowing I had to just keep my head and I would get a top 5.

Now all that was left between me and heavy metal was a simple little 5k. I mean how hard could this be...I have done hundreds of these (most of those hundreds where over 2 decades ago..haha) I took off running "What happened to my legs?" they felt like concrete and were cramping. I guess it might be a good idea of practicing running right after getting off a bike. (my friend treadlight told me this several times and somehow it just didn't sink in) I just slowed down and got into a rhythm. I set a slower tempo until my legs would come around.....they never came around. This was a struggle. I had blown up my Quads on the bike. I got to the turn-around and had 1.5 miles left. Now I get to see how close the competition is. Uh oh..I was caught. I had a competitor that had caught me and was only 1/8 a mile behind me. He passed me with about 1/2 mile to go. I was in the middle of a prayer when he passed me as odd as that sounds. I was praying, thanking God for giving me the ability to enjoy a great race like this and for giving me such a wonderful family for showing up to support me. I found my legs again and then strided out toward the finish line. I blew by the guy that passed me and caught him off guard. I heard him say something as I passed him that was not a prayer..haha. It was too late for him to react and he just let me go. I came around that last corner for the last time and felt no pain. I just felt the joy of accomplishment and the wonderful sound of my people cheering loudly for me. Hearing the announcer call my name as I went over the finish line was incredible. "Did I really just do that?" Did I actually finish a TRI? Did I really win? I was on a cloud.

All that was left was picking up the hardware. The young lady wearing khakis, holding the camera that is smiling from ear to ear in the background is my wonderful mother that was happy to see her baby boy making her proud.