Lone Star Quarter Iron

Last weekend with my mom and friends Bonny and Chris we left Carthage, Texas early Saturday morning for the drive down to Galveston for the Lone Star triathlon that featured a sprint/qtr/half iron. On the way down there I knew I was well hydrated as I had to take the horse to the barn every couple hours. Also picked up a head/chest cold on Friday and was coughing and my nose was stopped up and runny. We had to find some sudafed for me start taking. Much of Galveston is still in rough condition as many homes and small business were destroyed or boarded up. Then we made to the race site for the very important "mandatory" meeting, picked our packets up, did the pre race workouts. Check out the transition area and the babes ;)



Later that day I had my first photoshoot with Justin O' Keith Photography as you can see from the previous blog. I think turned out pretty well. Then we had dinner at the Fisherman's Wharf with my East Texas Triathletes Club. As you can see I had every type of cake and pie they had. Not your typical pre race dinner but it works for me. Ok I am playing. I had some kind of very good shrimp pasta and stuff and along with the remains of whatever my mom had. My thoughts go out to our new club member Brandon who bought a womans tri top on accident and kept wandering why he couldn't fit into it. That had to be the hilarious story that was told over dinner.

Sunday morning we woke up at 4:00 a.m. got ready and and had breakfast. Then we went to the race site and got our stuff set up and I did a warm up jog and later ran into my BeginnerTriathlete.com rival buddy guy Stephen Milford and we exchanged some words, I mean some conversation ;)

The swim was somewhere around 0.6 miles or a 1000 meters in the bay at Moody Gardens. It was a lot more quiet than the ocean would have been. I was competing in the elite/pro wave. It was a bad swim for me, but all my swims are bad so it might have been decent. I couldn't find anybody really to get a good draft off but somebody thought I was good enough to draft off they kept hitting my feet and then my back I thought I was going to go under, when the hit my back I almost wanted to turn around and whack'em. I finished the swim in 16.52.





I had a nice and fast transition except for the part where the girl had a hard time getting my wetsuit leg over my left foot. Everything else went smooth. I could tell I was moving on the bike I didn't know how fast since I don't have a computer or anything. Stephen was a minute and half up on me starting out on the bike. I caught him at the 14 mile mark just at half way. There was two other guys riding near us that were drafting off me pretty bad. Where was the official? Neither of them wanted to share the work either. With about 1/4th, maybe a little more of the bike leg left I noticed the ride was starting feel rough. Then I was having to work a lot harder I got off the bike and checked my disc wheel and it was going flat. I jumped back on hoping to ride with whatever I had left in the air but it wasn't working. Stephen flew by me and patted me on the bottom and I hopped off the bike and started walking. Then the MAVIC support cab came around 10-15 minutes later and bailed me out switched out my wheel with and I got to finish the race. The view of the ocean was great from Seawood BLVD. After the flat I looked at plenty of it since I wasn't in a hurry anymore ;) However, Stephen

said I must have been going near 25 mph but with the wait had on the flat I finished in just over 21 mph. a 1:19.03 on

the 28 mile course.


I had an easy transition I didn't really rush it and I cruised through the 2 loop 6.55 mile run course at a 6.04 pace which put me at a 39.28. I ended up 27th OA with a time of 2:17.54. Ideally, given if I had a good run I think I could have been 5 or 6th OA, if not for that stupid flat, but it is what it is. I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for allowing to finish the race atleast I didn't have a bad wreck or anything like that. I'd also like to thank my travel partners my mom, Bonny, and Chris for EVERYTHING. Also thank SBR Multi Sports for their support and gear. Then I also want to thank my sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous who got me in the race.



The event is next weekend and it's a local 5k over here in Mabank the Band-Aid 5k run in support of the Mabank High School Band. Congrats to everyone who finished the Lone Star Triathlon!