Memphis in May Triathlon

I love Memphis. Memphis has "culture". BBQ & Fried Chicken, Beale St. and Rock -N-Roll!

Standing in Front of Memphis' finest dancers on Beale St. 

We left early Friday morning from Tyler. I was still asleep as we were driving there as it was apparent as I bumped the curb in the median departing Tyler. Calley and I picked my mom up in Carthage and were Memphis Bound. 

Memphis was lots of fun. Friday night we went down to Beale St. where all the action is in Memphis. We explored all the tour-isty shops, a civil rights museum, and even a BBQ joint that is up for the running for the Best BBQ in May. Calley ran into King Arthur's BBQ who was in the running for the Best BBQ in the Memphis in May Festival. King Athur finally convinced her to try some his bbq sauce. That evening we went to Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire" diner for dinner. After dinner we made our way upstairs to where a man was playing the great music on the piano.  

Below are a few pictures from the adventures on Beale St.

King Arthur selling Calley on his BBQ. 

"Sold" on King Arthur.

Calley's is in the middle of Beale St. 

My Mom and I after dinner at Jerry Lee's Lewis "Great Balls of Fire" restaurant. 

My Mom listening to the Piano Man upstairs after dinner. 

Calley and I dancing to the Piano man. 

Here I am taking my mom out for a spin on the floor. 

It got a little romantical in there.

Pre-race morning, Saturday before the race I went and did my pre-race spin and it had rained some over night as I was spinning in the midst of the sprint race that was being held. I made a U turn at my turn-a-round time and it may have been a little sharp and I felt my back tire slip and down I went in slow motion. Fortunately, everything was A-OK. Nothing was broken, no road rash, or bruises. Most importantly, the bike was fine too. 

That afternoon, we toured around some and went to Sun Record Studio. The recording studio where some of the greatest recorded such as The King Himself - Elvis, BB King, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and so many others. 

Following the visit at Sun Studio, went to check out Graceland. The mansion that Elvis bought and lived in for some time. Before you know it was time for dinner and we found the spaghetti warehouse in Memphis where I had a light pasta dinner followed by short stroll along the Mississippi River. 

                                 

                                      Calley and I walking by Graceland. 

                                       

                                            Everything was fine until Elvis started hitting on my mom and girl friend. 

  

                                         

                                                  On the drums set the Legends used. 

                             

My Mom and I at Spaghetti Warehouse for pre race dinner. 

                                      

                                                     Sun Studio Records where the Rock-n-Roll Legends recorded. 

                                         

                                                  This is the mic that Elvis first recorded on and  is still working today. 

Walking by the River after dinner. 

Race morning came and I was super pumped and ready to roll. I met up with Elvis for some good luck vibes. I got in line since it was a time trial start which was way  more organized than Kemah was without all the chaos. I thought I was having a good swim and maybe I was but it was an average swim for me. 

I met the Elvis impersonator for some good luck vibes. He would later start hitting on my mom after the race, and Calley.  

On the bike, it took me a couple of minutes to get my legs going we were going straight into a SW headwind it felt like. We rode maybe 14 mile into wind before we got the much anticipated tail-wind to take us back home. The course was super flat but the wind made it plenty challenging. The scenery was amazing as it was a nice view of farm fields. 

Coming in on the bike. 

Starting the run my legs went to logs. It started out with a small steep hill. I could never get my legs moving really and plus it was quite warm by the time the run started. I focused on a quicker turnover. That seemed to help some but I was still struggling. 

Wrapping up the 10k run. 

I ended  up placing 4th in my age-group. Overall this was very fun trip and it was I would consider doing again next year. After Memphis I traveled to Austin to race Cap Tex, so more to come on that soon.

Thank you for reading!!

Kemah Triathlon

I was looking forward to the triathlon. I had missed last year because I broke my arm the year before so I was eager to race. I also had my bike fit adjusted by the Colonel at Colonel Bikes. I called Doug up and told I was tired of riding like a sissy especially after Galveston (even with the flats) I knew my riding wasn't near as where it should be and to see if he could get me riding like I used to. Unfortunately, the bike was canceled at Kemah because it rained heavily all night and into the morning, but I think I've seen some positive changes based on the numbers on the computrainer/heart rate. 

I made the trip to Kemah with my parents. It started pouring down the night before. I never thought the bike would have been canceled. I woke up early the next morning to find that the bike was canceled and that they changed the start times.

 The Swim was a "time trial" start from a jump off the Colonel paddle boat that is usually stationed at Moody Gardens in Galveston. The time trial start was not at all what I was expecting. I thought there would be a couple of seconds between everybody but they told us to go all at once. It appeared to be more dangerous than a wave start so that didn't make any sense to me. I didn't get a chance to look up to see where I was jumping and the water was very choppy, I started following a pack of what I could see only to find we were going the wrong people. Brandon Barnett and I also started swimming on top of each other at the start and I think I sliced my hand on his toenail (Brandon, I meant to tell you to cut those knives on your toes). Luckily, he wasn't carrying any fungus and my hand is mending up. My swim wasn't great at all, much work still to do.

The first 3 miles of my run was sub par, I got off to an ok start but lost my legs within the first half-mile and it was getting ugly. Around the 3 mile marker Ashley Johnson, from the Loncar team passed me. I thought I'm going to have a hard time explaining this one. Ashley's heckuva an athlete. I somehow find part of my legs for the second half and negative split by 60-90".

I quickly got over this race and focused on getting ready for Memphis in May in a couple of weeks. I am thankful for my amazing support system: My Parents, Calley, Coach Brent. Also, Extremus, Revolution Multisport, Tri it Wear, and now Karbon Speed and CR Massage. I thank God even for the bad races...

A special shout out to Todd Hamilton for being an inspiration to a lot of people in his comeback race this past weekend at Texas Man X 50 he rocked it out and was 5th overall and 1st Masters. He was struck by suburban last summer in Weatherford, Tx a small town just west of Fort Worth.

Ironman Texas 70.3 2013

 

I left for Galveston with my girlfriend Calley and my roommates Kyle and Stephanie. I usually get excited about going back this race but I'm beginning to have second thoughts on that as the last 3 years haven't worked out so well, but more on that later. I was also surprising Calley with a small surprise as this was our big 3 month anniversary of dating, this is a big milestone. We got to the room  late Friday night and I was waiting on her to quit talking and do her thing so I could set up for her surprise without her noticing. 

 

 Once she wasn't looking I was able to whip out the the cupcakes, picture frame, and the rest of the pictures from some of our adventures. I believe she liked the surprise and was impressed I found a way to sneak everything in without her noticing. Sneaky, sneaky.

The next morning we both did our bike rides along the sea wall, we had some minor difficulties getting both of our bikes together as both chains had kinks in them, but once we got going I captured these shots of the ocean on the way back from my ride as I was just cruising in loosening up the legs.

 

For lunch we both picked up a baked potato from McAlister's Deli and walked across the street and I had lunch out on the beach. As we both started started throwing our scraps for the birds. I found out they loved the baked potato but they didn't like the tomato's that were on it. They wouldn't even touch that.

  

While I was taking a short dip in the ocean, Calley was able to not only draw this out but take a picture of it without me noticing and surprise me with it on facebook.

 

That night we went to search for dinner but found out the wait times were ridiculously long. We drove further down the seawall thinking maybe some of the triathletes wouldn't go out this way and we were wrong. We experienced some of the worst customer service ever at Mario's but we had great company as we ran into Clay Emge from Tyler and his girlfriend Kimberly. Clay would go off and have a great race finishing in 4:13.

Taking a hit off the crack pipe.

Race morning well lets just say things started looking rough from this picture above. I went to pump up my tires and I noticed my crack pipe had fell out of my pump and I had to borrow one at tech support, I'm glad they even had one. I would find my afterwards and as it must have fell into my transition bag.

Calley and I making our way down near the start and we spotted Stacy McKinney!

 I was the first person to enter the water for my age group as I cannon balled in before our start with 217 other guys. I didn't think my swim was too bad overall but towards the end a lady had cut in front of me and started swimming left. I reached over her and continued my swim but she got a good kick to my ribs, that I didn't really feel at the time until the next morning I was wandering why our my ribs sore and remembered I was kicked there. Still my swim didn't represent of what I know I'm capable of actually it was very sub-par.

Trying to get out of the water and rip a fast transition.

          

  Once I got my wetsuit off my garmin had snapped off too, I guess that is better than loosing in the water. I need a simple repair on it now though. I only ran back to get it because I realized how expensive it was, if my tri shorts had fallen off I might would have even noticed. You can see my Garmin at the bottom of the photo above.

 

Things got worse. Running through T1 there were so many bikes I passed up mine a couple of times before I finally slowed down enough to find it and  yes I knew my number. 

 

 Hopping on the bike my legs feel pretty great and I was going Garmin-less. It wasn't long later I get passed by a speedy 21 year old kid and that is encouraging me to go with him. I hung with him easily for a few minutes but started wandering why I was loosing ground all of sudden. Then I could feel something in my rear wheel that something wasn't right. I kept thinking I would know for sure if it was a flat. Then I could feel the wheel start going side to side. I said that's it I need to check this out. Sure enough, I was getting flat just shy of the 15 mile marker.  I had Vittoria Pit Stop to use for flats, I never used it in a race before and I wasn't sure how I was going to get to the stem that was up in the disc. Once I got some air in noticed I that the disc had ants on it then I noticed I was getting bit. I started running down the road and jumped on the bike and got I was able to reach it just fine and get going down the road but that only lasted for about 5 miles before I was flat again. This was it, I was out of Pit-Stop. I just took the wheel off thinking that a mechanical crew would come by someday. Nope, never happened. I flagged down a race support vehicle and they couldn't reach anybody in mechanical due to a poor signal. They were going to go up the road and find tech support to help me out if not they would give me a ride back. I finally sat down on the side of the leaned up against someones trash can and watched the race go by. A lot of friendly racers were asking if they could help, finally a stranger threw me another can of pit-stop and I was able to get going again. Not long later I grab a water hand out at the same time a kid also drops one into the road and I'm heading right towards it....I run right over and was able to stay on the bike At the turn around I commit that I'm going to hammer the last 28 miles as hard as I can. I lasted for maybe 20 miles before I noticed that I'm getting pretty tired from that. I also could tell I was getting low on air again, hoping to make it back back to T2 time in before I do. Coming back into Moody Gardens I ran over those speed bumps pretty hard and that just knocked everything completely out I pull up and started walking to the transition.While I know I didn't have much air in my tire most of the time I was riding, based on the results I would have still been way behind. I'm taking immediate attention to this and hoping to get this corrected soon.

Somehow I'm still feeling, but deep down I'm not too happy with this end result.

 I didn't hustle for time through transition like I normally do. My legs were shot through time trialing the last half.  I set a moderate pace on the run once I got going then I another 24 year old kid passes me on the run and I go with him and started encouraging him to keep going and telling him he had this as we would pass guys in his age group. I had some highs and lows on the run, the cola kept me going and I would try to get it every chance I could. It tasted sooo good at the time.

On the drive back Calley was there to cheer me up with her singing some of her favorite tunes. Finally, I passed out on the drive back.

Well it wasn't the race I was hoping for it's back to the drawing board. I still have some amazing people and an awesome Lord who is always there for me.  In the meantime, I'm resting up and will be getting ready for the Kemah triathlon soon. Thanks again for reading.

EXTREMUS "There are No Limits"

  I am excited to be able to officially announce a new brand ambassadorship with Extremus that was. EXTREMUS, is a premier full-service sports marketing & management company devoted to maximizing brand performance for global extreme sports and active lifestyle industry leaders. By heightening brand awareness and developing sound marketing strategies, Extremus creates innovative business solutions for today’s distinctive extreme sports leaders. Team EXTREMUS, is a select group of athlete ambassadors that range from elite marathoners, global adventurers, All-American triathletes, to multiple World Record holders. Team Extremus athletes live by the motto, “There are no limits.” 

I invite you to take a look at Extremus and the team bio too see the other hard working athletes that were selectively chosen. I am looking forward to an exciting year with the next stop in Galveston for TEXAS 70.3 this weekend.

St. Patrick's Triathlon

Let's see where to start with this. I originally signed up for this race to knock off the rust that gathered during the off-season. OK! I'm lying, I intentionally signed up because Calley was doing this one too. The timing seemed to fit just right leading into Galveston next month. We started talking back in late December/Early January and I asked her what races she was doing and she mentioned we should meet up afterward at one of them. So, this was the original plan before we started dating and I told her that race season was too far away at the time and we should move our first date up a couple months. I smiled and was nice enough on the first date, I was able to ask for the second date without the fear of rejection.

We picked up our packets up Saturday afternoon and my race number was supposed to have been # 47. I was like umm....is this negotiable. I'm going to run over a lot of folks. I asked what the top ten guys had put down for their swim times and told they lady they were lying. I asked what did Korey Sessions put down? Then I said no way.......he's more like a ______ minute swimmer. I knew Korey was #5. She has some spots open in the front and I went with # 12, then I changed my mind said can I get Lucky # 7. The packet pick up lady was like "Really!!  You want to switch #'s again?" I used my small town East Texan charm and told her she was angel for letting me do so.

I logged on facebook race morning as I was eating my pre-race breakfast and wrote this. "Hey y'all you need to stop lying 'bout your swim times. I'm not swimming 50 people back." San Antonio based Pro Triathlete (and former UT Tyler graduate) wrote back, "No, you just need to start lying about yours. Don't you know the formula for calculating pool swims? 1. Go to the pool. 2. Sprint a 50 as fast as you can. 3. Multiply that time by however many 50's you have to swim and viola!" Thanks Mark! I might have moved up to # 30. 

 I was feeling good and ready at the start. In the 300 meter pool swim, however both calves cramped up in the middle 100. I was dragging my legs and flexing my ankles to work out the cramp. My turn over had slowed down tremendously. Not letting this get to me I was mentally hanging in there. Korey had put over 30 seconds on me after the swim. Looks like I still have a lot of work to do here.

The bike was two loops around two loops around in 50 degree temps some good wind. The only protection against the cold I had was my helmet and toe cover. There was almost an immediate turn around at the beginning and I could see Korey not too far ahead and I thought I had a good chance to catch him on the bike, but dang! he is very strong there too putting 5 more seconds on me by the end of the bike.

Coming in on the bike after my dismount and I could see Korey going off onto the windy run course. From the looks of  it I educated guesstimated that I needed to close 30 seconds on him during the run. My sophisticated calculations would later prove to be "about" right. Within the first 1/2 mile I realized catching him on the run was going to be harder than I thought. He is strong there too!!! I would pick land marks that we would pass and I woulds see how far back I was it went like this 27", 20", 17" 15" and so forth. At the half way point I was still about 12-15 seconds back. I didn't know if I was going to be able to close in time or not. I was battling the demons in my head that were telling me I needed to slow down and this hurts too bad then on the other side I was telling myself to keep workin' that it isn't over yet. By the last mile I had closed the gap to about 4-5 seconds right where I needed to be to get the W', since he started the swim in front of me. I was telling myself just stay right here and you got this. He would throw surges occasionally the last mile and I was able to respond. I was wishing he would have quit doing that though. That last mile I thought I was going to puke and I was getting light headed in the last minute of the race.  Coming across the bridge with about 200 meters to go I saw him give it one more surge and I went with it and some how I still don't know I how caught up to him and edged him at the line and collapsed at finish. I had no intentions of challenging him at the line until he surged at the end I couldn't let the gap break anymore.


 Here below are a few post race photos:

Laying down at the finish line catching my breath and needing help up. 

 

Korey and I post race once I was able to stand up. Cheers to Korey!! He is a haus and classy competitor! He pushed me beyond of what I thought was capable of!

 Calley and I watching the rest of the race come and freezing!!! Calley raced hard in her first triathlon back after two years. I'm absolutely proud of her.

 

 It's great to have support of Karbon Speed. A Christian based business in Dallas, Tx. Be sure to check them out. WWW.KARBONSPEED.COM

I don't think this pic need any explanation. 

 Obviously, I am pleased how the race turned out but I know I still got a lot of rust to knock off before the next few races coming up. Thanks again for reading this blog! I have a great team behind, such as my Coach Brent Poulsen from Revolution Multi-sport, who's been behind me several years no, Extremus, LLC (details coming soon), Tri It Wear and Karbon Speed (details coming soon). Not to mention a few other such as my Parents, Bob Kilinski (President of Ft. Worth Tri Club), Mark Mulch, and the Fort Worth/Dallas/East Texas triathlon community!! Of course, Calley's support and post long-run breakfast taco's at The Wood Shed seem to pay off. Most importantly I wouldn't have done anything or amounted to anything without the grace & power of Jesus Christ. He provided the perseverance and mental fortitude this weekend. All praise should be directed towards Him! 

With that said I can't wait for Texas 70.3 in Galveston and I want to wish  Ben Drezek a speedy recovery and prayers. He took a nasty spill on the wet roads and broke a collar bone. He's a tough competitor and I hope he makes a late season come-back

2013 Schedule

 It's been quiet sometime since I've last had a chance to post on my blog, but I'm hoping to get back into the regular habit. This is going to be my last year racing in the 25-29 age group. I'm ready to get kick off this season with the following list of races. There maybe some others here or there that might pop up but this is what I have set on for now.

March 10  St. Patricks Triathlon - Keller

April 7   Ironman Texas 70.3 - Galveston

April 28  Kemah Triathlon

May 19  Memphis in May - Memphis, TN

May 27  CapTex Tri - Austin

September 2   The Houston Triathlon

September 15 TriFecta - Possum Kingdom Lake, Tx

September 22  5150 Galveston

October 2  US Open Dallas

October 20  Wiki Man Triathlon - Wills Point
 

My training with rEvolution Multi-Sport Coach Brent Poulsen this winter has been going very well. The patience, consistency, and persistence is paying off. Here I am on the compu-trainer a few weeks ago on an early Saturday morning, I had to get a head-start on the day.

 

 Calley and I have been making it a post long run tradition to stop by the Wood-Shed off the Trinity  after our long run's and grab taco's and coffee.I'm in my Johnny Cash running attire.

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Then of course you have to re-fuel with the best food possible to allow your-self to recovery after all the hours you put into training. I've been craving the Bison burger with sweet potato fries at Shaw's on Magnolia for quite sometime. This me at the end of a training block, I can barely keep my eyes open.

 Out of the blue I found an awesome girl named Calley from TYLER, Tx to share the weekends with. So my time on the weekends is split between Ft. Worth and Tyler.

 I have a couple of other things in the works I'll share soon,  but for now thanks again for reading and I'll see you at the start!

Tri Tyler Half-Ironman

I was excited to get to go back to Tyler a few weeks ago for the inaugural half ironman that Steve Farris was race directing. This is where I had spent a few years finishing my undergraduate degree and running cross country at the University of Texas at Tyler. 

I traveled with my buddy Lance. We had a nice early dinner at the Olive Garden that night that was in walking distance from the host hotel. 

Race morning I had a nice swim start with the pro/elite wave and I was in 'a' pack, but that lasted maybe 50 meters at most and I was trailing off the back. I knew I was in the back with two others as the kayak was following to make sure we were ok. It was J.T., Chris, and I for the remaining three to exit the water. J.T. was leading us but at the final stretch he started going waaay to the right. Chris had passed me and I jumped on his feet and I passed him exiting the water and JT was chasing us by then. Chris would thank me later on twitter for giving him a pedicure while I was drafting behind him. I finished the swim in 31 minutes and change. It's a new PR swim for me, but a lot of guy's set "PR's" so my guess is the course must have been somewhat short or all other courses have been long. 

Swim Exit. Photo Courtesy of Simpson's Photography.

I made a quick transition and was on my bike however my legs would not respond for most of the bike, including the flat parts. I spent a good time of the first portion chasing a guy who flew by me in the age group race and trying to hold off Chris who was going near the same pace as me but gradually getting closer. In the back of my mind, I was wishing Chris would hurry up and catch me so I could get in on his the "legal draft" zone.  Well, Chris did ended passing me up during that time I was in a "low moment" and rode by me like I was sitting still. So I rode another 20 miles trying to keep him in sight and slowly reeled him back in and we would come in pretty close together after that. I personally, didn't think the bike portion was that bad until the last 15 miles when all it was was short steep hills up and down. Coming off the bike in just over 2:28 preparing to dismount I caught a cramp in my adductors or inner thighs. I knew I might be in trouble, but I was going to try to push on.

Coming into T2 and ready to get off the bike. 

Heading out on the run my legs didn't have near as the amount of spring and turnover I had in my legs at Branson. I was determined to continue on. However through many low moments out on the run course and trying to press on it wasn't working. The run course is quite challenging and even more challenging when coming off that bike course. 

Beginning of the run.

I couldn't wait to finish this race because I knew what I had to look forward to. I was walking out on the run course and was thinking if I could just hurry up and run a fast pace I could finish sooner. The ending to any half-ironman course is a pretty site, but even better when you have your parents, and Lance (the one that didn't dope). It was such a great ending to a challenging season.

With my Dad and Mom and I couldn't wait to crack open and start drinking that Coca-Cola.

After the race I may have set a record for the most burgers (3) and soft drinks (5+) combined in one day. The past two weeks I have been taking sometime off to recover, but I'm eager to start working on my weaknesses. The season challenged me in more ways than I expected, but I found out just how resilient and determined I can be when times get tough. With that said, while most of my races early season I either did poorly or DNS, I was able to pull myself together and put a few good races together towards the end of the season. Well, except this one of course.

Thank you to my parent and Lance for all coming out to the race and supporting me. My Coach Brent Poulsen from Revolution MultiSport and some cool sponsors with Tri It Wear and Wheaties. Thanks be to God for keeping me safe out there and getting me back to the finish line.

Five55 Series October

Result: 1st OA

Warming-up with a duck chase. 

I've often heard you shouldn't try anything new leading up to a race. After 5 years of racing triathlon I thought I would try something different and chase ducks for a warmup. I thought I would start with ducks since they seem to be slower than chickens. Rocky chased chickens, remember. If it worked for Rocky then just maybe it would work for me too. 

I never caught the duck.

Game face is on.

This was the last of the Five55 Series (October 5th) that have been since April. Since this was the last one, I was going to make sure I smashed this one hard. As you can tell in the photo was I was ready to go minus that I still didn't have my swim cap on.

There were some quick swimmers that showed up this time. I tried to take off as fast as I could and catch a draft on Lee Webber's but that didn't happen. I had a decent swim this time if your comparing results, I was swimming as hard as I could and leaving nothing behind, but I did have to stop midway in the swim, my goggles weren't set right and and I couldn't see anything.                                              

Finishing the October Five55 Series 5k Run 17:12

I normally wouldn't have worn a speed suit for this but since this was the last one for the year and the swim is NOT 500 Meters, it gets longer each month. I figured I would swim faster but not lose much time in T1. I was wrong, again. My zipper got hung up and I couldn't get out. I debated whether or not if I should just do the 5k in my speed suit, but by then I had just worked it off. 

I had forgotten my Garmin watch too. The run was totally by feel. I came out of T1 one swinging. I wish I had known what I ran that first mile in. I finally took over the lead just half way through the 5k. I had caught Lee and he told me, "Don't let the speedo guy beat you." After seeing the final results I blitzed the 5k run in 17:12. 

The Five55 Series has been fun as I have been able to see my speed improve as the months went along.  Although the swim kept getting "longer" I found myself closer and closer near the front and just good open water practice with a group that you don't get everyday. Thank you, Juan for putting all of this together. Thank you to Coach Brent and rEvolution Multisport for the phenomenal support and Coaching this year. Also, to Wheaties for helping me get fueled first thing in the mornings. Most importantly, for Jesus Christ. HE has truly blessed me and I don't understand how he does it all.

This week I am getting ready to back to where I went to college and close out the season with the Tri Tyler Half Ironman. I'm racing in a competitive professional/amateur elite field. I am extremely excited about this.

The Houston Triathlon, turned Aquathon

Result: 8th OA (Pro/Amateur Elite)

Rain, Rain all weekend. This is what I our drive to the Houston Triathlon looked like on Saturday morning. Due to these circumstances the city would later urge the race director to cancel the cycling portion to an aquathon.  All of the Five55 Series races would later pay off on Sunday morning, being new to aquathoning this year. 

The week of the race I had just raced Branson and I was struggling all week to get out of bed and get my workouts done. A Half-Ironman and over 30 hours of driving will take it out of ya. The snooze button and I became well aquainted.  By the end of the week I was feeling recovered and ready to go. 

Freebirds stop for lunch in College Station

Here am I and and one of my all time favorite places for some pre race lunch Saturday afternoon. Tiffany and I had stopped at Freebirds in College Station (AKA Aggie Land) to grab a bite to eat.

We couldn't have had better hosts. The Storey Family were fantastic hosts for our home stay. We went out to eat and I had a delicious 8" chicken pizza as my pre-race dinner for the first time. Plus we got to see the joys of parenting. Doug was trying to explain to his typical teenager son, Connor how to use the remote control with the cable and Connor walks out while Doug is still explaining. 

The water was 79 degrees, a non wetsuit swim. There were approximately 60 athletes in my that included the pro/elite amateur/ and relay. I got boxed in right from the start and had a very poor start. I came out of the water in 24:37. I still have a long ways to go as the top guys were out in 21 or under. 

Exiting the1500m swim. 

After all, the Five 55 series races have been paying off as I knew what to expect how it would feel running after swimming as I was kind-of used to it.  T1 one substansially long, maybe near a half-mile, but the good thing it gave me time to find my legs and get ready run fast. 

Once I got my shoes on and headed out. I didn't feel too great the first mile. I was thinking, "I'm too tired, I just raced Branson". "Maybe, I should just cruise this one." Somewhere along the way I began to feel good. I kept taking it one step at a time or one mile at a time. I split the first mile (once I started my watch) in 5:38. The run course wasn't too bad it was out and back with a loop went through twice with some little twist and turns that made it fun. After mile 2 (5:41), I found myself getting faster and faster. Miles 3-4 were exactly 5:36. At mile 4, I told my self this it if you want to try to pick off any more people.  I split the last two miles both at 5:33. This led to a negative split in a triathlon run. This might have been my first time to do this.  My 10k time was 35:19. 

Coming into the finish, repping my Revolution Multisport suit. 

View of the finish line with red carpet and American flags made a nice touch.

 I had a great time in Houston at the Houston Triathlon and with our fun hosts, Doug, Karen, Connor and Jake. A big thanks to Aaron Palian for putting on the best triathlons. I thank God that I am blessed with the abilities with supportive friends. Next, I'll do my best to wrap up the Five55 Series in Las Colinas Friday night (October 5th) on tired legs.

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Ironman Branson 70.3

Result: 12th OA
2nd Amateur

1st 25-29 AG

View from the lake at the top of a hill during my race prep run.

It's been a challenging year with triathlon as my health and fitness is concerned. We know Texas 70.3 didn't over so well, then just a couple of weeks later I ended up breaking my arm on a recovery ride of all things. A couple of months after breaking my arm I somehow caught pneumonia. However, I have steadily just been doing work. 

My mom went with me to Branson, MO. The first night in Branson....Continue reading here.