After a week in Vegas . . .

. . . I arrived back in NC late Friday night and had to get up early for the Cherry Pt Tri on Saturday. The race started out kinda slow. We stood around a long time waiting for the swim. I was midway thru page 2 and I didn't jump into the pool until 8am. The swim for me was tough, because I didn't get enough reps in the pool, especially this last week, and it showed with my 10+ minute swim for 400 meters. Once out of the pool, my personal race started. After a so-so transition, I jumped on the bike and rode as hard as possible. I was out of the saddle from the start and started passing riders at about 1 mile into the ride. I continued passing riders constantly, until the last 2 miles. Not that I slowed down, there was just no one in sight at that point. The bike course wound through the base for the first 5 miles then turned back onto itself and headed back to the start. There was a headwind going out, but of course a tailwind returning, that I used to my advantage. I'm sure that most people weren't hammering as hard as I was, but I know my cycling/running limitations and I wasn't even close. I had a quick bike to run transition, but I started the run cautiously because I didn't want to burn out. After a few minutes into the runI was passed by someone from one of the relay teams. I started running step for step with him for about 1/2 mile then backed off a little and decided to just keep him in striking distance, just in case I got a surge of energy. Anyway, I ended up keeping a strong, steady run pace fast enough not to get passed again. I finished in a solid 1:03:27. About 3:30 slower than my goal time of 1 hour. I did have a great time and so did the other athletes from Down East Cyclists. I am just sorry that Rachel was sick and didn't get to race. She's the whole reason that I was there, but she didn't get to go.