Race Report...Tri Benbrook Sprint Triathlon.....

  So Friday night the family got some mexican food at a local restraunt. We eat there 1 time a month or so and have never had any problems. So, Saturday morning, I get up at about 5 am and begin to prepare for our garage sale. I am abruptly awoken to the sound of my little daughter puking in my bed, on my pillow, splashing my arm with a fragrant aroma! Needless to say, I got out of the bed very quickly and began cleaning up. About 30 minutes later I begin to feel "Green" and thus the diahrea commences! I spend a good chunk of my day on the pot, and eventually end up beginning to throw-up. Throughout the course of the day, I was able to keep down 1/2 bottle of Pepto Bismol, 5 ritz crackers, a little gatorade, and a small amount of oatmeal. Not ideal nutrition going into a race. Anyways, I was racing no matter what, however the thought of doing the race with a diaper was looming in the back of my mind. Anyways.....

     So, this morning, I set the alarm for 4:30am and the alarm got beat to the punch by my daughter knocking on my bedroom door. I open the door to see her beautiful face, and as she was grinning ear-to-ear saying the words "Goo moni dadeee" out spews last nights chicken nuggets. "Oh No"... Saturday morning incarnate!!!! So, my morning begins today as it did yesterday, elbow deep in vomit. I was feeling better, but certainly did not have much energy and was probably dehydrated to some extent. I was able to finish a banana, and 1/4 of a peanut butter sandwich. I also got down 1 bottle of Cliff Shot lemonade, and that was about the best I could do for nutrition.

     I take a shower, gather my stuff and head on down the road to the race. It was a balmy 72 degrees with 80% humidity and 19 MPH winds!!! On the drive to the race, to add insult to injury, it begins to pour down rain. Lovely!!! By the time I got to the race site, the rain cleared up and as I got checked-in, marked, and set up my transition area, I felt pretty good. (Probably 60-70% of my norm) I meet up with a bunch of folks from the Tri club and we go get a warmup swim in before race debreifing. Warmup went well, I was feeling as good as I was going to feel. I pounded a little more Cliff Shot and it was time to start.

     There were well over 400 people in the event and I was seeded as bib #61 based on my estimated 300M swim time. They were sending people into the pool every 10 seconds and the rough part was that there was traffic coming both directions in the pool, so you had to be very careful in trying to pass. The poor guy in front of me got his ankles slapped every stroke for the first 4-5 lengths because he was cramming the center of the lane, and people coming the opposite direction were doing the same. I finally found an opening and went for it at 200 M and busted out the rest. The results show that my swim split was 3:00 on the nose for my 300M swim, which is deffinetly a PR. I get out of the pool, off come the goggles, and into T1.

     T1 was smooth, in and out in 54 seconds, I can't complain. On to the bike! Oh I love wind! on the way out, 18 MPH wind in your face with up to 30MPH gusts, no thanks. There were some good hills out and in on the bike, but it went smooth. I certainly did not feel 100% but I felt OK. I averaged 25MPH on the way back in and overall, averaged 20.1MPH on the bike. I got passed 1 time on the bike, by my buddy Ryan, I passed 15-20 people to hold my own. I get back into transition, and I am beginning to drag, no energy left at all. I take my time putting my shoes and socks on, chug some Cliff and finish T2 in 1:33 not great, but it is what it is.

     I was feeling terrible the whole run. At about mile 1 my stomach began to feel like it was in knots, and I begin running with "Clinched Cheeks" so I did not have an accident. Seriously, I thought I was going to have to run into a bush, but I held it in and didn't have to evacuate, thank goodness. I basically just try to survive the run, feeling like crud, but still suprisingly, having a lot of fun seeing the faces of so many friends cheering me on. I ended up averaging a slow 8:22 p/ mile pace. This was frustrating because just Wednesday I PR'd on the 5k at 21:29....This 26:05 5K time was almost 5 minutes behind that... Oh well, I am glad I finished, and I know if I was in 100% health, I would have cleaned house.

     All-in-all it was a great day considering. It is always a blast to race, always a blast to be amongst friends, and always a blast to have my family, especially my new born Austin cheering me on. (Ava stayed home with Grandma due to the spewing previously spoken of). As per the results, I finished 4th in Clydes, however the guy who placed third either set a new 5k record for a 5K in 11:52, after averaging 15.7 on the bike, or he did not finish all 4 of the fingers (Out and back portions) of the run, which is likely the case. With that being said, I unofficialy took 3rd in my division finishing 1:19 behind the 1st place Clydes in a finish time of 1:12:45. My splits were as follows:

Swim: 3:00 300Meters (1:00 p/ M)    T1: :54     Bike: 41:10 (14 miles) average pace (20.1MPH)
T2: 1:33     Run: 5k 26:05 average pace 8:22 p/mile        TOTAL CHIP TIME: 1:12:45

     Well folks, that's it. Another race, another great experience, and an interesting day to "TRI MY WILL."  It is funny how a short little sprint Tri can humble you and make you realize how tough it can be to push through struggles, challenges, and not-so-perfect conditions. Now it is time to set my sites on my first Half Ironman in Orlando, Florida in 20 days and counting..... I cannot wait! Have a good one ya'll.

lol Good job Dan.. So will you go back that  Mexican restaurant?  Oh I know your pain scared to fart times there.

Scared to sneeze, let alone fart!!! Not too sure on going back to the mexi place...

Fannnnnntastic.  Another great WLS'ers sucess.  keep up the inspriation
Good luck