Overall is out of Men as there's no combined overall posted. This is an in-water start and I decide to move closer to the front. Count down proceeds, there's a "GO!", and we're off! Well, the lake is pretty clear which is a nice surprise and I try to draft as much as possible. There are enough bubbles in front of me that I thought I was doing okay with this during the race. However, a couple of problems. As this is a Sprint, there are a good number of folks who are stopping quite often and breast stroking. So, even when I do catch feet, I often have to stop when they breast stroke to sight. The other is that like last year's Kinetic, I go to breathing every stroke early. This is a mistake and I should've saved that for later in the swim. I'm bumping into a good number of folks but seemingly staying with my wave. Surprisingly, I even catch some of the first wave. But again, this is a Sprint distance with all sorts of ability levels. I didn't really have any problem sighting but the mistake of breathing to one side pulls me to the right more and I'm sighting a lot more than I should be to correct. I'm also wearing myself out quicker than I should be and see a few folks pass who were behind. But, I finally round the last corner, standing up near shore, and being helped out by a couple of volunteers.

Relax, breathe bilaterally, save energy and "sprint" for latter part. Maybe should've tried to get clear water rather than trying to follow.

Had a bit of a problem getting my sunglasses and sweatband untangled, but then farily quickly got into shoes and I'm out running out of transition to the mount area which is a bit aways down a hill. A slight problem mounting my bike and I'm off on the 12 mile bike course.

I probably really should start practicing having the shoes clipped in already and getting into them on the bike. But, T1 really wasn't too much an issue.

Overall rank only includes Men. The bike is really my second strongest discipline and what I don't do in the swim, I make up for in the bike. Today was no exception. This was a nice, lightly rolling course with no major hills on any part. Think there was one where I had to go to the smaller front chainring, but I didn't need to use that too much and was hammering as much as I could during the course. With a Sprint, there are always people who don't know to stay right unless passing and this was no exception. Fortunately, no one really blocked me too much and I was able to push pretty consistently. A few folks passed me which I expect, but not too many. I passed far more people than got passed by. Unexpectantly, both calves cramp up on me. I take some Clif Blocks and gulps from my drink while at the same time trying to get rid of the cramps. This seems to work after a while and they don't bother me again. Now, this one guy who was 60 (John Tansey?) passed me early. But, I came up behind later about half way and passed him on a slight uphill. Then after a downhill, his momentum carries him up enough to pass me again. This actually goes on for the rest of the race and I go to pass again and ask if we're just going to keep doing this. He laughs and encourages me by saying I'm doing great and I yell back that he is too. On the second to last turn, I take it a bit wide watching out for cars and another cyclist. He cuts to the inside and overtakes me for the last time. Now, it's near the dismount area and I start trying to get out of my shoes while on the bike. I started to do this last year fairly successfully. But, I make a mistake here and try to get out of them on a slight hill, completely losing much of my forward mometum, allowing the woman I had just passed to pass me. I realize what's happening and pedal to the crest where I successfully complete this manuever. I lose both shoe inserts in the process but continue on (I find them later). As I'm balancing on one pedal to the dismount area, the guy in front of me doesn't complete his dismount properly, falls, and crashes right after the dismount. I feel sorry for him but there are folks quickly in to help. I hit the ground jogging into T2.

I probably should've taken a bit of time to preview the course as it looks like I could've kept the 11-23 cassette in the back for this race. The big mistake I won't make again is trying to get out of shoes while on any sort of a hill again. Lost a bit of precious time and speed.

My left knee had been bothering me the week prior so I decided to use a brace though I haven't practiced getting it on in race conditions. But, I slip on my knee brace without problem and get into socks. I normally don't do socks for a 5K, but decided I didn't want to chance a blister today. Have a little problem with the one sock but fix that and quickly get into my shoes. Grab my race number belt and hat and jog out of the transition zone to the run course. No water/drink belt on a 5K.

Really could've probably gone without socks but again it was a decision to made to avoid any blistering. And I need to practice a bit getting socks on. But it still really was a decent time for me.

Overall rank Men only. Interestingly enough, my run always seems to be my best part overall though I never think I'm doing that well when I'm out there. Today is no exception and I feel pretty strong heading out. Now the first 200 yards are through woods and while I don't mind that so much, I did mind the large roots that were all over. And since this is an out and back, I have to navigate this again when I'm more tired. Numerous folks who are reporting were not too happy about this part of the course and I can understand, though I'm used to trail running. Guees if we wanted to do an Xterra, we would've signed up for that instead. Tell ya what, though. I'll take the roots over relatively flat terrain as compared to the mountain I had to climb twice on an asphalt road in last year's Brierman. Anyway, after the short trail run, I'm moving smartly along with no problem in my knee, though I'm breathing rather hard for me I thought. But, I realized after a while that I wasn't that uncomfortable doing this and continued to press at this level. I passed many more folks on the run with only a couple that I can remember passing me. There was a water stop at the beginning that I definitely didn't need. But the next one was at the halfway point rather than at the first and 2nd mile. Still, I'm not really thirsty, so I only take a quick gulp and pour the rest on my head/back to cool down. Press on. After the last small hill, I'm now feeling the effects of the pace I've set and can feel myself fading. Plus, I'm starting to pant which is never good. Done with the last hill and only have to navigate the roots on the trail. After that, it's mostly downhill to the finish and I'm able to do a last sprint for the crowd.

Perhaps not start out quite so hard and save something. That's what I normally do but I was feeling okay and decided to just maintain the pace I started out setting.

Water, walk around, go and get post race food. That consisted of pizza, snack mix, Mike & Ike candy, bananas, and oranges. Drink was water, ice tea, and Coke (diet/regular). This was all okay and I did appreciate it. But, I usually can't stomach pizza right after such an event and I do like to munch on bagels which are normally on hand. Plus an electrolyte drink, which was missing here as well.


The pre-season debilitating illness that took me a couple of months to recover from had limited me from doing consistent training. Plus, I had not trimmed down to the weight I wanted. The combination were both limiting factors.


After I saw my preliminary place and time, I felt a little bit disappointed. I had put effort into the swim and thought I was doing okay considering the swim caps I was seeing around me. I had also thought I was doing better on the bike and the run felt strong even with the fade at the end. But, that feeling quickly disappeared as I saw that I apparently took 2nd in my new age group this year, M 50-54. Oh what a feeling! And this is confirmed during the awards ceremony as I receive a nice big glass mug for an AG award and get my picture taken along with one of the other top 3 M50-54 finishers. I'll be sure to use it for big glasses of be... um, water during the summer. ;-)

Overall, I was pleased with Setup's conduct of the race and course selection. Everything seemed to be organized pretty well and there were enough pleasant volunteers on hand to help everyone out. Plus, I find practical awards more useful than medals. I still prefer bagels, pasta, sandwiches, and gatorade afterwards, though. There was no massage or cool down area like at other events I've been too. There were also no shower/changing facilities that I saw, so be aware of that if you're going to do this event next year. Oh, I said above that there weren't enough drink stations. I saw one on the run at the beginning and one at the halfway point. But, normally, I see them every mile, even on a sprint. Now mind you, I didn't really need more than the one but for other folks, this may be important. There really wasn't much else afterwards either. So, that's the only reason for a 4. It's probably more like a 4.5. I did read that the timing mats weren't initially turned on, so that was a problem for the leaders. I do highly recommend this sprint though for future seasons and I'll probably do it again next year if hosted.