John Howard Race

What a great day for a race. Temps were perfect, sun was out, could not have been a better day. With the race starting at 8am it was up early, 3:30am, Jose and I headed out at 5:30am.

I had two goals for the day.....

1. Meet or exceed 1 hour, 16 min total race time
2. Let no racer pass me on the bike leg.

With 65 racers at the start line we were off. My intention for the first part of the race was to hang on with the top 10 for as long as I could. Some of these guys are fast runners, trying to keep pace with them is tough. I did not last long with them as things started to spread out.

The big dog that ran with us for the 1st mile or so made things interesting.

There were plenty of sections to see the other racers so I was able to keep a close eye on what place I was in. I fell back as far as 14th overall and kept that spot as the run ended.

My total run time was 22 min 28 sec. That comes to a 7min, 30 sec mile pace. I felt like I ran faster then that, the course may have been over 3 miles, who knows.

The transition was just about as fast as I can do. I hit my timer just before the transition area, ran across to the end made the necessary changes and off I went in 58 seconds.

Now on the bike I saw two racers who passed me just before the run leg was over. I closed the gap and whizzed by them within the 1st mile. Up the road I could see another racer in white which I caught and passed at about mile 5. Now in 11th place and no one in eye site to catch, I put my head down and just kept going, who knows I might catch another. Plus I did not want anyone to pass me on this leg.

No other action took place other than a million looks behind me to see if anyone was going to catch me.

Crossed the line in 1 hour 14 min for an 11th place overall and 6th in my 30 to 39 age group.

Good day, exceeded my goals, felt like I did not leave anything out there , could not ask for more!

Spent the rest of the day building a rock wall, I'm pooped.