Capitol City Tri Race Report

In mid-July, we participated in the second annual Capitol City Triathlon, organized by some good friends. There is nothing better than a home-city race! In fact, knowing that the traffic and parking situation was going to be crazy (there was a NASCAR race the same day), we just got on our bikes and rode over to the transition area. Super-convenient! 

This race came after several weeks of crazy travel for us, including our trip to the Southwest and a trip B and I took with my folks to Washington DC, so we weren't exactly at the peak of our form! 

Swim

Until the night before the race, there was some controversy as to whether there would even be a swim. There had been lots of rain and the Merrimack River was running high—so high that there had been several drownings in the preceding couple of weeks. Things calmed down enough in the few days prior that the state allowed the swim to go forward with a shortened and slightly modified course. This was very good for Alex (an excellent swimmer) and bad for me (who would just as well skip the swim).

Alex went in with the first wave, had a fast swim as always, and was back out and headed toward transition in time for me to cheer for him before starting my own swim. Here he is, looking hardcore, coming out of the water:

                                       

At the beginning of my race, I was happy just to be moving upstream in the water as I swam, rather than getting swept back by the current. We stuck close to the bank on the way up the stream, and then were supposed to go around two turn buoys and head back. Except, sometime in between Alex's wave and mine, one of those corner buoys broke free and floated away. This forced my wave to make a turn that put us directly against the strong current and caused a terrifying hamster-wheel like effect for me where the buoy didn't seem to be getting any closer as I struggled to reach it. Once I finally managed to go around the buoy, I zipped very quickly back down the river with the current. Here I am, extremely relieved to be approaching the boat ramp to get the heck out of the water:

Bike

Then we were off on the bike—very familiar roads! The photographer (also a friend) caught a couple of great shots of Alex zipping along:

 I kept hearing that there was one woman out in front of me, though despite riding hard, I could never find her. Then, with about a half mile to go on the bike, I saw her...already half a mile into the 5K run! So I knew I wasn't going to be catching her. She turned out to be training for the world championships—totally out of my league!

Run
I had a decent, though not great run, and got passed by a couple of women from the wave behind me, to end up fourth overall and first in my age group.

Alex also had a very successful day, second in his age group. The awards were the best ever—local honey from someone who participated in the race! Yum. We had a wonderful time with all of our teammates, and our tri team pretty much dominated the podium.