Sunrise off Lake Greenwood.The SC half is one of my favorite races of the year. The first year I did it, I had my best race ever, so that mentality has kind of stuck with me. Last year, I had a terrible race, but there's plenty of good reason for that. Shouldn't have ever started the race, but I had already paid. Not too smart. Anyway I was really focused on having a great race this year. My run training has been a bit short due to some ailments, but I had been able to log some quality miles a few weeks before the event. I was very optimistic about my chances for a PB at this race this year, as my swim and bike fitness were pretty good.
We live a little over an hour from the race site, so an early morning drive was in order. It's not like you sleep much before a race anyway, so no big deal. The weather forecast was ideal. Temps started out in the 60's with a high of 82. A little warm, but not for the south.
Swim: I was late getting in the water for a warm-up, as I had to get my swim cap I left in the car. Only got in about 50 yards of warm-up before I was told to get out of the lake. Not good, as I usually need a good long swim to get the arms awake and ready. Back in the water after race announcements, and boom, we're off. The game plan was to find the group of swimmers that I know, and follow them for the swim. Dan Moss and Peter Kotland are just a bit faster than me in the water, so ideal drafting partners. I was unable to find them at the start, so I ended up swimming it alone. I felt pretty good in the water. My goggles were a bit fogged up, so I was having some trouble navigating, but was able to see some splashing ahead of me. Throughout the swim I was alone and feeling good. At the last turn buoy, I saw 2 people about 25 yards ahead of me. I picked it up to catch them. What do you know...it was Dan and Peter. I followed Dan for the last 100 yards of the swim into T1. Swim: 27:54
Heading out of the water.T1: Off with the wetsuit, on with the helmet. A team mate of mine, Hal Outen yelled out that there was a group of 4 about 3 minutes ahead of us. "What??" was my response. 3 minutes?? Damn, I had better get moving. I took off and left Peter and Dan behind me.
Bike: I'll already admit it..I went too hard at the start of the bike. I knew Dan would catch me at some point b/c he's the stronger cyclist, but I also wanted to see how many people I could pick off all while trying to put a gap between me and Peter. I felt super strong starting out on the bike. I really felt like I had a ton of energy to spare. I picked off 2 guys in the first 10 miles. Dan caught me at mile 17. We caught a third guy at around mile 25. I was feeling good. Haulin' butt and catching people. The third guy we caught stayed with us and benefited from Dan and me pushing the pace. At around mile 35 I asked a volunteer how many were in front of us and he said "2". Crap, I thought we only had one in front. I knew one of the guys in front of us was Andrew Hodges. I wasn't even expecting to mix it up with him, as he's out of my league, but I had no idea who was still up there with him. As the miles added up, my quads started to feel the pain of going a little too hard. I was starting to get concerned about my ability to run later, so I let off the pace a little bit. The three of us stayed within 50 yards of each other as we finished the ride and headed into T2. They were in front of me, so I entered T2 5th OA. Bike: 2:17:20
Heading into T2
T2: Quick tip...think about your transition before you get there. My dumb butt ran right past my bike rack. Luckily Dan was nice enough to ask "Where are you going?". I've raced at this site many times and we usually get racked on the opposite end of the transition. I guess I was thinking my rack was still up there. Thankfully Dan saved me some time. Other than that, T2 was smooth and I was out on the run. Ugh.
Heading out of T2, as you can see I'm smiling..not for long
Run: I have to say, I was feeling pretty good at the start of the run. Dan and the other guy that I will now refer to as Gregory Carr were not too far ahead of me. Dan was obviously off the pace, so I knew something was wrong. I caught him right before mile one and he was having some serious stomach issues. He summed it all up by saying "Have fun", when I caught up to him. First mile was 6:06. Damn, that felt easy. Sweet. It looked like I was starting to catch Gregory as well. I just tried to find a rhythm and stay there. Second mile was 6:14, a little slower but more uphill. That's ok, 'm still feeling good. Third mile was 6:38. Wait a minute I was slowing down and I couldn't seem to pick it back up. Not good. I've seen this before. Alright, at this point I was starting to tire already and I had a long way to go. My quads were getting very tight, and I was concerned of them locking up. I started to get in defensive mode. The next few miles were getting slower and slower. At this point I just wanted to hold a 7 min mile pace. A few miles I really struggled and had some really slow miles. Not good as Peter Kotland was about 3 minutes behind me at mile 6. He was looking good, too. Damn. I had a few side stitches and my legs wanted to cramp on me a few times, but I was able to hold it together, just barely. I saw third place in front of me was slowing as well. I caught him at mile 10. Yeah!!! I'm in third place...podium and check $$ await me at the finish. I turn around at mile 11 and see Peter hard charging. He's less than a minute behind me. I had to push it to keep my third place. I turn around again at mile 12 to find him about 100 yards behind me. I tried my best to pick up the pace, but I knew I wasn't moving very fast. In a few moments I passed Brooks Keys going the opposite direction. He says "Good job Peter". That can't be good. I turn around and he's right behind me...flying. Okay, he goes by, I say farewell to my trophy and check. He was going much too fast for me to hang on. I end up finishing in 4th place OA. My legs ached and they're very sore today. Run: 1:30:44
Total time: 4:17:55
Not smiling anymore...
Not a PB, but still a decent race. I really had plans of running a sub 1:25 half mary, but my legs had no go power. A result of taking it too hard on the bike and not having the run conditioning
needed to hold that pace. Andrew won the race with a 3:59:55. He was flying on the run. Gregory Carr was second with a 4:10, and Peter was in front of me with a 4:16.
Next race is a local Int'l Distance race, then I'm headed to Wilmington for the Beach2Battleship Iron Distance.
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