Monday, September 20, 2010
Quite literally. There were so many participants between all the races going on yesterday at Portage Lakes that they weren't able to post results immediately afterwards... but they've got them up today and -
I took 1st place in my division!
OK, time for the full disclosure... sometimes it doesn't matter if you're slow and fat if you pick your race carefully. Apparently Olympic Distance du isn't all that popular, because only 25 people actually competed (out of somewhere around 900 spread out over all the tris and dus yesterday)... and I came in 24th out of those 25. I also signed up for an age group - Over 40 Clydesdale 220+lbs - which I knew was unlikely to have many (if any!) other participants. So yes, I came in 1st out of a group of one fat old guy... though the results do show that had I signed up for my age group (45-49) I would have taken that too, since apparently I was the only guy in that group running and riding yesterday.
But you know what. I don't care. I drove for 9 hours round trip (17 from Albany) to compete yesterday and I busted my butt to finish the race. I rode fairly well (for me), made it through the run uninjured, and paced myself well enough that I didn't end up having to crawl the last couple of miles and even managed to break 3 1/2 hours. And in the process I got my first ever first place finish... I think I've earned the right to enjoy it for a bit, before I go on to get my butt kicked in the races coming up next weekend... and all the weekends after that too.
JMH
