My Steelhead Experience

     Chino still accompanied us down to Benton Harbor (or Benton Harlem as some call it) for the race. We brought our pop up camper, which was shared by Mom, Pop, Weasel and Reebnut (last two are my sisters), and Chino and I camped it in a tent. The day arrived, with Mom and I racing. Since it's a wave start mom began close to 7 if I remember correctly and I went off about an hour later. It was a little overcast and slightly wet from a drizzle. Our wave started and I was pretty relaxed through out the swim, getting lots of draft and swimming with the current. Exiting the water with a 29 minute swim was a great swim for me. I got on my bike and was off, again feeling strong and passing tons of earlier wave people. I felt great for the bike ride, until the last 10 or so miles when you turn back south and the wind picked up. By then I was getting the, "get off this bike it's time to run" feeling.
     As I entered T2 I had to piss really bad, and if you'll recall my previous posts-I can't piss myself while riding my bike-I know a skill most people have no appreciation for.As I racked my bike I decided it was time to save some time and try to relieve myself like the real long course guys do. I sat down and put my socks and shoes on and I left a nice yellow puddle as I ran off. Sometimes success is disgusting.
      Not having a solid running base I was off at what seemed like a comfortable pace of  around 6:30s, again passing tons of earlier waves. Around the mid point I was feeling great and could tell I had reserved energy so I pushed it down into the 6 teens and just above 6 for the last 10K. I may have left slightly to much out there, but considering my run training I had an amazing run, crossing the line in 4:19; a 12 minute improvement over the previous year. All in all my splits were 29 for the swim, 2:23 for the bike, and 1:22 for the run good for 5th in my AG and 31st overall; only getting chicked by 2 pros. I was very happy with this performance and it gave me a renewed confidence for October.
    All that being said the real star of the day was my mother. Having recently moved up to the 55-59 AG, she finished in 5:57 (37 minutes faster than last year!) for 4th in her AG. I think it's about the most excited I've ever seen her. After that we packed up shop and drove back to the North Land. Correction: Dad drove back. We slept.