Go Georgetown U Cycling Team!

So I recently found out about and started riding with the Georgetown University Cycling Team. They are a Division II USA Cycling (USAC) NCAA racing team and part of the Atlantic Coast Cycling Conference. I have been out on a few rides with them now and have met some pretty amazing bikers that I have a hard time keeping up with. We went on some rides out Macarthur Blvd and out River Road that were quite hilly and fun and also a ride down to Haines Point to do some sprints - I learned how to get down there via the Mt Vernon Trail so that I don't have to ride over M Street and Constitution Ave now to get down to Haines Point which is nice. The racing season is in the spring so I still have quite a while to get in competitive biking shape. Visit the Georgetown University Cycling Team homepage at: http://www14.georgetown.edu/explore/organizations/cyclingteam/

A disappointing and painful day - the Odyssey Half Iron Triathlon, September 16th

On Friday September 15th I departed from Georgetown down to Fredericksburg, VA to participate in the Odyssey Half Iron Triathlon in Lake Anna State Park - a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile ride, and 13.1 mile run. I got down to Fredericksburg at 8 p.m. in time for packet pick up and to get a room at the Ramada. Got everything organized for in the morning and then got some pasta at Ruby Tuesdays before getting to sleep early. There was unfortunately no alarm clock in the room so I set the alarm on my cell phone and turned up the volume - a bad bad idea. I got a phone call every 30 minutes all night long. Also, it was crazy storming with loud thunder and lightning all evening and I kept thinking "not again, not again".

I got up at 4:45 in the m0rning and was out of the hotel by 5:15. It turned out to be a 40 minute drive over to Lake Anna State Park during which time the rain finally stopped for the day. Got my bike put together, went through the bike check, and got my transition area set up without problem. Out of the 200+ participants, it turns out that I was one out of less than 10 or so people not wearing a full-body wetsuit for the swim. Whoops. I was pretty ridiculously nervous before I went off in the first swim wave, really not sure if I was going to be able to swim 1.2 miles and how my legs were going to hold up on the run after biking so far. At 7:00 a.m. the gun went off and the first wave took off from the beach into the lake. I stuck to the back of the pack getting in the lake as I knew I wasn't going to be fast. It turns out that I am a pretty slow swimmer despite all the training I had done in the pool. It took me 45 minutes 8 seconds to swim, good for 14th place out of 14 individuals in the male age 25-29 category. Something is so different about swimming in a lake than swimming in a pool. My breathing was off, I was aimed in the wrong direction every time I looked up to see where I was going, and I really didn't like bumping into and getting bumped into by other swimmers.

The race for me really began as soon as I got my feet on dry land. I popped on my cleats and helmet and hopped on my bike in good time and set out on the 56 mile ride. I am becoming a good biker and was really cruising on the ride passing quite a few people. Unfortunately, I just got a little too caught up in the race and trying to make up time on my bike. I didn't quite make a turn around mile 30 on the course and wound up in the gravel shoulder just off the road. I am not sure exactly what happened but wound up wiping out into the gravel at 20 or 21 m.p.h. I mutilated the handlebars on my bike. I grade 2 dislocated my left shoulder. And suffered pretty disgusting road rash on my left forearm, side, and shoulder. I walked off the pain for a few minutes and then hopped back on my bike and tried to keep riding for a few miles. See the picture of me with my stupid grin, mutilated handlebars, and bloody left arm. As the adrenaline started to wear off after the crash, I started to realize how hurt my shoulder was and came to the realization that I was not going to be able to run. I was incredibly disappointed and spent a long time sitting, reflecting, crying when I got back to the transition area. It was pretty painful scrubbing off all the gravel with hydrogen peroxide. My buddy Mark Roche always says, "Pain is temporary, quitting is forever." Well I say, "Relief from pain is temporary until you run out of vicodin." I am not sure what lesson I learned out of all of this but I do know that I am crossing the finish line of a half iron tri in the very near future!

The Virginia Beach Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon - Sept 3th, 2006

On Saturday September 2nd, Andy Dietrich and I drove from DC down to Virginia Beach for the 6th annual Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. The drive took a ridiculous 6 hours being Labor Day weekend and all. We got into VA Beach in time to pick up our numbers and catch the last few minutes of the running expo. We met up with the girlfriend Jill and company, and the group of us went out and got some pasta for dinner. Andy and I went for a quick jog to loosen up the legs from the long day in the car before heading back to the hotel at an early hour to get some sleep.

Andy, Jill, and I departed from the hotel at 5:00 a.m. for the race. We parked at the VA Beach Amphitheater and caught a shuttle to the convention center near the start of the race. I got in a little stretching and made my way to Corral 2 in time for the 7:00 a.m. start. There were more than 20,000 people registered to run and the start line was crazy and full of nervous energy. At 7:00 the professional runners took off, followed by Corral 1 and then finally Corral 2. It was 1:27 on the clock when I made it to the start line and a couple minutes after that by the time I got to pace. The first mile they had us running directly into the sunlight and I was glad to be wearing sunglasses. I was feeling pretty good most of the first several miles and crossed the 10k mark in 45:44. I have been having a nagging left knee injury this running season that starting flaring up around mile 8 or 9 when I was planning to start picking up the pace. The last few miles wound up being much slower than I had hoped to run. I cruised the last couple miles down the boardwalk along the beach to the finish line that seemed so close yet wouldn't come fast enough. I came in at 1:38:56 (7:34 mile pace), good for 646th place overall out of 16,136 runners. I was hoping to run 1:31:00 but was pleased with my performance on the day.

After the race we all met up in the beer garden for some oat sodas and then went to a cafe on the beach for some Coronas, margaritas, and eventually lunch. Andy and I went and found our college friend Kleo at his family's restaurant Fishbones on the beach where he made up some tasty beverages in exchange for the Geico t-shirt I got after the race. That night we went down to the Fifth Street Stage for the awards ceremony and to see Three Doors Down. The soreness the next morning was rather intense but only lasted a day or so. Andy and I stopped through Williamsburg on the way back to DC. We went by the Cheese Shop for sandwiches and picked up bread ends and house, went by the Peanut Shop for butter toffee peanuts, and by the Williamsburg Winery for a wine tour, sampling, and a half case of wine. It was quite the Labor Day weekend we all had.

The North East Triathlon-turned-Rainathon - Sunday August 27th, 2006

On Saturday August 26th I drove two hours north up through Baltimore to the small town of North East, Maryland to participate in the North East Triathlon. The event was scheduled for a 1500 kilometer swim in the North East River, a 40 kilometer (24.8 mile) bike around Elk Neck State Park, and a 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) run.

I arrived at my first USA Triathlon sanctioned triathlon on Saturday around 4 p.m. in time for packet pick-up, to get my bike checked over, and figure out the course for the race the next morning. There was enough daylight left in the day that I got a chance to go out for a short ride and run to see some of the course before eating some dinner and getting to sleep early.

I awoke at 4:45 a.m. on race morning to the cracking of lightning and a raging thundershower outside my hotel room. It hadn't rained in weeks so why this morning of all times??? All of us staying in the hotel drove down to the race site where everyone was parked in the grass field turned mudslide lot and sitting in their cars hoping for the storm to pass. The race was scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m. so at 7:00 I decided to brave the rain and got my bike and gear and headed to the race site. It was still lightning so the race director decided to cancel the swim portion of the event and make it a duathlon - run, bike, and then run. It would be my first ever duathlon.

By the time of the race start at 8:15 a.m. the storm had passed and the sky had cleared. It turned out to be a beautiful day. I ran the initial 5K in 20:45, biked the 40k in 1:15:11, and ran the final 10K in 51:27 finishing overall in 2:30:26 good for 84th

place out of about 300 finishers. I was happy with my performance in my first duathlon but it was insane how many 40 year old women were flying by me on the bike. I am definitely getting fitter and faster and more and more addicted to the active lifestyle. It was a great weekend and I got to meet quite a few triathlon lunatics who I identify with too well. I can't wait for the Odyssey Half Ironman in Lake Anna State Park down in Fredericksburg, VA on Saturday September 16th!

Woohoo!!!