The 2007 IronMed Charity Triathlon - April 14th

On Saturday April 14th my brother and I arose before the crack of down to participate in the 7th annual IronMed Charity Triathlon put on by Georgetown University School of Medicine. I arrived to check in before 6 a.m. when it was still dark outside (see the picture to the left) and was surprised to find that it was not raining for the first time in the history of the event but was extremely chilly, likely in the low 40 degree range. At check in there were two black SUV's with tinted windows and four huge dudes in black suits there to provide security to DC's mayor Adrian Fenty who would be participating in the triathlon. I got checked in, set up my transition area, and started preparing myself for the 6:30 a.m. start time for the 1st wave that I would be going off in. Adrian Fenty gave us a pre-race motivational speech, and before I knew it we were in the pool waiting to go off.

I have been working hard in the pool all winter and was excited for my first triathlon swim of the year. However, it turns out I was a little too excited and had a lot of trouble getting into a rhythm the first few laps. I was only 750 yards into the 1000 yard swim when people started cheering for the first person out of the pool - the girl I was sharing a lane with, Patty who swam at Georgetown undergrad. I just kept going and was out of the pool a few minutes later in 17 min 4 sec (30 seconds faster than my time last year). I ran out into the freezing cold and got changed into my cycling gear and hopped on my bike just ahead of Mayor Fenty. I have been riding with the Georgetown Cycling Team all spring and hoped that I could make up some time on everyone ahead of me now that my feet were on dry land. I made my way down the Georgetown hill and onto the unpaved C&O Canal Trail for the 16 mile out-and back ride. It was damn cold but I have been getting used to riding in the cold all spring and just put my head down and biked along. After passing a couple people, I found myself at Lock 10, the turn around, and started heading back. I knew that Adrian Fenty was somewhere behind me and I had been peeking over my shoulder every once in a while to see if he was in sight. With about 2 miles to go on the ride, I heard a bike coming up behind me and sure enough I got passed by the mayor of the District of Columbia. The last time I saw Adrian Fenty before today was at the 17th Street High Heel Race back at Halloween when he shook my hand and told me I was looking hot. There were no niceties exchanged this time as it was now time to chase this 35 year old down. He didn't get too far ahead of me on the bike before it was time to fight our way back up the Georgetown hill to the transition area. I had a little homefield advantage on him on the way back up and we both were putting our running shoes on at the same time after finishing the bike in around 55 min. He beat me out of the transition area by about 30 seconds and the race was on. It was a 10K (6.2 mile) out-and-back loop on the paved Capital Crescent Trail. The feet were completely numb and the legs ached as I took my first steps out of the transition area after chugging some Gatorade. My footsteps were loud as I plodded along the first mile or so as I slowly regained sensation, and I was only a couple hundred feet behind Adrian Fenty the whole way out with people screaming at me to catch him. I got within about 50 feet shortly after we hit the turn around and started making our way back but that was the closest I would get as he pulled away out in front during the last couple miles. Adrian Fenty wound up crossing the finish line at 2 hrs 1 min 13 sec in 3rd place, and I came in about 30 seconds back (more than 4 minutes faster than last year) after a 44:30 run. The finish line brought great happiness and the opportunity to take a hot shower to get warmed up. Steven went off in the 7:00 a.m. 2nd wave start and did very well in his only 2nd triathlon ever. He looks to be having a great time in the picture of his run back to the finish line.

Following the conlcusion of the race, everyone came back to my place for the fourth leg of the quadrathlon, a BBQ and beer drinking competition. We had a blast playing beer pong and trying to eat the 10 pound Toblerone bar that Mr. IronMed champion Wolfgang brought over. It was definitely only 9 p.m. when I went to sleep that night.

Overall the event was an enormous success. Thank you all so much for your generous support of the H.O.Y.A. Clinic in support of my running in the 2007 IronMed Charity Triathlon! Together my brother and I raised over $500 and the event raised more than $20,000 to provide health services to the underserved families living at the DC Village emergency shelter in Southeast DC. I will be sure to keep you posted as the clinic readies to open it doors this fall.

Please stay tuned for new and exciting race adventures with The Relay out in Cali and Ironman 70.3 Florida both less than a month away. Signing out for now.

~ D.