While things did not go as planned in Texas, I was confident that they would go better in IN. And I was partially right…
As usual, Lee and I went out the day prior, as he is always a 1:1 guide for the Dare2Tri Injured Military Camp. During that afternoon, we had a chance to do the swim course preview and get the bike set up.
For the normal Sprint, it was a 500m swim in the normal L. For the Para Sprint, it was 750m in the shape of a checkmark. There’s typically a 15 minute break between the Para wave and the 1st (fastest) Sprint wave. In the past, that’s always worked out well and we’ve been out or almost out of the water by the time that next wave catches us. However, with them doing a shorter course and different angles, there were a couple of collisions in the water. Even still, it felt like a good swim and we headed to T1.
As we got onto the bike, things went really well — at least for us. Unfortunately one of my teammates had ended up on the side of the road with a flat less than a 1/4 mile from transition. I learned later on that they had in fact triple flatted. It stayed good throughout our bike, and we finished strong.
Going out on the run, things started OK… and then they went to crap. I believe part of it was the heat and humidity, as getting hydration in helped. There were points that I was in so much pain even when walking, and the bridge portion (no shade) was the worst. Even still, I found the energy to have th proper kick down the chute. As I’ve said in the past, even if I have to crawl the run leg, I will always find a way to run into/down the chute.
The first two races have not gone as planned. Hopefully things will get better as the season progresses… Also, while it wasn’t the race I wanted, it was still good to see a lot of people that I hadn’t seen since 2019. And I’m extremely grateful to Leon and his mom, along with the Flag Man for all the work that they do to help make this possible. I hope to see more of you in 2022!
