Last year, Rock the Quarry was just ‘some race’ that I happened to find on
Running in the USA. It was simply a
replacement race for having lost Naperville.
But after how much I enjoyed it last year, it was a definite race and
one I looked forward to.
As well, last year we were in a wave with a single other AWD (Athlete With
Disability) participant. It was amazing
that they held the race until we were both out of the water. This yea, we were part of the normal AG
wave. The M35-39 wave was large, and it
wasn’t a ‘normal’ start. To ensure that
we weren’t swum over, Michael had us towards the back. We probably lost 45-60 seconds on the water
entry because of how things were set up.
Once in the water, the swim went okay.
There was one point where swimmers from wave 4 (the next male wave)
caught up with us. When one of the
participants from that wave swam right over me, I lost my stroke and then time
having to restart in open water. Once I
was able to get re-started, we made our way back to the shore without incident.
There is quite a long run from swim out to the transition racks. After making it there, T1 went decently and
we headed out on the bike. The 15 miles
went by quickly with a couple interesting and one dangerous incident —
1) As it’s Amish country and there are
open roads, you can sometimes run into a horse and buggy. We did again this year and made the pass around
both it and the horses without any incident.
A hoof to the bike can ruin your day…
2) Seeing the two AWD teams and their
support teams on the course. As a ParaTriathlete,
I love seeing other AWDs at these local races.
3) One of the most important bike ones
is ride right, pass left (unless specifically stated otherwise). That’s important on any course, but
especially on this one where you do an S curve under a railroad trestle. Coming out of it going out, we had someone
pass us on the right-hand side. The
asshat did that to someone else a bit further on as well. I really wish that Michael or I had gotten
his bib number. People like that should
really be Dqed.
Also on the bike, we passed a tremendous number of people. As in the past several races, we got the
smartass ‘you’re cheating’ joke. If
someone wants to trade me their 20/20 eyes, I’ll gladly give up the tandem… But I won’t hold my breath for that…
T2 went as well as T1, after which we made the long run onto the run
course. Loop 1 went okay. However, on loop 2, the head and humidity
took its toll. It became a walk/run,
with the last 1/2 – 3/4 mile being in pain.
While there were issues on the swim and run, I did still manage to shave about
90 seconds off of my 2018 time.