Chattanooga Trip

On Saturday Bec and I met Betsy and Jay in Chattanooga for a visit before a triathlon on Sunday morning. John had a blast playing in the water feature thingees outside the TN Aquarium while I slept. I was zonked and needed a nap. I did the best I could.










Sunday morning, way too early we got up for the triathlon. Like 3am central time. Uh. Wel organized race for 1200 racers. Huge race. The only thing that stunk was being bused to the swim start and sitting around for 90 minutes before we started the race. Was supposed to be 60 min, but TDOT was late setting cones on the highway for the race, so we couldn't start. Typical TDOT.


Distances were 1500m swim (0.9 miles) in the Tennessee River with the current, 25 mil bike, and 10 k run (6.2 mi).

Here's a pict of a one armed guy who did the whole race. How he swam, I have NO clue. Even riding the bike. So any of you that think you can't do a tri, think that a one arm guy can do it. Pretty inspiring.

Swim was super fast because we swam with the current. We got "yanked" out of the water by a bunch of thugs and I managed to get my right shin completely chewed up. I could have pulled myself out fo the water just fine, but they yelled "hands up." So I obligued and they pulled me up on the dock. Long run to transition area, up a bunch of steps, etc. Lots of people there cheering us on, which was cool. I saw Bec while going up the steps.

The bike ride was 26+ miles, not 25 as it was supposed to be and the course was super hilly. Not steep hills, but 0.5 to 1.0 mile long grades which wear you out. I passed a LOT of people on the bike. It clouded up and made the ride quite pleasant, for a race. I got off the bike slower then expected, but since the ride was longer then planned and very hilly, I didn't go really fast. However, I still passed a LOT of cyclists, especially in my age group. The run was rough. I ran slow apparently (still did 7:56 miles), but couldn't go any faster, I tried. We ran/walked up stairs and one short steep hill at the end. It was tough. I passed a couple people in my age group, but not a lot of them. I finished strong, but outside my time goal.

I ended up doing a 2:31:15, placing me 24th out of 114 in my age group (30-34 male). 18th best swim, so that is good. Even though the results online show my swim was 1 min longer then what I did, that probably included the getting out of the water and running up the steps to the transition area. I think it probably took me a minute to get up the hill. Phew.

http://www.team-magic.com/results/CWT_AG_2007.htm
Just scroll down to the Male 30-34 age group to see results.

See fun picts of the race.