Just one more mile.: 1st Annual Super Seal "Sprint: Triathlon.

This Race was fun! It was the 3rd Race of the year for me(1.Super Spartan 2. Fiesta Island TT, and 3 Super Seal Tri). It was my 2nd triathlon.

I Signed up with LegUp to get more organized and quality training and coaching from Matt Hoffman.

and has its paid off.

I got there at 5:03a.m. Unracked my bike and unpacked the jeep to head over to transition whit just opened. I managed to get a sweet spot right next to the end.

Coach (Matt) Tatted me up with the TriTat numbers 1437 on my arm and leg and tagged my bike for me, Clipped im my shoes and rigged up the elastic bands(which worked great by the way) while I set up my area and he offered a few pointers.

I got set and headed to warm my legs up on the bike for 15 minuts and then hit the street for some jogging and strides.

As 6:30 came around i finished with warming up and changed into my Vortex wet suit by XTerra, grabbed my orange swim ca[p and goggles, slid on mt house slippers =) and headed over to the swim start that happened to be 300yards away, to do a couple hundered yeards warm up swiming.

That water was damn cold. My wet is sleeveless but i managed.\

The first wave went out at 7:00 Sharp all with silver swim caps on. The second wave started at 7:03. Tha is my wave. My heart was pounding as they called out the 1 minut left to line up i kinda slither through the other apprehensive competitors to line up right on the from row with the other hungaru ones...who didnt look so intense or intimidating when standing next to them... and with a 10 second count down I thought "Holy shit" Im going for it... screw it, im sprinting into the water and diving as soon as im knee deep"... and they called out "Two..."One..." GO!" and I darted through that ling of men, hit that water and dove and while i was under i just swam out a few seconds and broke the surface already into my stroke when i realized something... My Goggles are over my mouth. Oh great... here we go.

oh well. keep swimming, keep swimming in between strokes I try to adjust them. 1/2 way to the 1st bouy I got them over my eyes again while kicking and not pulling, and the left side was filled with water. As i got closer to the bouy i paused only for a second to flip that left side up and empty out the water... and I was off again. Mid way or so we started catching up to the silver caps. This made me realize i was swimming okay for having the couple minor issues at the beginning. I placed my swim cap over my goggle strap prior to entering the water so that in the event of an accedental kick or slip of the goggles i would be less likely to lose them, and it worked.

As I headed to the end of the swim I kept paddling untill i touched the ground with my hands a few times and when i exited the water knew that if i Ran a little hard to the transition area I could save time because it was a couple hundered yeards away so off with the cap, goggles and pull the wetsuit down to my waiste and run past everyone...

This is another part where I sucked. I got lost in wave 1's rack area looking for my bike and didnt actually find mine in wave 2's rack area for 30 or 40 seconds. It was to the point where I actually started thinking some one stole my crap... When I found it i changed lickity split though. I felt pretty solid on my T1 and T2.

The Bike leg of the course wemt really good excpet with the serious head wind everyone had to deal with so I just tried to stay tucked down and aero. No one caught up and passed me on the Bike leg and I made up good time there passing the majority of people who beat me on the swim leg of the race.

The clipped shoes with the rubber bands worked out really well. I had actually practiced that doing bricks and also easy 1:00 long rindesto where I felt comfortable with when to slip each foot into the shoe and when to take it out to dismount.

Dirring the bike leg i kept burping up salt water I managed to swallow from the swim. As I came up on the transition area I slid the heels up and placed my feet onto the top of the shoe and swung my right leg over the sattle ready to jump off and run into my T2. As I jumped off, I grabbed my sattle and started running I did not realize that into the Transition area there was a 90 degree, vary narrow right hand turn and while i was looking for the mat i need to be sure i step on, i lead my bike unger the orange tape, and right into the cones barrickading the spectators... said " Oh Look at that", laughed and a couple other people gigled "Sorry" Backed out and ran to my area. With a :49 Second T2 I hustled into the run leg of the race.
My legs were heaaaavy.... The 1st 1/2 of the run was an ass kicker . My legs felt so heavy for so long I was not sure how i would fare on this 6K run . but 1/2 way through I slowed down and adjusted my stride and turn over , found a rhythem and kept it. Shortly after a younger kid, Pedro Morales passed me and tapped me on my back saying " Your doing good man". I told him "you too" as I picked up my pace and held it there that last two miles or so speeding up as I closed in on each runner infront of me.

The sprint to the finish line was pretty epic. Looking back at my pictures the faces of the spectators say it ALL! I was running vary light fotted and probably at or 5:30 minute pace as i closed in on the only other racer who had passed me on the run. Come to find out, Buth guys that passed me where from the wave before me any way. But as I ran quitely, and approached the Marine on his right 200 yeards from the finish, he saw me and put the burners on... I tried to smoke him but i had been running that fast for a while already and burnt out... I thought "That could have been 1st place" but after congradulating him and talking with him, I found out he actually started three minutes before me with the 1st wave =D. So that 1:17:57...That belongs to him.

Take 3 minuts off that and you have my time, 1:14:53 - 1st place military Male, 2 fastest age group time for males 30-34.

My split times for the 500m Swom T1 20K bike T@ and the 6K Run were; S=10:29/B=2:37/R=24:55
for a total of 1:14:53

I know i may never get this message to you folks, but thanks to all the people along the course who were shouting, cheering and telling me "Great Job". You all helped.

(Right: Moki and I, and a little conversation about serving)