RBP #3 Signals End to Sprint Season in Texas

So I had promised myself that I would not be denied a race this time--I was racing the 3rd and last installment of the Run Bike Paddle series. This looked somewhat to be in jeopardy as I had some trouble coming up with a teammate. Tom was racing with his son, and a number of other people had prior engagements. Thankfully, Rick was on the task and put Robert with me, so I would be racing in the male division again. I wanted to race coed to put up some USARA points for HART/Hammer Nutrition, but it just wasn't going to happen. So Flo and Tracie subbed in.

The 2 weeks before the race I got in some good training: HART practices, a speed workout (12x30-30), vetting of the WG Jones permanent orienteering course, biking the fruit loop for some mileage (cut short due to flat), and another LSD run of about 12 miles. Of all these sessions, I would have thought the speed workout would hurt the most, but it ended up being the LSD run since it was a nice hot and humid morning again on Saturday. We ran all the way to Heights Blvd and back and I had to dial it back a bit because I forgot my nutrition. I remembered that I just needed the mileage, so I didn't try to push the tempo.

Mo accompanied me to the race that morning and it was a good thing because Rick was running short on staff unexpectedly.

"Bob was working on other projects and [Rick] had to do this race all alone. Michelle is in Germany, Vera, bless her heart wanted to race and Lori, well Rocky had an emergency, Debbie T, and Monica wanted a crack at winning the series, Matt and Nancy needed to rest from vacation and they may have had enough last race to last a while...Mo helped with registration, Linda took over the registration and all the finish line stuff. Lisa managed Tom and Linda's kids and got all the boats finished up, the race bags done the finishing medals back up the tower and so much more...Mo, made the best hot dogs we've ever had."

So, thankfully, everything seemed to just fall into place on the race management side of things so we could all just worry about racing. Hey, I did pump up one sevy and dragged, er, carried it over to the lakeshore. :) Anyway, Robert and I shored up our TA and warmed up a bit before the pre-race meeting. I knew Shaun and Carlos (MOAT) would be racing today, so we'd all be racing for 2nd place. Man, the race I decide to skip (RBP #2) MOAT doesn't show--figures! LOL. Sue opened up with a prayer and Rick went over the course. Pretty straightforward: run, bike, hike-n-bike, bike, paddle, climb tower, finish. There seemed to be a good turnout, with a lot of them being newbies.

We were given 7 mins to get ready and then the race would start running up the boat ramp. After waiting a few more minutes for Shaun to get out of the WC, the race started with the blast of the megaphone horn. Immediately, the pack thinned out, with Carlos leading as usual. Flo was effortlessly towing Tracie up front and Tommy and Sarah were close by. Robert was certainly the stronger runner of the two of us, so I had planned to just hang on. In retrospect, I should have told him to tow me, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to sap his strength for the bike as I was sure the roles would be reversed. Anyway, we just kept plugging along and soon after Carlos and Shaun warmed up, they started to gap the whole field. We slowly pulled away from HART/Hammer Nutrition COED as we rounded the turnaround back to TA. I gave it one last burst on foot as my favorite part was about to start.

Well, my favorite part almost didn't last very long. We had a pretty quick transition and were on our bikes in no time. I had decided to just bring water bottles since I figured the trails wouldn't be that bumpy and I should be able to grab them without trouble. First time I tried, I mis-timed it and hit a dip as I tried to put back my bottle...there it went. Robert asked if I wanted to go back and get it, but we didn't have time for that...plus I still had one more. Next, as we went across a paved road, there were kids just aimlessly riding there bikes and I was briefly distracted by this. I drifted a bit off the dirt path and was heading for a ditch. Thankfully, I looked back forward and got away with my life by a slim margin! In fact, I hit the edge of the culvert, sending my back tire popping up high in the air and I barely saved myself from a very spectacular crash. Robert was impressed, and so were the kids as evidenced by there "oooohhs." I told Robert I would stop screwing around.

The rest of the bike leg was pretty much uneventful, thankfully. We were about 3-5 mins behind MOAT and HART/Hammer COED was behind us by about the same amount. After finishing the loop, Robert transitioned into his running shoes while I stayed in my bike shoes as he said he was good to run the whole hike-n-bike. You know me--I wasn't going to disagree with him! So, for the most part we were going about 9-10 mph, which was a good pace...but not good enough to make time on MOAT. I think both MOAT and HART/Hammer COED made time on us on that leg--both teams had superb runners. After that leg it was another, shorter, bike leg. I remained happy as I was still on the bike, but it was then that we realized that MOAT had indeed made time on us, but we were pulling away from HART/Hammer COED.

We got back to TA in no time and Robert's wife said we were kickin' butt! Next was the paddle, which, in hindsight, could have been bad since we had never paddled together. I assumed I had more experience in the rubber duckies, so I immediately took rear seat. While it wasn't the fastest paddle, we did alright and was able to stay on course. It was at this point that the placings were pretty much set as a snapshot. We looped around the channel markers, docked our boats and did the final run up the tower and back down to the finish line. We finished in a bit over an hour...now that's what I call a sprint! 2nd place overall.

The weather was great and the race was even better--I had a lot of fun at this one. I had no expectations for this one, so that made it real relaxed...except for that brief moment right before the horn went off--my nerves always go whack at that point! As tough as these sprints are, I'm somewhat sad that the season is over. But of course, we have bigger fish to fry later in the year!

And, oh yah, we got a rabbit. Yes, everyone...Mo. Even the best defenses let one through a gap once in a while. Say 'hi' to Usagi. Actually, she's really cute and fun--its like pressing fast forward as she likes to suddenly sprint in random directions without provocation. Of course, I think Yuki wants to eat her, so we have limited their exposure to each other.