Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Yesterday I finally won the BRI Triathlon at Seafair after five years of trying.  4th in 2004, 3rd in 2005, 2nd in 2006 and 2007... like I said in my Lake Stevens write-up, racing locally is lots of fun b/c you see a lot more friends and family out there.  Plus since this race was part of Seafair there was a good deal of press coverage.  There are some photos on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website, an article in today's digital and paper Seattle Times, and a short bit on yesterday's KIRO-7 newscast (I'll post a link once I can get one).

My swim felt a bit sluggish yesterday, partially due to the presence of the very fast Wolfe brothers.  I don't know them well enough to know which one was in my start wave, but he sat behind or next to me for about half the swim and then ate my lunch in the second half as he put about 20 seconds into me.  Luckily I still have those really fast ITU-inspired transitions and I started the bike in the lead.

There was a bit of a headwind on the way out so I was straining against the gear just a bit.  But this meant that the way back was really fast.  I had fun in the I-90 tunnel, greeting the oncoming cyclists with a collection of whoops and whistles...  the echo was quite entertaining.

My legs felt great on the run but my stomach was a bit disgruntled.  I think that my bike beverage was a bit too concentrated...  and perhaps my HR just never got low enough for any digestion to occur!  Such is the nature of a one-hour race...  But I kept the pedal to the floor as much as I could and finished with a respectable run split that was a touch slower than last year.

The post-race was lots of fun.  The top three guys got to do a little promo spot about Seafair for KIRO-7, and I also got interviewed for the Seattle Times article.  I felt like a real big shot!

After the adult race was over we all got treated to the PCC Kids Triathlon.  If you have never seen a kids triathlon, I highly recommend that you check one out.  Fun stuff!  It's great to see the diverse collection of bikes in the transition area.  Replace carbon wheels and aero tubing with a beach cruiser and a handlebar basket and you start to get the idea.  Some 24-inch wheels, some 20-inch wheels, some the next size down.  We counted at least ten kids keeping their bike helmets on for the run ... and a few still had their swim caps! 

Finally at the awards ceremony, we gave two of the Seattle Seahawk "Seagals" the honor of standing with me on stage for a photo op.  Lucky gals, eh?