Snake River Triathlon

Tri-Fusion at the Snake River Triathlon in Lewiston

Race Date: 4/14 and 4/15

500 yard swim

I did the swim portion of this race in Spokane (OZ North).   I haven’t been swimming the last few months so I tried to cram in some swimming in the last two weeks.   I knew Emma Thompson (age 8) was going to be participating in the swim as part of a relay team so I was hoping to beat her time.  I heard she swims 500 yards in  8 minutes.   Even though this is a small race and the swim is the day before the bike/run I was a little nervous.  I got in the pool and just went for it!  I tried not to start off too fast and felt successful in that.  I ended up with a time of 7:55.  Emma swam it minutes before me in 7:35!  One thing that makes me feel a little better about this loss is that Emma swims the fastest 25 yard freestyle in her age group in the US! Great job Emma!

The next day the duathlon takes place in Lewiston.  I decided to run to my bike in some running shoes this year, two years ago when I did this race I ran in my bike shoes.  I considered running with my socks only but the asphalt was pretty rough.   I knew many of my competitors are faster swimmers so my strategy was to try and catch them on the bike.  Once I got on my bike and started pedaling my chain fell off!!  Nooooo!!!  I jumped off my bike and tried to slip the chain back on as people were passing me.  I noticed the chain was stuck between the sprocket and the frame at the bottom.   My heart rate spiked!!   I tried pulling on the chain to get it unstuck, it didn’t seem to budge.  Seconds seemed like minutes!  I put the chain on the sprocket on top and pedaled the bike with my hand, it seemed to catch!  My hand was had grease on and cuts on it from the struggle with the chain.  I jumped on my bike and took off! I started passing people.  I saw many familiar faces as I was riding.  At about mile 10 I saw Erika up ahead.  She was hauling so it took me quite a while to catch her.  There was one more rider that I could see with a Hammer jersey.  I wouldn’t be able to catch this person on the bike.  I finally got off my bike with no fancy transition (I gotta work on this!). 

I started the run and caught the Hammer jersey in a few hundred yards.    I knew I had to push on as two miles is a short distance and time is running out.  After the turn around I passed John and I could see Craig, Dave and Meghan in front of me.   Meghan had created a nice gap in front.  Dave and Craig were pretty close to each other so I ran behind them for a bit.   Once I passed Craig I paused behind Dave.   Just as I was going to pass him he seemed to pick up his pace, I ran behind him long enough to muster up enough energy for the pass.  I took off and knew I didn’t have enough distance to catch Meghan.  I crossed the finish line exhausted.

Even though I had bike chain issues at the beginning of the bike I tried not to let it affect the rest of my race.   I am glad I did.   I ended up taking first in my age group (first time ever!) and placing 6^th overall not counting teams.  It was fun cheering for the other competitors and to hang out with all the Tri-Fusion folks!
A big thanks to Rosi and the kids for cheering me on for the swim and supporting me in this crazy triathlon addiction! :-)

Swim + run to bike: 7:58
Bike+ T2: 33:51 / Pace 21.27mph
Run: 12:53 / Pace 6:26
Total Time: 54:41

Thanks to Dave Erickson and Melissa Skelton for this video: