Exciting Finish

It was close to a perfect morning for the Lake Minnetonka Tri Saturday morning. I felt good but had no idea how I was going to place against a pretty stacked field. I was hoping for a top five but had no idea that I was going to have to battle for second place in what ended up being one of the most exciting finishes I've had. The race started out well as I had a much better swim than a few weeks ago at Buffalo. My first transition was a bit sloppy but could have been worse. I did not have my shoes clipped in as I didn't have far to run and wanted to be able to drive as much power into the bike as fast as possible. The bike felt good but not great. I think I need to adjust my seat position a little bit. Jeremy Sartain eeked me out by three seconds to have the fastest bike split. Jeremy is a former Pro Cyclist and MN Tri Series Champion in 2007. Early last year he had a devastating motorcycle crash. He is just now coming back and is improving on a daily basis. It won't be long before he regains full form again. I have been taking some bike clinics from him and joined his Twin Cities Multi Sport Club. Jeremy has been a huge part of my improvements this year and I'm sure I will continue to learn from him. My second transition was very sloppy as I had trouble getting my race number on and my shoes seemed to be more elusive than normal, I definitely need to work on my transitions as they were the reason I was legging out for second place instead of first. Mike Williams was right behind me off the bike and managed to have a lightning fast transition and was in front of me out of T2. I hoped he would make the mistake of running too hard too fast and stayed behind him for the first half mile. Then he started to fade and I made my move to regain the third position. Just before the turn around I passed Jeremy who told me I could catch Brett who was with in sight. At the turn I knew I could catch him but that would be up to him. All I could do is keeping racing at my pace and hope he fizzled. I did notice a fast runner on the way back and thought he might be able to catch up but forgot about him until about a quarter mile left. It was Josh Blankenheim. He is a faster runner than I am but I have beaten him at both Buffalo this year and Brewhouse last year. I stayed on him after he passed me to see if he kicked too early. I then made my own mistake by trying to pass back too early. We came off the path onto the final 100 meter stretch right next to each other but this was Josh's day as his 16:06 5k was just one second too fast for me. I talked to Josh, who is an awesome guy, and some of the other guys after the race. I like that fact that I am starting to get noticed. I also love meeting legends like Tony Schiller, Brett Lovaas and Jeremy hoping that one day someone will look at me like I look at them. I took third but felt so good about my performance I may as well have won the race. Hell, I ran the fastest 5K I have ever run Triathlon or road race. I was 8 seconds off the old course record and the fourth fastest time ever on that course. Funny because Kelly asked me how I thought I could do and I told here I thought around 1:04. She asked what the course record was and I told her 1:03:47. She thought I was being a little too optimistic. It is not the first time someone has doubted me in my life, nor will it be the last but in my opinion that is what drives a true competitor. If no one doubted what other people could do this would be a very boring world. After the race Kelly came over and gave me a big kiss too congratulate me. I wanted to tell her I told you so but trying to impress her is what drives me. Telling her I told you so may keep her from doubting me in the future. We have a fantastic relationship in which we have no problem telling each other they may need to be more realistic. Most of the time that is the correct statement. I'm just glad this time it wasn't.