Victory! And 600 bucks to boot. After hanging around Tuscaloosa for what seemed like forever, I finally got the chance to race. I felt great on the swim despite the chilly water temps. I came out of the water in third position and felt really comfortable. After the the first lap myself and three other riders formed the lead group. However, one guy from navy took a spill at the turnaround on the first lap. This caused us to lose our rhythm a bit, but we quickly formed a strong group when one other rider bridged up and a very sketchy rider dropped off the back. The three of us got a good rotation going and held the first chase group of 9 riders to about one minute. Coming off the bike Nick Vandamme(sp) and myself stayed together for the first half of the first lap of the run. After taking it the first quarter at a comfortable pace, I made my move on Vandamme and never looked back. I ended up running a 16:51 for the 5k. A solid performance, but I would have liked to have gone under 16:30. Vandamme was able to hold off a hard charger from the first chase group who must have had the fastest run split on the day. Crossing the line in first was a great experience with a whole slew of photographers poised at the finish.
So things are going pretty good. I think I impressed some people today, and I am very pleased with that. It was very satisfying to beat all of the so called "pipeline athletes". In the end, it doesn't matter who USAT thinks is going to succeed and who to support. You just have to go out there and let your racing do the talking. They'll come around eventually.
Click HERE for the story on the USAT website!
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