Red Hills 2009

I had an awesome race this weekend @ Red Hills Triathlon. It's the "toughest sprint in Florida" according to the race's website. It covers a 1/3 mile swim, 16 mile bike, and 5k run. It's capped around 300 participants and it fills up fast, well in advance of the race date. It is quite popular for good reason. Kathy McDaris is the race director and she makes everything run seamlessly.

I convinced my roommate Andrew to do the race. He loved it. It was cool having him there. We've trained together a little bit. He did really well for his first time with the exception of getting a 2 minute time penalty for "improper placement of equipment"...we still can't figure out what he did wrong. He had the advantage of borrowing my race number belt and practicing transitions with me on Friday after we got our packets and tried to run the course. I also gave him some of my power smoothie, very similar to what I made before the Tallahassee Marathon.

Before the race even started, I had some stuff going for me. I put the ISM racing saddle on my bike and a Blackwell Research 100mm tubular front wheel. As for me, I kicked ass. I beat last year's time by 4 minutes, 49 seconds. Compared to last year, I dropped about 30 seconds on the swim, 20 seconds on T1, 3:27 on the bike, 11 seconds on T2, and 16 seconds on the run. I'm sure some of the bike time savings came from weather conditions, my Rudy Project Syton helmet that I didn't have last year, the ISM seat, and the Blackwell wheel, but I think the biggest improvement was my diminished fear of flying down the hills. Last year I still had the crash fresh in my mind. This year I was a little less cautious.

The swim went well. I stayed on course very well. I did zig zag a tiny little bit on the return to shore, but it was minimal. T1 went very smoothly except my sunglasses were fogged up a little bit and I couldn't wipe them off. Turns out it wasn't fog, but something that had been on my lenses from the day before. Nasty. Obstructed my vision for the rest of the race. I couldn't wipe it off with my jersey because of the material and the dampness. Anyway, the bike handled very nicely and I avoided all the rocks in the road. The only downside was that the sun was directly in my eyes heading down Bannerman so I slowed down a little when I was blinded. I went back & forth with Mike from the FSU team on the bike. He entered T2 before me and left T2 before me, but I caught him within 1/4 mile on the run. After I passed him, I couldn't see anyone up ahead. When I got a chance to check behind me I noticed that there was nobody within striking distance. The next finisher was 8 seconds behind me. I got 2nd in my age group, 3rd for FSU, and 15/245 finishers overall.

I felt great and rode that high all day long. I'm reminded why I train.

FSU Rankings

There is a paper that just came out which lists rankings for various econ programs across the country. FSU's Urban Economics program is ranked 7th in the nation! Dr. Ihlanfeldt came by my office yesterday to inform me of this and I can only say that it's good news to my ears.

Pick #121

Marjorie Fair - "Waves" from Self Help Serenade

Caught in Rain => Elevated Mood

I was a little disappointed when nobody showed up for my 7pm run tonight, but I ran a little on my own. I noticed that it wasn't monsooning like I thought it would be and decided to try to beat the rain home and take advantage of the remaining daylight. I had parked my bike under the protective cover of the business building, expecting it to rain while I was at school...turns out that the rain was lying in wait to ambush me on the way home. You're supposed to attack an ambush and that's exactly what I did. I was at Call & Stadium when it hit me. Gusting winds and forcible pelts from full sized drops. I had my pack cover on the backpack and my rain jacket on. My shorts and the contents of their pockets got soaked very soon. The rain blew in gusts, driving stinging needles of raindrops into my exposed skin.

When I got to Ocala, the water was gushing down the bike lane. I decided to ride on the sidewalk. Runoff was still traveling down the sidewalk, but not nearly with as much force. The current on the road looked like it could push my bike into the storm sewer or the traffic lane, depending on what it felt like. I was also concerned about visibility and getting hit by a car if I was on the road. There was one point when I was going downhill that the wind almost stopped my forward progress! I definitely had to downshift from the usual gears I ride.

While I was cutting through the neighborhood, a tree branch fell about 5 feet away from me as I was passing. I thought that it could just as easily have landed on my head. I was also reminded by this point that my brakes don't work as well when they (and the rims) are soaked.

I made it home without incident and discovered that I didn't even care that water had leaked into the gap between the pack cover and my backpack. I was drenched but my upper body had stayed dryer and warm enough due to my jacket. I was riding a high off this trip back home for about an hour after getting back home. Normally rainy days put people in a bad mood. I was elated. I mentioned to Dan upon my arrival that it was a beautiful day and he snickered...I was serious.

I've found in the past that getting caught in the rain can make me really happy. I guess it's usually not a good thing if you're on the way to a job interview or something. I think I enjoy the entrapment of a storm as long as it's not violently lightening and I'll be able to change into dry clothes when I get to where I'm going.

¡Viva el aguacero!

Pick #120

Charles Theodore Zerner - "You Were Right (The First Time)" from A Suitcase Life

how appropriate that it popped up on my Pandora on Tuesday.

Air Bubbles

Although my dive computer wasn't working, I think this was taken from about 50-60 feet down. It looks cool if you stretch it to fit a widescreen monitor.

Pub Run

I just got back from a pub run. We started at this kid Micah's house with 2 beers. Then, me, Long, Tommy, Doug, Long, & Jen went to: Po'boys, Rita's (free italian ice!), AJ's, Proof, Ken's, Pot Bellies, the Palace, and back to Micah's place. I played beer pong and funneled a couple beers back there. The pub run was pretty sweet. I only paid about $10 the whole night.