The annual Snake River Triathlon was held this past weekend in Lewiston Idaho. Well for me, two thirds of the triathlon were held in Lewiston, the swim was here in Spokane. Because this event is so early in the season the swim is Friday night and the bike and run are Saturday morning. This prevents the participants from heading out into the March morning air wet from the swim.
I have always enjoyed this event which is put on in a low key manner by some great people. This year the event was as early as it has ever been in the race calendar and I have to wonder if this was part of the reason the number of participants were down from past years. I wanted to participate in this years event not only because I truly enjoy the event but I also wanted to lend my support in a year where the numbers were down in an effort to make sure it goes forward. When events like this go away they rarely come back.
Our local tri club, Tri-Fusion, was kind enough to host a swim so that folks here in Spokane wouldn't have to swim and stay in the LC Valley Friday night. I took advantage of this opportunity to swim locally.
Mike Collins, the director of the event, graciously emailed each participant the results of Friday night's swim. This gave me the opportunity to preview where I would line up against the others in my age group.
Saturday morning I was up early in order to make the drive to Lewiston. I arrived in time to find a good spot in transition and get a short warm up on the bike.
At this race the participants gather at the far end of transition and wait for their swim time to appear on the race clock that starts at roughly 10 a.m. We all stood around until the 5:56 mark or when the first competitors time hit the clock and off she went. Each competitor would wait until their individual swim time would come up on the clock before running through transition and getting on the bike. I knew I was down to two others in my age group as much as a minute twenty three after the swim. I watched for the other two so if the opportunity presented itself, I would know which competitors they were if I came upon them out on the bike course.
Starting 20th overall and 3rd in my age group out of T1, I would quickly settle into a rhythm and power that would move me up in the field. I was able to catch the first rider in my age group at about the mile and a half marker as I continued to look up the road for the remaining rider in my age group.
I continued to watch my power to guide my effort, wanting this race to prove as a test of my fitness. As I approached the remaining racer in my AG, I will admit I did lift my effort as I went by. There is a risk when doing this. If you go by quickly it can do one of two things. It can affect their mental psyche negatively or it can light a fire under them, motivating them. It can be a calculated risk but I needed to move past so I elected to go by at an elevated pace.
Turning at the top of the grade, I made a hard charge for the bottom now in 4th place overall. I would watch my power to make sure I was giving my best effort heading back down to transition and I wanted to put any kind of separation I could get between myself and the others in my age group.
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| Photo By Madi Reisenauer |
Back to the bottom of Tammany Grade and out of T2 on the run. As I started the run I had the opportunity so see the trailing racer in my age group as he was heading toward T2 and I had what I thought was maybe as much as a 2 minute lead over him. If this guy was a runner 2 minutes would never be enough to hold him off so I dug in. Early in the run I made a conscious decision not to look back to see if others were closing. I wanted my effort to be guided by my race not someone else's. This race will serve as a test so I pushed my effort not knowing if I was being run down. O.K. I will admit on the final corner I did look back to see if it was going to come down to a sprint in the final 200 meters.
In the end I was able to hold off the others in my age group finishing 4th overall.
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| Photo By Madi Reisenauer |
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| Photo By Madi Reisenauer |
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| Photo By Bo Reisenauer |
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| Photo By Bo Reisenauer |
It was great racing with teammates as well as many friends, old and new. Some if not most of them bringing home some hardware. Being part of this atmosphere, part of this race was again, a true pleasure.
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| It's a Major Award! |
"Would you look at that? Would you look at THAT?
"But what is it?"
"He won that. It's a Major Award."
"A Major Award? Shucks, I wouldn't know that. It looks like a pint glass."
"It is a pint glass, you nincompoop, but it's a Major Award. I won it!"
I am thrilled with what was my first AG win of my career. With an age group placement each athlete receives a monogramed pint glass. I have been fortunate enough to receive a glass at more then one Snake River Tri and don't get me wrong here, I'm proud and excited about each of them but...
I live in a home with a world class athlete. She has more "Major Awards" then she would ever care to display. In fact some of her achievements are displayed in our home only because I put them out. She may rather they languish in a shoe box in the basement. The photo below is a vignette of some of her accomplishments.
We actually use these Major Awards/pint glasses for what they were intended to be used for, drinking glasses in our home. Everytime I remove one of these glasses from the cupboard I decry "It's a Major Award!"
There was a time when I would whine every time Bootsy would dare use one of these pint glasses, saying it was my Major Award and I should be the only one allowed to use it. I don't know how she puts up with me.
That was until last year when she showed up to take home the women's overall win and her own "Major Award", amongst other things.
Below is a mock-up of Bootsy's accomplishments using my awards some of them Major. Please note the majority of the awards are team awards, a team that I am so very proud to be a part of.
Do I really care if Bootsy were to use a glass inscribed with a regional race? Of course not. It is just another opportunity to make a point not only to her but myself as well.
And you know what. She's right.
"And with as much dignity as he could muster, the Old Man gathered up the sad remains of his now shattered idea of a Major Award. Later that night, alone in the backyard, he buried this idea next to the garage. Now it could never be for sure, but the sound of "Taps" may have been heard being played, gently."
