YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM!!!

I was up at 3:15AM and out the door 20 minutes later. UGH!!! I headed up to Seafair with Lisa and Karen. We were nearing Federal Way when a cop flashed his lights behind me. I assumed he was after someone because I wasn't doing anything wrong. Nope, it was me. I pull over. He walks up to the car and said, YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM!!! WE GOT YOU ON CAMERA!!!" I had no idea what I did wrong. He told me to step out of the car. He takes me to the back of the vehicle and tells me my lights are being hidden by the bikes. I apologize and he proceeds to tell me that is unacceptable. I am thinking wow. He evens asks the question, "How is a car going to know you are in front of them?" I figured they should have their headlights on, but did not want to take a chance. I kept my mouth shut. He let me go. Crazy, right?

We arrived with plenty of time to get a good parking spot. All three of us got the first pick on the racks. After setting up all of gear, we walked back to the car to chill until the race started. The Olympic race started at 6:30AM and my race was scheduled to start at 7:30AM. Everything was delayed by 10 minutes. Lisa and I watched Karen start the Olympic race. There was guy who was swimming pretty fast out there as he put 50 meters on them in the first lap. He was the eventual winner. Some guy ran across the swim mats after only 1 loop. He was signed up for the sprint. I am not sure how he didn't hear them announce multiple times which race was occurring. The funny thing is it happened twice. The second guy was smart enough to figure out he had done something wrong. The race officials told him, "That will count as your warm-up." I think he swam again later because I saw him at the finish line later. Karen had a great swim, she was 3rd out of the water and first female. Nate had a great swim as well because he came out right behind her.

Lisa and I were getting cold, so we put on our wetsuits to stay warm. The XTERRA VENDETTA is not only a super-fast wetsuit, but it also kept me from getting too cold while I waited to start my swim.

SWIM - 10:26
I started on the left side. I noticed one familiar face, a former college swimmer, to my right. The air-horn sounded and we were off.  A few guys took off. I tried to get into their draft, but the pace was a little out of my comfort zone. I let them go. I felt strong on the entire swim.

BIKE - 30:39
I quickly stripped off the XTERRA, put on my SPIUK aero helmet, grabbed my green machine LYNSKEY, and headed out of transition. It took a couple miles to get my breathing under control. I passed several people including the swimmer within the first few miles. There was a guy just in front of me in this stretch. I forgot how steep the hill was getting onto I-90. I was slowly reeling the guy in and passed him just after the turn-around. I saw a shadow close by. I assumed he was drafting off me. He re-passed me after the steep downhill. I passed him and Lisa at the same time. My intent this time was to make sure he wasn't going to get any more easy riding. It worked. I never saw him again.

RUN - 19:03
I re-racked the green machine. I put on my NEWTONS and grabbed my visor. I felt good at the start. I felt like my pace was nice and steady. They put a nice hill right in the middle of the run. I wish there would have been people to race around me.

I won my age group and was 3rd overall. I competed at Seafair in 2009. My swim was much faster while the bike & run were a few seconds slower. Overall I was 16 seconds faster this year. I still have lots of work to do.