The Blog is Back: 2014 in Review

It has been way too long since I last updated the blog. I am going to be back at it regularly from now on. This year has been pretty crazy getting used to married life and training and racing as a pro. Here is a review of 2014! I kicked off the season at the Clermont ITU Pan-American Cup in March. I didn't get lapped out but there was a bike/run course overlap and you had to be to the overlap on your bike before the lead runner. Unfortunately I missed it by about 5 seconds and was pulled from the course. The next day was an Elite Development Race. I missed the two big groups and spent some time solo or working with a small pack. I finished in the middle of the 75-man field. Next up was Collegiate Nationals. It was really exciting to get to race in Tempe after being forced to spectate last year except for the draft-legal race. I think my commitments of being commissioner and club president wore me out like they do every year. I had a decent day in the Draft-Legal race but had a pretty horrible performance in the non-draft on Saturday. OSU fielded a mixed team relay for the first time and we had a really good time! After that came graduation. A couple of weeks later Jacquelyn and I got married and the night of the wedding we made our way down to Austin for the CapTex Triathlon. The race was going really well and I was looking at a top 15 finish for sure, when the referee's motorcycle made a U-turn right in front of me on a downhill while going 30+ mph. I hit the brakes but we collided and he dragged me across the road. Other than road rash all the way up the left side of my body I walked away unharmed. My bike, however, did not. It was cracked it various places, my handlebars, brakes, pedals, wheels and seat were all damaged. I was extremely fortunate as the driver's insurance took care of the cost of my bike and replaced it (the race organizers did absolutely nothing, not even to check on how I was. They did not even know there was a wreck on the course until I showed up at the medical tent 2 hours later. The race director's secretary told me that he was going to contact me but that never happened after several attempts at contact from my end. I will not be going back to CapTex anytime in the foreseeable future). I was actually able to upgrade my bike. The guys at Fort Worth Cycling hooked me up with a P3 decked out with electronic Dura Ace and some deep HED Stingers. The bike is great and has helped me out in my transition to long-distance racing! The day after CapTex I discovered that I had gotten onto the start list for the Pan-American Championship that coming Saturday. It was Thursday before I could raise my left arm above my head but that wasn't going to stop me from starting! I had a PR swim (which still put me pretty far behind) and I was lapped out early. It was still a great experience getting to be in a field full of Olympians and National Champions. After that my focus switched to racing long distance and I made my pro debut at 70.3 at Ironman 70.3 Steelhead on August 10th. I finished 15th in a decent field with a huge PR of 4:18. The next month I finished 11th at 70.3 Muskoka and backed that up 3 weeks ago in Henderson, NV with a 10th place finish at 70.3 Silverman. This past weekend saw a disappointing end to the season at 70.3 Austin. I ejected both of my bottles of sports drink and gels by mile 5 and ejected the bottle of Perform I got at the first aid station after just one drink. I was severely dehydrated by the second aid station and after the bike I had to call it a day. Now it is time for a week off to recharge and refocus before base training starts. I am really looking forward to next year and a full winter of 70.3 training! The schedule is starting to take shape and I will be releasing that in the near future. Thanks for reading!