The Nutcracker triathlon was held this morning in Rio Rancho New Mexico. It was a Run-Bike-Swim at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center. The bike course was an out-and-back (moderately hilly) 25K. The run was a hilly loop 5K course. The swim was a serpentine 400 meter swim, up/down one lane at a time.
The Nutcracker triathlon was RD’d by Mark Mico. Every time I race a multisport event put on by Mark Mico I’m amazed. His events are always extremely well organized and stress free events. The race results were posted online by the evening of the race. He always hands out the nicest age group awards of any local sprint. This year each and every athlete who placed top 3 in their AG received a wood plaque that had “The Nutcracker triathlon 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place division” on it. The registration fees of his events are always much cheaper than any other sprint distance races.
The night before the Nutcracker triathlon a storm covered New Mexico in a fine sheet of snow. With all the snow and ice that had dropped just hours before sun came up I was afraid the bike portion of the triathlon was going to be canceled, but true to the land of enchantment most of the snow melted before the race start, all three legs of the race was a GO. It was only 24 degrees at the start of the race. There were icy patches on the run and bike. A fellow triathlete who was ahead of me on the run fell twice, apparently it didn’t affect him that badly because he still finished ahead of me on both the run and bike. It wasn’t until the second transition that I was able to get ahead of him.
Today I wasn’t expecting much of a performance. My legs were still fatigued from racing Ironman Arizona 14 days ago, and my time trial bike was destroyed back in September, so I was racing on my slow heavy off brand road bike. Somehow, someway I still ended up having a great race. I finished in 1:23:18, 8th place out of 98 triathletes, I took 1st place in the 35-39 age group division, and I qualified for the 2012 US national Age Group Championships that will be held on August 18th in Burlington Vermont!!!!
My buddy Matt Hall took 2nd place in the 35-39 age group and 11th overall. He laid a smack down on the bike making up the 2 minute lead I put on him during the run. He was right on my tail coming into T-2! I put a good 45 seconds on him in T-2- it’s a good thing I get naked quick. I was able to extend that lead in the water to 1:45. My training partner Audra Macejka took 3rd place age group in her 1st triathlon ever! Great things happened at the Nutcracker triathlon today!
My wife and I need to spend some time in prayer on whether we can afford the time away from my work, my wife’s college study, and the expenses that would be needed to drive the 5 of us Hanson's all the way to Burlington Vermont so that I could compete in the 2012 USAT National Age Group Championships. It’s been a dream of mine for quite awhile to qualify and compete in the Age group and sprint distance national championships, but that would be a very long and expensive drive with 5 of us in a minivan. All of our babies all under the age of 7. I'll let you know what we decided as soon as we figure it out. Thanks for tuning in!!!
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