St. George was a Club Race this year. We had 20 racers this year. We had perfect weather on race day. Sunny, but not too hot. Not windy. And Wow. The views were spectacular. But, this is a hard race and it proved to be eventful for our club mates.

PreRace.

Wednesday

And Thur. Most of us drove up to St. George. It’s about 1.5 hrs. Past Las Vegas. Very Drivable. I rode up with Lynda in the van. Good times catching up. We stayed at the Best Western Abbey in St. George. On the Southwest side of town. Very convenient to race stuff, and food and stuff. James and Angie also stayed here. Greg M. Stayed next door at the Quality Inn. Alvin had the AirBNB House. We had the Post-Race Party there. Rick, San, Julian and Susie, David, Carrie and Maria stayed at the White House.

Thursday

Lynda, James and I started with a trip out to Sand Hollow Reservoir. We intended to do a practice swim, but it was VERY windy and the chop in the water was too much. We passed on the swim. Bummer. Pretty day, We drove back to town and did our next best event: SHOPPING! Ironman t-shirt, hoodie, swim towel, head band. Good times. We stayed for the Athlete Briefing. Lots of little details on this race. Point to Point. Meaning Bus Ride to the Swim start. Bike check in on Fri. Run Check in on Fri. We then tried to go for a practice RIDE. But, when we rode out of the hotel, it was VERY WINDY and started RAINING. So, we went about a mile and turned around. We met up with Alvin, David, Ivan, Carrie, Maria, Greg, Mike, Julian, and Paul for Dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Yummy, meaty.

Friday. Pre-Game

We met the whole club for a Group Check In. We got consecutive numbers and racked all together. It made for an awesome race day. We stuck around for the PRO Panel. That was fun to hear the Pros talking about dealing with the course and nutrition and family. Ryan rolled in town, he had an incident on the fwy on his way in from LA. We went back to the hotel to pack our different check in bags. Bike check in bag: Helmet, bike shoes, all the bike stuff, minus nutrition. That will be added race morning. Run Check in bag: Running shoes, hat, nutrition. We drove out to bike check in, about 15 miles from downtown. We picked up our timing chip at that time. We saw Greg M. Walked down to the water and it was nice and cool. We drove back and dropped our Run bags. I grabbed a simple sandwich for a simple pre-race dinner. Went to bed early.

Saturday. Race Day!

Didn’t sleep much too excited. Got up and packed. Morning Bag for pre-race clothes. It was cold in the morning. Lynda dropped out of the race due to injury. She was a trooper and got up early and drove me, James, and Greg to the T2 at the bus shuttle pick up, at about 4:45am. The bus driver was a dope. He got lost on the way there. Dead end at a construction zone. I got a little stressed out. Got to T1 at 5:30a. Set up with everybody. It was great to see everyone. Raoul split his pants open in his wetsuit! He had an eventful swim.

Swim: 42: 55. Great Swim.

Swim went great! Water was cold. 59F. Water was pretty clear. I could see about 6 feet in every direction. Rolling start. Self seeding. I was starting with Alvin, Julian, Paul in the 43-46 minute group. First 300 yards I took slow and caught my breath. Some traffic with other racers, but not too bad. After 300 yards, I buckled down and headed out. I was feeling good. I didn’t stop for the rest of the swim. I felt terrific when I looked at my watch for the time.

T1: 7:45

I put on a cycling jersey and all the rest of the gear. I don’t wear a tri-top. I saw lots of bikes from our club, since we racked together. I was pretty jazzed.

Bike: 3:40. Good Bike.

Felt pretty good on the bike. Super short potty stop at Aid #1. Confirmed that it would be a good day. Lots of climbing on the bike. 20 miles from Sand Hollow to St. George. Big long climbs. Julian, Paul, Alvin caught me in the first half. Steeper climbs through suburbs. I hit top speed of 42mph at Mile 22 in the ‘burbs. Short stop at Aid #3, refueled. Bananas. Then ride through town. 20 miles west of town. Some descents through town. Vicky and Mike caught me on the second half. I hit 41 mph at Mile 34. Snow Canyon was Mile 41 to 46. Starts out 3-5%, middle is 7-8%, top is 10-12%. I was super happy I didn’t have to stop or walk. There were lots of walkers at the top. I was creeping along very slowly at the 12% top section. One guy was to my right in the shoulder, he was going so slow, that he tipped over and fell off the side of the road and rolled down the rocks. I didn’t stop. Sorry dude. At Mile 46, right turn out of Snow Canyon. Downhill back to town. I hit high 30s mph. Great Ride.

T2: 7:46. Switch to running shirt. Added shorts for pockets. Full hat for Ice.

Run: 3:31. This sucked.

Briefly, my knees were tweaky and weren’t going to run much. But, we’re stable enough to speed walk. So, I buckled in and enjoyed the 2 loop course. I saw everyone on the run. It was great. Course is 2 loops. Mile 1-3 uphill along the foothill, 2%. Loops through golf course on cart roads, and some fairs. There was lots of trees releasing tons of floating seeds. It looked like it was snowing. Mile 4-7 back to town and around again. Rick, David caught me late in the run. James had an eventful run.

Finish: 8:10! I’m okay with this. I knew the run was going to suck.

Post Race

I ran into Carrie and Maria. Maria had a day.

Party at the White House. BBQ. Yum.

San invited me to a special Bday party in Las Vegas. We left the White house at 7ish and an unmentionable Vegas boys weekend ensued. What happens in Vegas….