Having never completed 2 half-iron distance events in back to back weekends I was looking forward to the experience (I guess).  It was a world wind week between Muncie and Racine and I wasn’t so sure I was going to get my head in race mode.

On Sunday after Muncie and sitting in a car for 7 hours I relaxed in Glen Arbor, MI at the Homestead Resort. The cycling in upper Michigan is amazing. If you ever get a chance try to cycle on M-22. Also, there is a 17 mile trail from Suttons Bay to Traverse City. The swimming in Lake Michigan is pristine and cold and there are even some nice running trails if you search for them. 

After a few days up there I had to head back home and cram 5 days worth of training my clients into 3.  It was non-stop before jumping back in the car and driving to the Maraccini household to see Ed, Cheryl, Nick, and Madeline. Kate and I had a wonderful time visiting and taking the kids out for ice cream and cooking with the family. We went to the expo and pro meeting and even visited the Lighthouse near the run turnaround.  It felt more like visiting friends than racing quite actually.

            That being said a race was still to be run, and my bet with Nick was that if I beat my time from 2 years ago he was going to buy me ice cream and If I didn’t, than I owed him. 

            The swim was wretched, choppy, terrible sighting, and literally an act of survival for me.  As I exited to T1 Kate let me know that everyone was pretty much spaced apart.  I could see a guy in front of me a little ways off and I took me about 10 miles to catch up.  When I did, I suggested we worked together to catch the next guy. Well, as it turned out, I pulled him to the next guy. I suggested to him that the 3 of us work together to catch the next guy. As it turned out, I pulled both of them to the next guy. Then when I passed this guy I thought ok, maybe we can work as a bigger group. Well, buy the time I hit mile  31 I had a group of 4 guys riding my rear wheel. So, I politely pulled over and asked some else to to do some work. 

            This is were the race got interesting. My friend Tom Gerlach had worked his way into the group and seemed to be just chilling out (he is an extremely strong cyclist). So, he took his turn at the front, and blew us up! He told me later he dropped a 40 min pull at 320 watts.  I tried to go with him and another guy for awhile but by the time we hit mile 40 it was just 2 of us riding “together”. Tom was long gone and the other guys dropped off the back a couple of minutes. By mile 45 I was alone again and pedaled the last 10 miles into T2 by myself.

            It turns out that I came into T2 well out of the money, nor in any position to improve my Vegas standings. I needed a top 10 finish to do so and I was sitting in 16th or something and maybe with an incredible run I could pull it off, but not after having done Muncie the weekend before. I chose to cool the jets and tempo a half marathon as best I could while still finishing faster than I did 2 years prior. I even had time to for a long pit stop and some socializing with other guys on the course.  The ice cream was delicious afterwards, thanks Nick!

Going into IM 70.3 Muncie (July 13) I had few expectations. After a disappointing finish at IM 70.3 Syracuse (June 23) I was none the less excited about my fitness based on my position coming out of the water and how I had biked up into 4th place on the bike before flatting. I talked with my coach at TRIDOT.com and we decided to go for it even though I would be racing the following weekend at IM 70.3 Racine (July 21). 

I was placed with an awesome homestay at the last minute (thank you Sara Fauquher and family) and I left my house at 8a on Friday morning; leaving my self enough time to make it to Muncie to watch the final moments of the Tour de France stage and then on to the pro meeting.  After the pro meeting I made sure that my biked worked and prepared everything for the next morning.

Race morning was interesting as the back up getting to Prairie Creek Reservoir was quite substantial. I was still in my car 60 mins prior to the race start. Fortunately my parking spot was a 5 min walk to my transition spot. I did not take long to put everything together and I was out of the port o john with time to zip up my wetsuit and warm up for 5 mins.

The swim start was chaotic, as usual, and I lost ‘the group” in the first 5 strokes and essentially lead a couple guys around the course for the next 28 mins. I always wonder what these guys think, when they realize they were drafting off of me, ha ha. 

Up the hill to transition I ran with Mike Caiazzo and Robert Wade.  Knowing I could bike with Mike (we essentially had the same bike split at Syracuse) as well as Robert (we rode together at Muncie last year) I figured we might be able to catch a few guys to put ourselves into a place were we might have a chance to run into the money.  The group dynamics worked well with the 3 of us and we eventually passed a couple of guys who had dropped off the lead pack and we added Ryan Bates to our group for the last 25 miles.  The four of us rode into transition together, where I proceeded to fall off my bike dismounting.  My shoe, which I was standing on, which “was” clipped into my pedal came loose and dropped to the ground and I soon followed.  Robert with his cat like reflexes some how managed to avoid my head laying there on the pavement and as it I turned out I lost about 30 seconds leaving T2. 

Onto the run, I knew the first half would be fast and the second half a bit slower based the out and back course with a gradual descent to the turnaround. I ran within my limits, knowing the top 4 were out of reach and focused on each person ahead of me one at a time. I passed Ryan a few miles in, then Devon Palmer a few more miles in, and surprisingly I passed Robert before the turnaround (He is one of the fastest runners on the IM Circuit and just had an off day). At that point Mike and I were stride for stride (his a little faster than mine) as we dialed in on Blake Becker who was in 5th ($).  Mike caught Blake sometime before mile 8 and I didn’t make the pass until sometime between miles 8 and 9. I was “content” with 6th place considering Mike put 2 mins on me in the last 10k. 

I quickly packed up and got into my car for the 7 hour drive to Glen Arbor, MI for a couple of days of light training in lake MI and the rolling hills of upper Michigan.  All in all I was in Muncie for less than 24 hrs and was quite happy with results.