I got my A$$ kicked by Mitchell Sellars...WT#???

As with most trouncings, the weekend started out innocent enough.

Rhonda and I, along with Josh and Amy Fix, all converged at Heard State Park Campground in West Point GA late Saturday afternoon. The plan was to camp that night and then up at dawn the next morning to participate in the annual West Point Lake Triathlon. Amy and I had signed up several months back to do the Olympic distance (1.5k, 40k, 10k). Even though Rhonda had only recently gotten back on the bike once and swam three times, after five years of doing other things, she had decided at the last minute, thanks to an evil suggestion/dare from John Leonard, to do the Sprint (600 yd, 15 mile, 5k). Josh briefly toyed with the idea of entering his first tri, but decided that only one time in the pool was almost, but not quite enough training to thoroughly dominate the field and deferred to another day.

If you haven't been camping here before - Heard State park is just beautiful! Our site was right on the lake, surrounded by trees, and just about perfect. If you are lucky enough to own a boat - you can camp and pull your boat right up to your spot and ski/fish/canoe all day and all night. Since we were boat-less, however, Josh and I entertained ourselves by skipping rocks, playing with the dog, and shouting advice to the crew setting out the buoys for tomorrow's swim. They were clearly putting them WAY too far out, but in spite of our yells and arm waving, they flat out ignored us. A fantastic salad and pasta dinner provided by the Fix's satisfied even the vegetarian among us and we all turned in early with nothing but the sounds of nature (i.e. very loud and sexually frustrated frogs, a TV from the next campsite, and the Fix's electric fan) to lull us to a fitful sleep.

Race day started at 5am! Cabana boy (Josh) fixed the coffee and the rest of us pretended we had a routine to follow as we tried to choke down some calories and get hydrated. The morning was just about perfect - temps in the 70's, light breeze blowing - this was going to be a good morning. Although this was a "race", there was no real reason to push myself. Unlike St. Anthony's, my son wasn't running in this one. And Josh had wimped out - not that I thought I could beat him overall, but maybe I could at least school him in the swim and make him a little nervous. And there were tons of Atlanta tri geeks here - so no chance of the podium for me! This time - I was going to relax a little, try to get a good bike, enjoy myself on the run, thank the volunteers, encourage my wife - yep, this was going to be a good day. Even getting locked into the campground (they don't open the gate till 7) didn't faze us - we just parked the cars, grabbed the gear and started walking.

I was almost whistling a happy tune in transition as I set up my stuff. With everything set up, I grabbed the camera to take a few pictures of Rhonda and make sure she was good to go and then suddenly - there he was - friggin' Mitchell Sellars - DANG it!! We had both done St Anthony's and yeah - he beat me in the swim and the bike and beat me overall by three minutes in that race, but it was actually pretty close - and I had totally schooled him in the run - so maybe I had a chance this time. He had ridden up with Todd Archer and just decided at the last minute to do this race. Mitchell claimed his training had been pretty crappy since St. Anthony's; and even though mine had too - I thought maybe, just maybe....So much for having fun - it was ON!

The time trial start began at 7:30 with two people starting every 5 seconds. I lost Mitchell and Amy in the crowd before the water and Rhonda was at her race start, so with some smart ass words of encouragement from Josh - I dove in and started swimming. The lake was clear and cool and by and large, the swimmers pretty spread out. I got dunked by one asshole and tried to nail him with an elbow, but otherwise the swim was pretty un-eventful. 34 minutes later (I knew the swim course was long!!) - I was making my way to the bike. Amy was just heading out on the bike, but Mitchell was nowhere to be found and there were still a lot of bikes on the rack - maybe things weren't going to be that bad!

The bike course was a ton of fun. Mostly gently rolling hills and lots of shifting gears, I was consistently holding 20+ even on some of the uphills and passing a bunch of folks and only getting passed by a few. Focused on eating and drinking and keeping the pressure up, the ride just flew by! Saw Amy at a couple of different places, never saw Mitchell, and came into transition with a ton of bikes still out on the course - this was going well! Finished the ride in 1:13 at a 20+ pace on a hilly course - not too shabby and doing better than St Anthony's!!

Quick transition and out on the run. The sun was starting to heat things up and they had us running the 10k out and back across the dam. The damn dam. With no shade. Oh well, this is almost over - kicked out a 7:15 first and second mile - things going ok - and then I hit the damn dam. That's when I saw him. Mitchell. Going the other way. At mile 4. Like 15 minutes ahead of me. What....the....!!! Oh sure - I shouted out some encouraging BS, and yeah - he looked like he was in pain - but didn't I start ahead of him?! Dang it! He's kicking my ASS!

And that's when the heat hit, and the stitch started, and the sudden realization that I no longer gave a shit. And oh yeah - I was supposed to just have fun today, but now I'm too dang tired to enjoy it and I'm on a damn dam and where's the dang shade anyway and there is no way that turnaround point was that far away. Finally hit the turnaround, now running about a 7:45 pace, and head for home, head hung low, hoping Rhonda's race was going well! I hit the 4 mile aid station, took my time and totally got busted goofing off by Josh - sitting on the course waiting for his honey to come back by. Screw him - I'm still going to take my time and drink another water!!

I did manage to pass one other guy in my age group the last two miles, and did manage to pick it up for the last mile, and did manage to look pretty composed as I came through the finish line with a fellow IM KY finisher. Finished the 10k in 46:37 at a 7:31 pace and overall in 2:36:41. Respectful, not too bad, about 12 minutes slower than St. Anthony's but the swim was longer in this race - so eh...good enough I guess. Except that this time Mitchell Sellars totally kicked my ass by running a 2:22:59, and finishing a dominating 1st in the Clydesdales division!

I ended up finishing 9th out of 28 in my age group. Amy did great - she swam a 36:28, biked a 1:23, ran a 53:26 and finished up with a 2:55.14 overall for 6th out of 10 in her age group. A new Leesburg resident, John Kilpatrick, had the best time from Albany and scored some hardware - he swam a 28:29, biked a 1:07, ran a 42:36 and finished up with a 2:20:24 overall for 3rd out of 30 in his age group. Mitchell finished the highest Albanian in his division (although Kilpatrick beat him overall - HA!) with a 28:35 swim, 1:04 bike, 48:42 run, overall 2:23, and first place Clydesdale.

In the sprint, other than getting off course on the swim and posting one of the longest T1 transition times ever, Rhonda did awesome!! She swam a 16:24, biked a 59:17 and ran a 32:21 for an overall 1:54:51. Todd Archer also kicked it, swimming a 12:29, biking a 47:52, running a 24:01, and earning an overall 1:26:47.

All in all, a great race that I might be tempted to come back too. Very proud of my hunny as she starts to build her base for a half IM and Amy continues to kick it on her way to another full IM! Clearly, if I'm going to beat Mitchell in the next race, I've got to get serious about my swim (three days a week with the masters class), and more serious with the bike (Tuesday/Thursday rides with the race group), and probably drink less beer, watch what I eat, and maybe actually run more than once a week.

Or maybe - I'll just let Mitchell kick my ass next time too!