Splish Splash.. I almost had a crash...

My 2009 Chicago Triathlon is complete. Congrats to Tim and Brent (two newbies that had great races!). This was my third, possibly fourth Chicago Tri, and as with most things. Everything comes to an end, and this, in all likelihood, was almost my last.

I'll start by saying, I felt good. Felt rested. And was setup to have an enjoyable race. With the family battling a colds, and my work hours eating into sleep, just feeling good for the race was a huge feat. The weather started off quite nasty. Strong winds gusting out of the north. Air temps in the lows 60's without the wind. The water temp was 63. For those without wetsuits... Well, I salute you.

I tell people they should "Do Chicago" for the shear spectacle of it. And I stand by that. Unfortunately the spectacle got the best of me this time. You come to expect a certain amount of "slapping" or grabbing during the swim. That is just bound to happen with up to 150 people in a small space all trying to swim in a small channel. There are stories (I can personally attest to them) of people being "swam over". Literally, someone just ignores your body and swims over you. Not fun. Anyway, for the first 400meters or so I felt like i was just outright mugged. The clutching and grabbing was nasty. I was actually trying to forcible kick whoever was behind me to keep them off me. I never connected. Overall I felt pretty strong on the swim. But after the swim leg, my race was all but dashed. I discovered that my timing chip was ripped off during my "mugging". So I've go no official time. and I've got to pay $30 bucks for a lost chip to boot!

The bike was tough. Heading north in the gusty winds slowed even the best bikers. Southbound, that's another story. While the weaker riders were recovering from the tough northbound legs. I know I was able to reach speed over 30 mph on the downhills with the wind. My cycle computer was on the fritz so I couldn't often tell my speed. But I felt strong. Even heading North into the wind. I believe I still held a 20+ mph average. And I passed a TON of people. My 2nd southbound leg was where the remainder of my race just about went out the window. Some jerk on a $10,000+ bike with one of those $300 bike helmets that look like a turd in a wind tunnel forced me into evasive maneuvers. I then had to slam both brakes on to avoid colliding with a slower rider (I was going 30+ mph during the split second I looked). I started to fishtail and my bike was coming out from under me. My bike was now 90 degree the wrong direction skidding on the tires.. I unclipped my right foot just before I completely went down.. I sorta "surfed" on that foot. it was a heck of a noise with the bike shoe cleat skidding on the pavements as I tried to slow/brake myself and balance with that shoe as the rest of me got closer to wiping out. I remember thinking, Gosh this is gonna REALLY hurt, and is there a preferred what to wipe out on a bike to minimize broken bones, and boy I hope those people I passed are far enough bad to avoid hitting me while I'm down. God was watching over me, and somehow I got my balance enough to whip my bike 90 degree back.. and in a move from the Old west movies.. I sorta got back on at the same time.. some riders behind me exclaimed how they couldn't believe that I was able to recover. I responded with "Thanks for keeping an eye on me.. and not running me over..." I did my best to catch up to that jerk.. and believe me I was pumping the pedals like I never have before. Not sure what I would have done in my "bike rage" mode.. but I never did catch up. Probably a good thing, in hindsight. After that, the race was somewhat less exciting.

I had a really great run. No jello legs after a strong bike leg. I don't know what my pace was on the run since i didn't get timed. I'm sure that it was sub 8 minutes. But whether it approached a 7:30 pace I dunno. I was thrilled to see J, E1, E2, and my sister in Law on the run course. Thanks guys! you helped to turn what was a pretty miserable race that was worth forgetting, into something good in which I could just enjoy the moment.

In all, my unofficial time (from my watch) was 2 hours 39 minutes. That about 4+ minutes better than in 2006, and about 9 minutes slower than in 2007 (that was my hard core year where most of my PRs were set). In the end, I'm very pleased to have completed the race unharmed. I've got some interesting stories as well. I hold out a little hope that by me "yelling" out my bib number to the timekeepers (and they either nodded or responding with "i got it") that maybe I'll have some sort of time show up on the website, but nothing yet.

But at the end of the day, I can feel comfortable in saying I'm done with the "spectacle". There are other Olympic distance Tri's in the area. I'll consider them next year instead.

So how did you spend your Sunday?