This continues my TriUnited 1 2024 Story.

My transition time from stepping unto the beach to hopping (literally) on the bike was 2 minutes.

I got on the bike and just went. I”m not a strong biker (and every year I say it’s something I have to work on) but I went with whatever I had.  I automatically found my race pace and burned a few matches by standing up in all the short uphills.  Nearing the end of the 40k I started to fade.  To me that meant, I couldn’t have ridden that course any faster than I did that day.

Nearing transition, I had the urge to check my watch to see how much time I needed to do the run if I was going to break my PR of 2:50 on this course. I didn’t. I decided to just go by feel and run the best run that I could that day. I wanted to enjoy the run and didn’t want the pressure of running after the clock. If I had it in me that day, I had it. If I didn’t, then at least I would enjoy the run. So with a fancy dismount and a another fast run to transition (where I overtook a few more guys) I racked my bike, took off my helmet and put on my running shoes.

I run without socks & don’t have problems with that. This time, my feet slid inside the shoes and the insoles started rubbing both feet. By 2k into the 10k run, both feet had blisters & I could feel them bleed.

Something about that made me focus.  It felt like I put up a force field around myself and I shut out all the externals– heat, other triathletes, pain in the feet. It felt like I was collecting myself and holding myself tightly together to do one thing: run straight to the finish.  I was in the zone.

By 7k, I started to go into another gear. No conscious thought. It was just reflex. It started to hurt too. So I instinctively dug into my bag of tricks: pay attention to my breathing, focus on just keeping my cadence, and embrace the suck.

“Hey pain, there you are. I missed you. I like that you are here now. It makes me feel a little more alive. You’re telling me that I made it to this point where I”m hurting. I’m happy I made it here. That’s a good sign.  And you’re asking me if I can continue going like this.”

I suppose I answered that question with both body & spirit. I found another gear and went. Sooner than I expected, the finish line was there and I found another gear. By the time I crossed the line, I was spent.

So how did I do?

By the time I was getting close to the finish, I imagined the time on the watch I’d see when I finally looked at it.  My mind felt at peace imagining “2:48.”  When I looked down, my watch said 2:48.