San Francisco Triathlon ITU Pan American Cup

I raced my first draft-legal ITU event on Saturday and finished second--hooray!  I earned some cash and ITU points... catapulting me from "not ranked" to 199 in the ITU points list.  With the gazillion-loop race format and drafting on the bike, it was quite different than a non-drafting event.  You MUST be focused and in the race at all times so you don't lose the swim pack or bike pack...  In a congratulatory email from my mother she acknowledged Paulo's coaching efforts:

"He has worked a long time and finally earned a few bucks.  I bet he is down on his knees thanking God for a payoff to come his way."  I don't know what she's getting at, but yes, it is nice to get a good result.  This is a sign that THE TIDES HAVE TURNED and I'm looking forward to getting out there on Sunday at Vineman 70.3.

The 1500m swim included 2 loops in the SF bay--9 women started - small compared to the 30 or so in the men's race... my ITU guru, Dave Kuendig (also raced and stayed at LAHP's house), said it's typical for the size of the men's fields to dwarf the women's.  We had an in-water start and tapping into my sprint speed, I took it out too hard and kind of died exiting with the second pack.  I biked the first 1.5 laps (of 6) on my own, then worked with Chris Tommerdahl the rest of the race... I exited T2 in fourth and ran my way into second.  Feel free to email me if you want more detail (I'm tired and going to bed).

Working with Chris on the bike--Golden Gate bridge in background... platinum Trek + white Timex + white accented race suit = functional and stylish

My bike and Dave's jammed into the Jeep
SPECIAL THANKS TO LAUREN for announcing splits.  For the 2+ hours of racing, she walked in her husband's shoes, supporting my race efforts whilst suffering blows to her ego.  After struggling to hear Lauren's nearly-inaudible splits on the first few laps, I cocked my head to the side and cupped a hand to my ear like an old man to hear her as I passed.  I told her after she should have pretended she was yelling at Matt.

Lauren picking me up at the airport in her part-time pro uniform, "business cas"CHAMPAGNE?!?  no... sparkling cider.  Did the trick as I could finally supply a drug-testing sample after the awards ceremony.  And yessss that is gold and silver medalist Simon Whitfield in first whose presence motivated me to GET ON THE PODIUM TO STAND WITH SIMON 

MORE PODIUM: Andrew McCartney (men's runner-up) starts the sparkling-cider wave:

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