Today was the Tagaman 70.3 and Olympuc distance in Saipan. I opted for the Olympic distance for a few reasons. 16 hour time change is not the easiest to get used to in short notice. 30 degree weather in 93 percent humidity is great but I didn't want to wreck my body as I have Xterra 6 days from now. I was fortunate to have my good friend GL driving to the start of the race at the God awful time of 5 am. The races starts at first light to try to take advantage of cooler temperatures. Swim is 1500 meters and it was mass start. Tide was fairly low but I was still able to swim for the most part. NOw I'm not the fastest swimmer but I think I was holding a pretty straight line as I saw a beautiful blue star fish on my two passes. As I exited the water I had a respectable 28 min swim, now the real work would start. Unaware of my position I forged on the bike, slowly passing a few people. As I was approaching the turnaround, I could see only two riders ahead of me, placing me in third overall. After the turn around it was time to turn the heat on and me and my trusted steed forged on, passing the second place rider in short order. I caught up to the lead rider and decided to push and see how he would respond. I passed him but he stayed hot on the trail, even in my draft which not allowed. On the other hand, I had a motorcycle escorting me as the lead racer and I thought that was pretty special as this doesn't happen very often. I came in transition just over an hour and after a quick change, I was out on the run with my motorcycle ahead of me. I wasn't deceiving myself as I knew that the racer I had past would get to me at some point. By mile two I had been past and looking at his speed, there was no way I could even hang on to it so I kept my pace. At the 5 km mark, which the turn around for us, he kept going, for some reason he had missed the 180 degree turn. He was too far for me to let him know so I started the journey back, fully prepared to let him pass me for the win as he deserved it. I never saw him, I think he ran so far that he probably didn't want to come back. Can't say that I blame him. My lead motorcycle was back and after a quick glance behind me, I couldn't see anyone close. I ended up crossing the line in a respectable time of 2:22, good enough for first place overall with the usual suspects waiting for me as they had opted not to race. Very happy with the race overall under some very hot conditions with not a cloud in the sky. A big thank you to the owner of Brabu Pharmacy here in Saipan who loaned me his road bike and to Nick for his bars. Stay tuned for tails from the trails as I will be back in the saddle Tuesday to pre ride the XTERRA course. Happy trails!
Carpe Diem
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