Another Medal

I just completed the olympic distance course at Wildflower over the weekend. I was supposed to do the half IM but catching a cold mid week altered my plans. As most know I am training for IM france in 8 weeks and this camp was my kick start to training with the half as a great training day. My body had other plans. I was OK with my decision to switch races as I have never done the Olympic distance before and I really like the distance. I can always easily wrap my head around the distance and know that the pain is very tempory and short lived. My swim was good. A bit choppy in the beginning but I had clear water right from the start. There were a lot of waves of swimmers in front of me and I had too keep my wits about me so that I did not swim over anyone. Near the half way mark I saw 2 swimmers and one looked to be in trouble so I slowed down and had a good look. What was happening was here was a disabled man along with an aid helping him through the water. Everything looked OK they were just slow. After watching this immediately all my pain went away and then I could feel a nice gentle push from the lake carrying me back to shore. What a great way to finish the swim. My time was 25 mins. Only 2 mins slower than Shane so this was great. Once on shore I quickly removed my wetsuit and headed toward T1. This year I am swimming in a new Swordfish wetsuit and it feels very comfortable and comes off super easy. Love it! Once in T1 I get to have fun. Lets see how fast I can get through. I really love this part of the race. Controlled speed. I was in and out quite fast and then immediately had to climb a crazy steep / long hill. The week of training in the camp really helped me on this and I was flying past many other riders. More fun!
Once on the main course I pushed hard on the bike and tried to make up for lost time on the swim. You see Shane started 15 mins ahead of me and I was joking the night before about how I was going to try and catch him. I had a lot of work to do as 15min + 2 mins lost in the lake = 17 mins. I have changed my aero position a lot this year and I also have a new bike. This was my 1st race on my new Ceepo Venom and I was curious to see what would happen. Well the bike performed great and I finished the ride in 1:11. I did not see Shane on the course. I was too focused on staying upright on the descents. :). Once in T2 I had more fun. Another quick exit and I was on the run. Near the start of the race the No Limits crew were cheering me on and Myron yelled...Shane is only 6 mins ahead...you got him... Well I did not know about that, but I gave it a good try. My pace felt good and I did not stop once throughout the run. I kept looking for the blue and white jersey and everytime I thought I saw him it turned out to be someone else. I crossed the finish line strong and then I saw Shane on the other side. he was already done. My time 2:20. Shanes time = 2:29. Even with the fastest run split in my Age Group (yes 40-44)I could not catch him. Myron lied when he knew Shane was 10 mins up, not 6. But I will tell you what. That motivated me to run fast and I loved it. I finished strong and so happy to get that medal. Back in August I never got the IMC medal and I now realize that just because you are planning to race does not mean you will cross the line. I was grateful for the day, for the volunteers, my fellow campers and for everthing. What a brilliant day and then to share it with Shane at the finish was great. This was supposed to be a short entry but I got carried away and now it is off to bed. Thanks for reading. IM France in 8 weeks. :)