GCT..........

or I should say GCD (Greater Cleveland Duathlon) for the second year in a row. When I woke up this morning, I could hear the howling wind. After loading up the truck, it started raining. I was very upset because now, the swim is going to be cancelled because of the dang wind. So when we got to the race, it was still raining; very hard, and windy. About 15 minutes after we put all of our gear in transition, they called the swim off. Instead, we were change the triathlon into a duathlon. For the international distance, it was going to be a 5k run, 40k bike and a 5k run. For the sprint, it was a 2 mile run, 12 mile bike and another 2 mile run. Dad, Scott and I did the international distance. My first run was around 18 minutes. My first mile was around a 5:30 something, and when I saw that time, I tried to tell myself to slow down a little bit because the bike course is pretty tough. Dad and I train on parts of the bike course, so we have a little bit of advantage. The bike was hard, as I was expecting. Windy and of course, hilly. I averaged around 23.2 mph for a hilly 40k course. My transition from my bike to my last run was very fast. For my second run, I felt the fatigue in my legs and my torso area. Also I was starting to get a stomach cramp so I had to control my breathing better. Every water station (there was two), I grabbed water and poured it over my head and down my one piece. It started to get really hot and it was difficult to get a good breath. I ended up finishing in 6th overall and 1st in my age group with a time of 1:44:36.

Dad raced awesome as well. He had a very fast first run. His bike was also great averaging around 22 mph. He ended up finishing second in his AG. The guy who came in first, finished one place ahead of me in the overall standings. Dad looked great today and there are some pretty funny pictures that were taken by my Mom. But we are just saving those. Uncle Scott and Aunt Carrie raced great as well. They were both really competitive in their classes and for Aunt Carrie's second race, she did awesome. Scott is getting better every race he does and he will be in the top spots in his class next race for sure. Great job to everyone who raced today. Thanks goes out to Mickey for another great year. He puts on this race and does great. Thanks again Mickey.

Late.