Hey, how is everyone?

Well here comes my latest race review from Lake Stevens! I know, I know you have been waiting with anticipation!

The week-end started off great. My good mate Leon Griffin (Griffmeister) dropped me off at the bus station where I met up with my travel and race buddy Joe Gambles. Joe was so excited to see me...it was weird! I got on the bus and he's like "Hadley, Hadley sit here, sit here next to me!" I was going to anyway as he was the only person on the bus that I knew and we had already arranged to meet up...but I was now a bit dubious about this. I'm just joking of course, actually I think he was trying to hide from me.

Anyway we both got on different flights to Seattle.

As I landed and retrieved my bags I got a call from Joe saying he was waiting outside for me with the car. I walked out there and I saw this massive f-150 Ford truck. I looked across the road and just saw a little hand waving at me from inside the cabin. No head, just a hand. All of a sudden the door opens and something jumped out. I saw this little hat just above the bonnet bobbing along to the front. All of a sudden Joe appeared from behind the huge grill! I was laughing out loud! Joe was grinning from ear to ear all proud of this beast he just rented. This truck was huge in comparison.
So I threw my stuff in the trailer and climbed up to the passenger seat. It wasn't until I shut the door that realised I couldn't see over the dash either lol! We thought we were so cool! Driving along with extreme fake confidence as Joe kept saying "move out of the way, we got an f-150!" Lol!
Anyway we got the hotel and unpacked our things after about an hour of driving and prepared ourselves for the week-end that lay ahead.

Right, now for the race report! I actually didn't have a wetsuit for the race as mine ripped in a race in Utah. So I went to see the Blue Seventy guys which lent me a wetsuit for the week-end. The suit fitted great even though I had to get a medium tall.
The gun went and I smashed out the first 200metres as I had to get across from the far right to the left to get onto the draft zone of the leader. After about 400metres I was settled in 3rd place with someone tapping on my feet in my draft zone. I didn't care, I carried on pulling my way through the water and eventually dropped the tail with 400metres to go. I ran out of the water with more air in my lungs than I thought I would have (altitude training) and jumped onto my bike.
I started off well as I have been feeling a lot stronger recently than I had in past races. Thats what I thought until Joe Gambles came rolling on by with ease. Then 3 minutes later Ben Hoffman followed. I still felt good and kept this position for the remainder of the 40km first lap. The course was tough and hilly. The second lap was infiltrated with thousands of Age Group athletes. It was great to see them though, hammering through the course. I find Age Group athletes extremely inspirational. Most of them get up early to train, go to work, come home and train once again...awesome! I get up go training, then have a nap...maybe I'm not so tough in comparison to some of these guys.
I eventually got caught by the chase pack of pro's on the start of the second lap and this was the position I stayed in for the remainder of the bike leg. I entered transition 2 in eighth position.

I couldn't believe how good I felt as I ran out of transition 2 like a cheetah!! (The animal kind...not the performance enhancing kind). I ran from eighth to 7th in a couple of minutes. Then into 6th, 5th, 4th...I was excited now! I stormed my way through the field and found myself in 3rd place gaining on second! This felt easy, it must have been the altitude training! I wasn't going to complete the run due to my injury, but now I'm in third and I was counting the cash baby! One of the athletes said "Hey take it easy on me" as I went past. My thoughts were "hey, I am flying man...watch this". My sure felt confidence faded extremely fast when I noticed that the athlete in second place seemed to have got a heck of lot faster...or was I getting slower? The answer to that question was to be revealed very shortly as my legs continued to move, but on autopilot...and much slower than what I wanted to them to. All of a sudden my legs were really heavy and I started thinking about food...UH OH! I felt a sickening chill run down my neck as I realised I was blowing! 8 miles in to the run I was dying, and dying fast! I went from being like a cocky adolescent "watch this, I'm awesome today!" To acting like a pleading old man on his zimmerframe "Please, please let me have 3rd guys, don't catch me, I promise I'll mention you in my speach". Well they didn't listen to me those bastards. I found myself in 4th, then 5th and each time my fury was building up to a degree of desperation. I was also counting down the cash..."No! Thats 500 bucks out my pocket!!! Come back! I was sure that I could on to 5th...until Jamie White ran past me. I was furious! People talk about good sportsmanship...Jamies a great guy...but when it comes to the race, there is no sportsmanship. I was desperate to hang on and over take him once again. He was 15 seconds up the road. We were both done! Fighting like two old women over a car parking space. I just couldn't get there. Jamie ran down the shoot, and I followed 15 seconds later...I was absolutely exhausted. My leg was in pieces, but at least I was home and hung on to some decent cash. 6th was ok. I was sad to have let my opportunity of a podium get away from me, but I had no miles in the legs and the race decided to show me who the boss was...and it wasn't me. I was proud of myself though for fighting through such a battle especially considering the circumstances.

Well, I went to the awards ceremony, grabbed my cheque and enjoyed the atmosphere. The race was great and it was a pleasure to support it. I will for sure be there next year to get my podium place!

Well that evening, the bad boys that love to party went wild. I limped across to the hotel restaurant with Bo Jangles (Joe Gambles) and sipped some cheap house wine whilst eating dinner. Hence we were drunk as skunks in ten minutes. (Joe was drunk in 1 minute, on one sip, but I'm way more masculine and took a bit longer lol).
We then went to the hotel room to discuss what lay ahead for our night of drunken mayhem on the town...during which, Joe fell asleep. I was tired also, so after getting my pj's on I jumped into bed too...just to clarify...I jumped into my bed, not his, there was two beds in one room lol! It was 9:00 o'clock you know...well past our bed time!
So to conclude this mammoth assignment I know you're all eager to find out how my injured calf is now. Well I have since had to have 4 weeks off running totally. I need to be healthy for the 70.3 World Champs in Nov. I won't be 100% fit, but my goal is to be injury free with a couple of months of good training behind me.

Well amigos, I'm signing off. Please feel free to write some beautiful comments about how awesome I am lol!

Hadmeister General oxo (the kisses are for the ladies lads, not you!)