Monday, June 28, 2010

Hey hi everybody!

Finally, I am writing another blog. I know you guys have missed me, so I appologise for being away for so long. I was hybernating like Rocky, training in the wilderness...not.

Well, first of all I should update you on my recent race in Philadelphia Life Time Fitness series race.

The week-end started off pretty bad, so I should have taken that as a sign. My car was having difficulty on Wednesday before the race maintaining its oil. So I rushed it to the mechanics to fix it. They did a great job in mending the oil pressure switch. They assured me the problem was sorted, and the car purrs like a cat! So I woke up on Friday morning, all motivated and ready to rock to the airport and catch the flight to Phily! I'm racng down the highway (on the speed limit of course)and all of a sudden someone is under the hood banging around in there...then I realised that no-one could be under the hood, I'm driving, so something must be wrong with the engine. Flying down the highway and the engine just smashes the crap out of itself! The steering has no power and the hydraulics on the brakes have gone. Fortunately, there was no cars on the margin lane and I veered off to roll to an eventual stop. So now there was no way of getting the car to the airport. I did however notice a Quality Inn some distance away. Off I ran to order a taxi to the side of Interstate 70, where my Mexican lowrider just died.
About 30 mins later the taxi arrived and I continued on my travels waving goodbye to the lowrider as I ordered a truck to come and tow it away before the Police did.
I finally got the airport, paid $55, rushed through the doors and ran to the check in just 7 mins after cut off. I pleaded with the lady to get me on board, but she just grinned at me gleefully expressing her authority. Mmm, reminds me of the Ben Stiller movie "Meet the Parents". The next flight was the next day, so I booked in for that, walked outside to get the bus home, and it was just driving off. Missed that too. So waiting out there for another hour with all my bags the bus finally came and took me back to Boulder. It was a long day, but I had to rest up for the race.

The next day was good. I left early for the bus and everything went smoothly. I arrived at Phily airport to meet my awesome homestay Kevin Peter, drove to the race site and registered with minutes to spare. I went straight back to the house...it was beautiful! Put the Tommaso "sixth sense" together and ate some food.

Next morning I felt great! We both (Kevin) cycled down to the race start to warm up...I knew I was going to have a good one. We learned that unfortunately a 40 year old man drowned the day before, so the swim leg was changed and was now a 5km run...a dualthlon. Respect to the man that drowned and his family, everyone was very saddened by this.

The gun went and we were flying! All the pro's together, male and female went blasting off down the way. At first, Tyler Butterfield, Matt Reed and myself controlled the pace...which was fast...first mile under 4:40! Then Bev Docherty came thundering past looking as though he was jogging. Geez he can really run! For the rest of the run myself, Tyler, Matty, and David Thompson all took it in turns jostling around in the front chase group. Bev was ahead. We ran to transition in under 16 mins. Jumped on the bikes and off we went. I was with the boys, Bev up ahead, then David Thompson, Tyler, Matty and me! This was awesome! I was loving the race and felt great. The next pack seemed to be a way back which was a good sign. After about 20 kms I pulled up closer to Matty about 3 meters to his right (stagger rule) and about 5 metres back. The Marshall pulled up next to me on her motorbike and started timing me. I shouted her..."I'm ok here! I'm allowed to be here". Then she pointed at me to stand down for a penalty. "What for?" I got stopped jumped off my bike and told her the rules! "I'm allowed to be there, I was more than two meters to the side...thats not drafting!" she said "no, it doesn't matter, if you're less than 10 meters behind him you have 15 seconds to overtake". "No!" I shouted, "Check your fricken rule book! As long as I'm more than 2 meters to the side I can ride there all day if I want...we checked this several times with the head ref!". She knew she was wrong then, but couldn't back down. All the guys went flying by, and I knew my opportunity had gone. After the time penalty I jumped on my bike and hammered those pedals until I heard "wait stop...come back, come back". I stopped again, turned and ran as fast as I could back to the original penalty spot...she forgot to mark my numbers aswell!!! Another minute wasted again! I said "thanks a lot! Waste of bloody money coming here...learn the rules! As the girls started cycling past, I knew that my race was over...what a waste. I span the rest of the bike course and rolled into transition fuming! I paid for flights, taxi, buses, tow away, and I get wrongfully penalised by a ref that didn't know the rules. Money down the drain! I am certain that a top 5 result could have been a reality on this day...thats prize money and a credible result taken away by a marshall. I made a complaint and actually spoke to the Marshall afterwards to remind her that she better know what she's doing as this is peoples lives and careers she has an influence over.
So I hung out at the tent eating and laughing with my pals, with the recent anguish and determination to smash out the next race as best as I can...Boulder Peak simmering under the surface.

So, the good news however is that I am beginning to feel as though I can run ok without getting injured. It has taken a while to get the last injury sorted, but I think it's getting there. More good news is that it's summer and racing in this heat is great...not to mention the girls!

Till next time

Thanks for reading

Hadmeister

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