In 2012, I've been to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Nebraska, Maryland, Virgina, North Carolina, Tennesse, Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Rhode Island,Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio, Illiniois, Indiana, Iowa, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas, Delaware and D.C.
I raced in Pennsylvania (3), Tennesse, Connecticut(2), Wisconsin, Maine, Maryland, South Carolina. And all of my triathlons were out of state road trips.
I did one 5K, one 5 miler, one 10K, 5 Olympic distance Triathlons and 2 HIMs. At age 42, I defended an age group title, set PRs for 5 miles, 10K, Olympic Tri and HIM and had my best finishes AG and OA and improved my USAT score.
But that doesn't quite tell the story.
Highlights:
1) The Revolutionary Run at Valley Forge National Park. I set a PR finally breaking 36 min on this hilly challenging and fun course, but the highlight was getting to race with and against my son Adrian for the first time. It was a cold wet and ugly day but getting to see him cross the finish line and hearing the announcer announce his name and see his face was priceless.
2) The Revolution 3 Half Full Tri.
I signed up for this race at the last minute and had very low expectations going in. I just wanted to support Charlie at Rev3 and Brian at the Ulman Cancer Fund for having the guts to invite Lance Armstrong to race and then having to drop USAT certification for the HIM to permit it. It was a tough call for Rev3 but some races are about more than the race itself. Say whatever you want about Lance, but he is a cancer survivor and has done more to support and provide hope for millions of other cancer survivors and their families than anyone else. So I was there to support Ulman, Team Fight, and Rev3 for making the right choice. The day was cold, windy, and raining. The course was hilly and tough. My fingers and toes were numb and I was so cold going down the hills I was considering not doing the second loop. But I couldn't quit given the cancer survivors who had to battle so much more difficult cicumstances, so I pushed on and was rewarded with the best HIM run of my life 1:48:28 and a HIM PR by close to 2 min in my 18th HIM. 25thOA and 7th in my AG and met the USAT Halfmax Qualifying standard (Although it didn't count since the HIM race was not longer USAT scanctioned, but I still will be racing at USAT Halfmax this year at Rev3 South Carolina since you don't have to qualify this year.) Never felt so wiped out or totally satisfied with a race in my life.
3) The Revolution 3 Maine Olympic Triathlon. This was the first year in Maine for Rev3 and it was a spectacular race. Old Orchard Beach threw out the welcome mat, were great hosts, the beach was awesome, and the race was great too. Met Conrad Stolz, Xtra ledgen, had my fastest bike split ever in an Olympic really coming to life in the second half of the race, and then finished it off with a really great run. Ran from 9th in my AG to 5th and took over 4th in the last mile but didn't close the deal. Still 5th place in my AG was a personal best, and the lobster bake post race made everything great. Plus the medals were super cool too.
4) The Revolution 3 South Carolina Olympic Triathlon. The was the season ending triathlon for me. Stayed on campus at Clemson University got to go to dinner with my awesome teammates at Tomatoe Joes and again we followed the Ironman World Championships via twitter and facebook during dinner. Love this race, very nice feel to it. The SEC Collegate Championships were cool and gave me a target as they were in the wave before us. Rode down to the swim race morning next to Jaqui Gordon and another pro and listened to their prerace conversations. Had a really good race with my second best bike and a PR Olympic tri run of 46:04 and finished 30th OA and 6th in my AG. For a short moment, I saw a preliminary results sheet which had me in 3rd place for my AG and 26th OA, which would have been my first triathlon podium ever, but 3 of the missing 4 results were in my age group :( Still was a great finish to my season and since the swim ended up long since the collegates took everyone around the second set of HIM bouys, it would have likely been a PR too.
5) The Revolution 3 Knoxville Olympic Triathlon: First Triathlon of the season. Got things going right with a PR (at the time) by 30 seconds and got to put the demons from my 2010 bike wreck to rest. .
6) The Revolution at Quassy. (Olympic Sat, HIM Sun).
7) Burn off the Bird 5K. Really cold and windy day. Defended my 40-49 age group title from 2 years ago (no race last year). Went 50 sec faster than 2010 and just held off 2nd and 3rd who were less than 10 secs behind me. Only hardware for me this year!
All in all a very sucessful year at the races and a good year professionally as well as I got to do some important inspections at Susquehanna, Ginna, and Fort Calhoun, walked around in the bottom of the tourus at Peach Bottom, rode out a Hurricane at Limerick, and got featured in a TV interview for Susquehanna's Annual Assessment Meeting and 95002 exit meeting.
