Ogden Valley Triathlon

 



 

This last Saturday marked the last triathlon of the season for me.  I went to the Ogden Valley Triathlon.  Ogden Valley was the very first one I did a few years ago after Don had invited me to do it with him and Jill's dad.  So, I wanted to return to the first one I ever did to see if I had improved at all.  I can remember my first tri in which I showed up doing the rookie or first timer things like doing the swim in a jammer, doing the bike on a mountain bike and running in crappy street/cross training shoes.  I can recall that my time was just under 2 hours but the course was also shorter back then.  The first time I did it it was an 800 swim, 13 bike and 3.1 swim which is the average sprint distance.  This time, a few years later it was a 1000 meter swim, 16 mile bike and 4 mile run.  So, it was just a little more than the average sprint distance and a little longer than the first time I had done it. 

I love my new bike, but it is definitely time to get a new helmet!

This is pretty much right toward the end of the race.  I had just passed up the guy in the background of the picture.  His name was Brad.  He had been leading the whole race until I was able to overtake him in the last few hundred yards.

 

I did improve in comparison to the first time by a lot.  My overall time was 1 hour 44 minutes 16 seconds which was good enough for 39th overall.  The sweet news was that I came in 1st place for my age division of 40 - 45, in other words the old guys.  That's right, I placed first for the old guys in which there were 21 in my division.  I couldn't believe it especially because it felt like I didn't race good at all. I did the swim in 20:24, the bike in 47:43, and the run in 30:35 with the remainder of the time in transitions.  In triathlon, I am only 39 right now, but they place you in the age bracket that you will be in by Dec. 31.  And, since I will be 40 on 12/12/12, I am in the 40-45 age bracket. 

 

My first time ever standing on the blue medal stand was a pretty cool feeling.  And, for me to do it after returning to the very first one I ever did was especially meaningful.  The guy to my left, or the guy on the right in the photo, finished just 30 seconds after me.