2009 Cincinnati One World Tri Race Report

Well, count this race in the books. Steph and I usually try to run the Cincy Flying Pig half-marathon every year as her sister lives there. Well, earlier this year, when we were at the race expo for the Flying Pig, I saw the advertisement for this triathlon. Knowing what my plan was for the year, I registered for it.

Fast forward to this weekend. On Friday, Steph and I hopped in the car and drove to her sister's house. After arriving and grabbing some Indian food for dinner, we quickly hit the sack as we were both beat.

On Saturday, we got up and went for a run (I know, I ran the day before my race...I'm an idiot). I got in 5 miles. Steph and my brother-in-law ran around 6. After our run, we headed out to the race course to scope it out and pick up my registration packet. We also wanted to attend one of the info sessions for the race.

Unlike running races, triathlon's tend to have race meetings prior to the race as triathlons are a bit more technical than running races and its good to know what the transition area looks like, where it's exits are, etc. So we picked up my packet and then waited around for the meeting. Uhmm, I'm not really sure how to say this, but the race director for this race is an idiot. I was more confused after the race meeting than before. I felt certain that on race day, I would royally screw something up because this guy was just abysmal at explaining the race details. Anyway, we headed home for a big pasta dinner and I hit the hay around 10pm.

On Sunday, we got to the course around 6:10am. I got everything set up and then we headed to the swim entry. We swam in the Ohio River. The swim distance was .85 miles. I felt pretty confident for the swim. Most triathlete's get a little nervous about the swim, but I've been swimming so much this summer, I felt this would be relatively painless. Thankfully, I was pretty close to being right. I completed the swim in 21 minutes, which is wicked fast for me. I think the current in the river had a lot to do with my speed, but hey, who cares? I ROCKED that swim!!!

I crawled out of the river and ran to the transition area for what's known as T1 (Transition 1). I quickly changed into my cycling gear and took off for the bike portion. The bike was 25 miles. It was a two loop route and was equally as fun as the swim. There were really only two tough portions on the bike course and they were insane hills. But, I got through it great. I passed a guy who clearly had bonked on the swim and also a woman who was having a really tough time. I offered a few words of encouragement to both and headed on. One guy and me must have passed each other like 20 times. He clearly was a speedster, which I am not. I'm more of a hill guy. So, he would pass me on the straightaways and I would pass him on the hills. It was actually pretty funny. We did that for the entire cycling portion. I was just happy to stay with him as he had a killer bike. It was way nicer than mine. Anyway, finished the bike in 1:24 and headed to T2 (Transition 2).

After changing into my running gear, I had 6.2 running miles ahead of me. The run course was through the park that runs along the Ohio river. It sucked. The course I mean. It really was a bad course. You run through the park and then run across the Purple People Bridge and then back through the park. Then you get to do it again on the second lap. Nonetheless, I felt good about the run and pulled into the finish line in 2:44hrs. I ran my 6.2 miles a bit slower than I usually do (54 minutes I think). Anyway, I came in 5th in my age group and 40th overall. I am really, really happy with my top 5 finish.

Thankfully, the volunteers for the race had clearly marked the course for all three legs and the race director's confusing directions didn't factor into anything on race day.

I don't think I'll do this tri next year. It was ok, but I felt things were disorganized. Also, some of the volunteers clearly didn't want to be there (I passed two guys who were laying down and asleep and two girls who were laying down). Anyway, it was a good time, but next year I'll find something a bit more friendly.

Ohhh, and guess what???? I get to do a Half-Ironman in two weeks. Woohoo!!!!

See below for a video that Steph took and I edited of the race this weekend.

Tomorrow is bike and swim.

Woot!!