Patriot Triathlon 2009 Race Report

Today I did my last triathlon of the season, the Patriot Sprint in my old stomping grounds of Rio Rancho.

The race benefits the Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety, including the fire and police personnel, and who better to guarentee a safe race, right? They did a surperb job of this, but of course they can't be everywhere, and as I warned Marti Greer before the race--she was asking about the course--Rio Ranchoans are very serious about God's day. She laughed.
No, seriously: They will run your ass over to make it to church on time, and being as it's New Mexico, they won't even get a ticket for it, either.

But as far as I know, there were no incidents today. The best part of this race? Huge numbers of multisport athletes that I know were there. It's a race! It's a party! It's both! And, the race director has Mocha Mud, a local coffee shop, set up a tend where you can get espresso drinks before the race. Yumm!

The race starts with a seeded swim start in a 25-yard pool, and my only suggestion to Andie on what to change would be to make it a reverse triathlon. Once you've got over 400 racers, a seed swim start gets very long, and you wind up with lots of people clogged up behind that one swimming--you the know the one, the one who is doing the breast stroke in a very narrow lane, oblivious to the people piling up behind him/her.

So, 2 days before this race I had my bike looked over. Remember Socorro? Remember how I blamed my abysmal performance on nutrition? Turns out, not so much: I was riding with my brakes on (yes, AGAIN, and I know what you're going to say: Misty, if you'd get on the stupid bike between triathlons, you might even be able to notice when stuff isn't working right. To which I would reply, shut up, I don't need you telling me stuff, you know, making sense and all.)

So, I did this race without my brakes on , and enjoyed it muchly. It's a very hilly 14-mile ride, with lots of crosswind that begins and ends uphill, and so does the run. The run is about 2/3 road, and 1/3 trail, a long uphill, then a long downhill on a trail, and then a mostly flat road section that again turns uphill about 1/4 mile from the finish. I was 8th Athena, which is disappointing, but I enjoyed myself, and it was a nice day with a cool breeze.

After the race I was sitting next to Karen, former Athena, saying, boy, I sure enjoyed that 5K, with the trail and all-- and she laughed like hell.

"You didn't used to enjoy that course."

Really? Are you sure?

"Oh, hell, no. I remember you doing that course 3 years ago at the RIo Rancho duathlon and bitching like crazy afterwards about the off-road portion, you were all, 'f*** sand!! f*** trails!! I hate trails' and so on."

Really? Huh. I don't remember that. But I'll take her word for it...my idea of "fun" has certainly changed pretty dramatically over the past four years. And she's known me all of those years.

Thus ends the 09 tri season for me. Next up: Palo Duro 50K trail run.

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