Week in Review (September 12-20)

Lots to report over the past couple of weeks. We've had a ton of people racing late season tris and road races (mostly to get ready for a fall marathon).

We'll start with September 12 and 13. September 12th saw Steve Sian and Mark Pelletier race half marathons, Maple Leaf Half Marathon (VT) and Plymouth Run to the Rock Half Marathon, respectively. Both put in solid races. September 13th had a few BTTers head up to Maine for the Pumpkinman Triathlon Festival. Pete Jensen and Mary Beth Begley both raced the half ironman distance event. The quiet man, Jamie Strain, continued his 2009 tear with a top five overall finish at the Mighty Hamptions Olympic distance race (he also won his AG). Great job Jamie! And, lastly, taking her skillz offroad, Jess Douglas raced the Hale Offroad Triathlon in Westwood where she finished 6 woman overall and won her AG. Never at a loss for words:), Jess gives us her report:

I entered this race last year on a whim. Thought it might be fun to try mountain biking in a tri, despite the fact that I don’t do any offroad training. Ended up winning, despite crashing and breaking/spraining a few ribs and my big toe.

Then comes this summer, where I had a full race schedule planned, and it did not include this race. But with injuries, etc, my plans changed and I figured I should at least try to defend my title.

Then it poured buckets on Saturday. Maybe I would bag it, but couldn’t be that wimpy. Got to the race really early and set up transition. Got on my bike, and played on the trails a little. What was I thinking?? The last time I was on a trail was the race last year (when I crashed!!)! Anyways, I ran a little, then got in water – very metallic and brown. And a lot more chilly than Walden had been last week, darn rain.

This is a very small race, and all the proceeds are used for a scholarship fund they use for the summer camp they run at the reservation. Pretty cool.

Swim was good. Got smacked in the face right out of the gate, knocking my goggles a little and letting a little water in. So, I stopped, fixed them and tried to find a rhythm. Felt good after the 1/4 mile swim, got in and out of transition fairly well. I did miss the crowd of blue and green cheering me on at Timberman, though!

The bike course was different that last year, more technical and a little longer, I think. VERY wet, muddy, slippery and generally yucky. I am proud that I did not crash again, but was worried that I would. About halfway through, my left shoelace came untied and wrapped itself around the crank. OW. Stopped to fix that, and 2 women and a few men passed me. NOT happy about that. I do not like being passed. But it was hard to get back around the people in front of me on the narrow trails. There were many times that I had to get off the bike, mostly on the uphills, but also one nasty downhill, and one wooden plank over a creek/giant mud puddle.

The run was also longer than last year. Really nice trails, nothing too big as far as climbs or descents. Still really muddy and rocky. About 1/4 mile in, my right shoelace came undone, but I had just passed one of the aforementioned ladies who passed me, and didn’t want to lose ground to her again. So I ran the rest of the race with that shoe untied. Needless to say, this is the last race I will ever do with regular laces in my sneakers. Caught the other woman who passed me as well! Finished the run feeling pretty strong, but was disappointed to hear that I was only the 3rd female finisher. I hadn’t even seen the other 2! Anyways, it was a fun day. They also have 2 kids tri’s for ages 9 & under and 10-15.

Plans for next year:
1) Take advantage of the training rides the offer on the course and actually get out on the trails other than the day of the race.
2) Recruiting some more BTTer’s to participate in this “Alternate BTT” event.
3) NEVER racing without yankz on my sneakers…

On September 19, we had BTTers at both the Lobsterman Triathlon and the TDD Triathlon. After a lot of pre-race smack talk between Brian Quigley and Jorge Martinez on Facebook, only BPQ toed the line at Lobsterman, along with his better half, Michelle. BPQ finished second in his AG (Jorge is still trying to figure out a way to redeem himself:)). Meredith Harjes and Ira Sills (making up for lost time) trekked out to the edge of Western Mass for the TDD triathlon, where both had AG podium finishes.....Meredith 1st and Ira 3rd. Great job guys!

September 20th brought us our last tent series race...Buzzards Bay. Being a late season race, we didn't have a strong showing, but we still had a couple of diehards race....Stephen Wall and Elaine Metcalf. Both finished on the podium (2nd and 3rd) in their respective age groups. Way to represent! And Scott Stavely entered the elite wave at the Dover Sherborn Triathlon and finished with a 5th overall placing. Way to step up!

Lastly....we have Mat Davenport. For those new to the team....Mat is Juli's ornary husband:) You may remember him from the pub run. Then again, you may just choose to forget! He actually used to do triathlons...seriously! Now, Mat is an ultradistance runner. Mat recently completed the Iroquois 100 Trail Race in New York in under 24 hours. Yes, people, that's 100 miles!!! Maybe Mat will grace us with a race report. At the very least, we'll hear him mumbling about it on December 5th! I'll be the guy next to him, mumbling about Kona!

Speaking of Kona, this is my last posting until after the big race. As I mentioned in a early report, I'll be posting daily updates and pics from the Big Island on my blog:

http://bigisland2008.blogspot.com/

I'm also going to try to use twitter while I'm there....but I can't make any promises!

I know we still have some races left, I just wanted to congratulate everyone of a very successful 2009 season!

-Pat