Tuesday, May 6, 2008

St.Croix Race Report

What a trip!  It started on a full day flight from Buffalo to Chicago to Puerto Rico and then headed to St. Croix.  I left home at 10am and didn't arrive until 8:30pm at night.

I was picked up by Janine, who is my number one St.Croix girl!  I was welcomed into her home and her family is amazing.  After a great meal of salmon I headed to bed.  I will update my pictures because when I woke up all I could see was Paradise!  And a new best friend named Ermis.  A 120lbs Mastif.

The Thursday we headed to the boardwalk to the start of the race.  After putting on my new Xterra Speedsuit I did the 2km swim course and you couldn't ask for better conditions.  I also saw some rays as I was swimming.  That night we went out for dinner and then headed to the 5km Race at the Buccaneer, which was part of the 70.3 course.  I ended up right behind Faris Al Satan and took a solid 4th place in 18:24.  Felt great!

Friday I headed to the beast after a 750m ocean swim!.  It was a mile climb up the mountain with a avg 20% grade.  It was intense and after an adventure on the bike we finally made it back to Cane Bay.  That night we headed to the Jump off, where the town shut down the streets and we walked the streets and had some dinner!

Saturday was rest day and final prep.  After meeting up with guys at the Pro meeting I headed to the swimming pool and got in a 500m swim, then got on my bike for a 20min ride and a 15min run with some pick ups.  Feeling good and ready to go.

Sunday was Race day.  Woke up early and felt great.  The start involved a 200m swim out to an island to the start.  The weather was turning bad and the waves were choppy.  Nerves got the best of me and after trying to keep on the heels of the big boys I fell off hard core.  If it wasn't for my Xterra Speedsuit I don't know where I would have ended up.

After exiting the water I regrouped and hammered the bike.  After 10miles my water bottle fell off my bike and that was part of my nutrition gone.  At around mile 21 aka the beast it started to down pour.  The weather got really bad but after mile 40 the rain cleared up.  I was able to pull back a few of the guys and was in the top 13 pros.  With 10 miles left, heading down a hill on the east coast my chances to place top 10 ended when I blew my back tire out.  After taking 10 min to get that sucker repaired it was too late and I shut it down.  I have a half marathon this weekend and didn't want to kill myself on the run.  I cruised the run and ended feeling happy that I finished the race and didn't pull out.

I learned a lot from this race and even though it was not a great one, I sucked it up and finished.  I want to thank Tom Guthrie for making all this possible, The Schuster Family for taking me in and all my sponsors, who without them I would not be where I am today!  Also a big thank you for getting the speedsuit to me before I left XTERRA!  And Altitude Tech!

Time to train harder ... really motivated to kill it.  Texas is next!