The weekend before last I raced at the Morton Plant Mease Triathlon, a sprint triathlon in Clearwater, Florida. The MPM triathlon is unique in that it is a sprint race that offers a fairly big prize purse, which in turn attracts a pretty competitive pro/age group field. Unfortunately mother nature decided on race morning to change the dynamic of this race, so I don't have a full race to report on.
On race morning we were greeted with cloudy skies and thunderstorms in the distance. Maybe 35 minutes before the scheduled start the skies opened up, and the rains came down hard. I wasn't sure how this was going to affect the start, so I continued my pre race routine as normal. Lightning delayed the start by 45 minutes, and just before the race got underway it was announced that much of the bike course was flooded- forcing the race directors to change MPMT to a swim/run biathlon. I wasn't too excited about the new 600m swim/ 5k run format, but sometimes you just have to take what the day gives you, and I felt like I was ready to run a fast 5k.
I toed the line at the waters edge with the rest of the 25 man/woman elite field- which also included 30 or so kiddos who are a part of the USAT Elite Athlete development team. With over 50 of us attempting to make the left turn at the buoy less that 75 feet from the beach, I knew I was going to have to charge the swim with absolutely everything I had- or be swarmed by mob of 13 year old super swimmers. As it turns out, I was dominated by these guppies. I had kids swimming over me, under me, and just about right through me. I thought my size/weight advantage would help me hold my own for a third of a mile- but several several of these kids gave me an adult sized thrashing. Swim: 7:29....11/19 elite wave.
With a short swim and no bike leg, I blasted up the beach and through T1 holding nothing back. I was looking to chase a few people down and absolutely redline the effort for 5k. The run course was on the sand and had 3 complete 180 degree turns, (certainly not set up for PR's) but the course did give you several looks at who was up ahead, and what it would take to catch them. There were several places where I had to pick my line to avoid the softest sand, but I felt like I was running so hard I was going to bleed from the ears. I crossed the finish line in 9th place, out of the prize money but somewhat pleased with 5:54/mile on the beach. With a shortened race, only 67 seconds separated the 3rd place dude and me (9th). Who knows- maybe if we had been able to keep the bike leg I might have been able to chase down a few more of those up ahead? Maybe next year. Run: 18:21....8/19 elite wave.
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