Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

I am pleased to report Spare Tire Racing has a 1st place trophy from the Clydesdale division in the Racing for Recovery 1/2 Ironman. The weather was nearly perfect for my first triathlon in over two years. The winds were calm for the 1.2 mile swim in Lake Erie. I made it out of the water in 42 minutes after a rough start. The bike course was mostly flat and smooth with the exception of a few miles of old Michigan road, which caused my inhaler to fly out of my jersey pocket. With an average of 18.9 miles per hour, I was off the bike in under 3 hours. Everything was going good, until the last bottle exchange when I was handed an extremely strong Gatorade bottle. It was tough going down and four hours into the race, my belly was not liking it too much. It was on to the run. The first mile was surprisingly well, which means I was excited that my legs would actually move. My legs were not the only thing moving after the first mile. That strong Gatorade decided it wanted to make a comeback. So, I had to pull up and "leave it all on the course". After that things would not be the same. Nothing was going down well, which is not good when it is 80+ degrees and you have 12 miles to go. I managed to drink a few sips of water while walking at each aid station. It was a run/walk for the next couple of hours. After a 2:23:07 1/2 marathon, I crossed the finish line with a final time of 6:10:17. It was good to be back racing again. I would like to thank Annette, "The Boss," and Madison from Brown Dog Brewing Co. for their great support.