The following Race Report was submitted by Eric.  I asked Eric to do the Patriot Race Report since this was his first 1/2 Iron Distance Race.  He put together a really great race report (and a really great race as well).

Pre Race

I was quite nervous the week running up to the race. The dinner at Dan's helped quite a bit to talk to people that had done it in the past and to generally joke around. On Friday, I got everything set up and packed early in the day so that I could try and relax in the evening. Anyway, I tried to go to sleep early but really only ended up getting 3 hours of sleep. At 4:00 AM I was up and by 4:40 was out the door. Upon getting to the race, it was a weird feeling. When I first started triathlon, I was always quite nervous but recently I had experienced more happy excitement to race. On this day, however, it was all business and was more of a feeling that a difficult job had to be done.

Swim

I sprinted off the start of the swim in hope to find someone a little bit faster than I was to draft behind. It was weird as there was not the traditional body contact that you normally find at the start of the race. There was, however, quite a bit of contact by the time we got to the first buoy. I was never able to find a good draft but paced pretty well off of someone for a good portion of the swim. Part way through the swim, a women in bright colored cap flew by - It must have been Lisa. It was as if a torpedo had been launched. In the end, I felt pretty good on the swim and was ready for the bike.

Bike

For the first 40 miles, I felt super strong(for me). I was pacing around 19.8 miles per hour or so on the first lap and continued to feel strong on the first part of the second lap. In an Olympic triathlon, I can hold 20 mph so this was pretty good for me considering it was twice the length. At around mile 40, I began to feel tired. A couple of miles later, Jocelyn passed me on the bike. I must have passed her on the swim and she caught up on the bike. As she and I often go neck and neck on the Thursday night class, it was good to have her pass me as I tried to keep up for the rest of the bike. Anyway, she was kicking !@# on the bike and was able to maintain a better pace. With about 8 miles to go on the bike, I ran out of calories - !@#$! At this point, I really really really wanted to finish the bike and was starting to bonk. Anyway, I finished the bike and my family was there cheering me on which gave me a great boost. I dumped the bike and put on dry socks which felt great. The guy next to me said "oh man - I should have stayed home and made pancakes for the kids." This totally cracked me up and was a good way to start to the pain that was about to begin.

Run aka "death march"

I immediately downed a gel as I knew I was desperate for calories. I was also feeling very bloated and had a stitch as I started the run which lasted for a good 40 minutes. From looking at the pictures on the run, I looked like I had gained back the 15 pounds that I had lost since January. By the time I got to mile one, I was not sure at all how I was going to get through it. The run in general was truly painful. I was trying to think of something that was as painful in my life and the only thing that comes close is when I was 9 years old and had to have 7 teeth taken out at once. I think I had Novocaine during this and also got to hold the hand of a smoking hot nurse while the dentist was taking them out (funny how your remember certain things). During this run, I had neither a smoking hot nurse holding my hand or Novocaine. Surprisingly by mile 3, I was holding a sub 9 minute per mile pace which is good for me at this distance. As the race went on, this went down a bit. At mile 5ish, I downed another gel but almost puked it back up. Brain, stomach and legs all had different agendas. They were clearly "not on the same page" to use a bull!@#$ bingo phrase. Once I got to the half way point, the idea of finishing, kept me going. I did find the run very hilly. For a while I was wondering, is this whole !@#$ing run uphill!? Running a half marathon after 58 miles on the bike is just brutal no other way to look at it. Having aid stations every mile is a great feature during a race.

Finish

Seeing the finish line is perhaps one of the best feelings that you can have. Tony was there close to the finish and gave me a high five as I made the final stretch. My two sons were there close to the finish and ran across with me. That was really cool as I had not planned that at all. As soon as I finished, I began to feel a lot better seeing all of the team hanging out and being very supportive of everyone. It really is a great crew that we have put together. The veterans of HIMs looked pretty good and did not appear to have suffered to the degree that I had or were better at hiding it.

Conclusion

It feels damn good to have accomplished the HIM and am happy to have it over. I will do another one, but not this year. Next big event for this year will be Cranberry.

There was a lot of confusion immediately before the race about the shirt/no shirt policy.  Tony claimed that the rules had clearly been established on the forum and that shirts were required so with that issue cleared up, we gathered on the beach for the start.  The race began with a short run across the beach.  Its too bad nobody had a video camera for that portion.  Bobby got off to a quick start followed by Pat Dwyer, Christopher and me.  Christopher was kind enough to stop and let everyone into the water ahead of him.  I figured if I got into the water quickly, I could avoid the crowd and have a decent swim and set myself up nicely for the run.  However, I found out the hard way that swimming without a wetsuit is a lot harder than swimming with a wetsuit and before I got to the red buoy, Brian, Greg, Andy and Lisa went zooming past me in a big pack.  To add insult to injury each one of them managed to punch, kick or knock me around as they went by.  I grabbed on to the back of that pack and swam the rest of the swim portion.

T1 was a blur and I had my shoes on quickly and was in a half decent position to start the run.  Greg was ahead of me, Bobby ahead of him and Pat Dwyer was probably done with the entire race by this point.  I got to the first stop sign with no change in position and as I turned back, Pat Ryan was flying down lake street chasing after all of the folks who got out of the water ahead of him.

Heading back towards farm pond, I saw David, Lisa and Brian all going at a pretty good clip.  By the time we were back in front of the Farm Pond gate, Pat Ryan had caught me and I had caught Greg (Unfortunately for me, this would not be the last I saw of Greg).  Bobby and Pat Dwyer were still gaining ground on all of us.  The long uphill to the second stop sign was painful and as I turned around to head back to the pond for the last time, Greg and David seemed to be closing the gap on me.  We got into T2 in the order:  Pat Dwyer, Bobby, Pat Ryan, and me.  Greg and David were behind me, but I am not sure in what order.  I got into the water behind Bobby  but he was too far ahead to catch.  When I got to the red buoy, I felt someone touching my feet and knew that Greg was drafting on me, waiting to make his move.  As we turned the last corner, he picked up the pace and passed me.  As I was approaching the shore, I could see Bobby running across the beach to the finish (Pat Dwyer already done).  Greg got out of the water ahead of me and ran to a third place finish.  I came in a few seconds behind him.

About a minute later, David got out of the water and ran to the finish line and then Brian Dwyer and Lisa came out of the water and Brian outran Lisa on the beach to beat her by 2 seconds, to just narrowly avoid being "chicked". 

The remaining athletes (other than Dean who was racing for the first time post-injury) came in fairly close together following Lisa.  Charlie ran the beach portion with his Pull Buoy between his leg so he should get a couple of seconds credit for that.

Brian and Greg swam out to escort Dean in who finished in a time of 37 minutes and few seconds. 

A bunch of team members weren't there on Saturday because of other committments:  Marla, Alex, Jocelyn, Juliette, Beth, Eric, etc.  It will be fun to watch them do the race in the next week or so.  The morning swim group moved the red buoy out a couple hundred yards this morning to make it more challanging for them. 

 The following race report was submitted by Lisa:

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have raced in the rain before and have a strict “no rain” policy.   Well, not really very strict…I just hate racing in the rain.  Who doesn’t?  But once you’re committed, get up early, drive to the race, etc, etc, what are you supposed to do?  I mean, really, isn’t the team motto HTFU?  Greg, Margaret and I were planning to do a relay…rain or shine.  As it is freakin’ pouring and we are using the Chekmobile to stay dry (along with Alex & Jocelyn, who are waiting for their swimmer, Tony “the ringer” Delogne), Margaret and I are wondering about the “rain or shine” bit ~ who the hell started that…Greg, of course, as he was doing the swim, he could care less if it was raining.  We are soaking wet, trying to somehow stay dry.  Alex is bouncing around with that perpetual smile on his face, doing an imitation of Gene Kelly in “Singing in the Rain” (no, really ~ he even sang ~ you all missed it).  Jocelyn is constantly checking her watch and doing some weird calculations about what time it is (“it’s been 6 minutes since 8:13” or something like that).  She is so worried that Alex will not be in the transition area on time.  Margaret and I are secretly thinking that that would be f**ing hilarious if Alex wasn’t there when Tony came running up ~ Alex had already missed his TT start time earlier in the week.  Just icing on the cake.  But Joc would have none of that, and as a result we all stood under one umbrella in the transition area for about 15 minutes waiting for the first swimmers/trail runners (long run through the woods to get to transition ~ one of those special things that makes Ashland a challenging race).  While standing there a woman comes into transition in her wetsuit and grabs her bike ~ she’s quitting before even starting ~ probably not the only one (even Andy & Beth only did the swim part of their made-up aquabike category ~ they were seen peeling out of the parking lot before the first bikers were back). 

So we’re soaking wet, standing under an umbrella (I know, doesn’t make much sense, does it?) when we see a green cap ~ Tony, in wave 3, is one of the early swimmers to T1 ~ and Alex takes off like the roads were dry (all that pent up energy).  Alex later reports that he felt like Tony was going to wrestle him for the bike and take off in his wetsuit ~ those competitive juices kicking  in.  Next out of the water is Brian (wave 1), then Dan (wave 2) and then Greg (wave 3) ~ really nice swims by all.  Brian, then Dan, then Lisa leave transition and head out onto the roads.    Okay, I cannot report what the swim was like, but it was a swim in the rain ~ who cares.  But I did do the bike, and it sucked.  The first road out of transition is a pothole filled mess, only made worse by literally rivers of water running down it.  Everyone was tentative at first.  At times the rain truly stung your face (I am not being a baby ~ others said the same thing) and it was challenging at times to see where you were going there was so much water in your face.  But I LOVE that bike course ~ want to do it again next year, when it is dry.  Of course, it rained just long enough for all of us to finish the bike…and then stopped for the run.  Go figure.  I wasn’t in transition, but Brian, Dan & Joc were already out on the run when I come in ~ and off goes Margaret.  Tony shows up to cheer everyone on after going home to take a hot shower and put on dry clothes.  He is nice enough to bring hot tea, which feels good in my hands, but I cannot drink as I am shivering so hard.  It doesn’t seem like we are standing around very long before Dan & Brian come into the finish ~ they both deserve the greatest of applause for doing that entire race in such lousy conditions.  It is a challenging race under perfect conditions and they both were awesome.  Team Chek/Delogne finished before Crist/Van Dore/Kadlick, but it was a good race ~ with Chek/Delogne nabbing third (originally Greg, Lisa and Margaret were down for 1st in the all female category…we wanted Greg to go collect our award, but then decided to ‘fess up ~ when Margaret told the woman of the mistake, the woman wondered if Greg was a pretty looking guy ~ to which Margaret replied that he was a good-looking guy, but would be a freak as a woman ~ so no award for us). 

Dean was there in his Hooters t-shirt to support everyone (and sell Alex his wheel).  Ashley was in wave 4, so unfortunately I didn’t see her during the race ~ but she too did the entire race in the rain, sporting her Team Infinitri top that her husband couldn’t believe she was going out in public in (with all our tight-fitting tops, Alex said we were like the guys in Dodgeball).   All in all, despite the worst of conditions, it was a blast.  Nice perseverance by the team.  

[Here are a couple of additional observations from Dan:

1.  Tony's swim time was the fastest overall swim time at the race.

2.  Dean got a special award for being first in line for the Pizza.

3.  Lisa kicked some serious ass on the bike course.

4.  If Alex hadn't been in transition when I came back from the bike, I think I would have dropped out.  I was so cold, I couldn't even feel my feet.  But there was Alex, all happy and encouraging me to go on.

5.  I think (I am not sure I heard this correctly) Greg challanged Tony to some sort of a showdown this weekend at the Webster Sprint.  No, I couldn't have heard that correctly.

6.  Despite the cold, rain and general misery it was a really fun race and a good time hanging out with everyone post-race.]

Since Tony saw a lot more of the Sharon Duathlon than I did, he put together a much more comprehensive race report.  Here is what he saw:

Fast start by Dan Sullivan matched immediately by Pat Ryan and Bobby Mealey. The split for the first 1/4M was about 1’12. At the end of the 1M run, Pat was leading with a 5’15 split ahead of Bobby and Dan by about 15”. Greg and Dave were next in transition another 15-20” back.
Bobby and Pat left transition together. Pat took the lead for the first 3M of the bike at which point he was passed by Greg. Despite repeated efforts to get rid of Mr Fast, Greg couldn’t shake him and had to settle for a very fast, but steady, 25mph average ride. Bobby lost about 1’15 per lap on the leading duo and started the run 2’30 behind. Dan came in another 1’-2’ behind followed closely by Dave, with Brian a little further back. Then, we saw the “train” pull in the station. No names!  

Pat pulled away early on the run and settled into a 6:15 pace to finish in first. Greg must have been glad that the run was slightly shorter than announced because Bobby set the road on fire and finished on his tail. Dan decided that he was going to be a gentleman and let Dave pass him on the run.
We were treated to a sprint by Alex “Reese’s Pizza Boy” over Andy aka Punksie D. half way around the track.
Lisa “I’m not a runner” made up some ground and a few places on a couple of the guys, placing herself as one of the favorites for the overall classification of the Team InfiniTri Challenge.
Beth brought in the rear, not far behind Juliette and Jocelyn, all looking great as always.

The first race in the Infinitri Team Challange took place today (June 1) in Sharon.  The Duathlon was comprised of a 1 Mile Track Run, 23 Mile Bike and a 4.5 Mile Road Run.  The field consisted of 16 members of Team Infinitri.  Pat Ryan put together a pair of good runs and a solid bike ride to take first place with a time of 1:29:50.  Close behind were Greg Crist (1:33:03) and Bobby Mealey (1:33:12).  Lisa Van Dore was the first woman to cross the finish line with a time of 1:44:56. 

Special thanks to Tony for organizing such a fun race and to our Social Director, Andy Brennen, for organizing and providing the post-race cook-out.

Click on the Race Results tab, above,  to see the entire race results from the Sharon Duathlon World Championships.  Next up on the Team Challange Calendar is the Farm Pond Aquathlon on June 29th. 

Eight members of Team Infinitri participated in the St. Croix 70.3 Triathlon on May 4th in Christainstaad, St. Croix.  The St. Croix course is one of the more difficult courses in on the 70.3 Series, combining punishing hills (including the Beast - a 3/4 mile hill climb with sections that exceed 20% grade) with seering heat, oppressive humidity and a relentless wind.  The conditions further mocked the athletes by providing rain on the bike course (with the hardest rain occurring just as many of the riders began their ascent of the Beast) and a cloudless blue sky (with 90 degree temps) just in time for the shadeless mid-day 13.1 mile run through the golf course.  All eight members of the team managed to complete the race despite a number of race day maladies and mishaps that further added to the complexity of the event.  The team was ably supported by Robin Nadeau and Julie Bilgor both of whom provided crucial race day support and encouragement to all of the athletes.