First, let’s get to some of the non-race surprises. Living in El Paso I often travel to Albuquerque for various events and always pass T or C along the way. As a kid and young adult I have been to Elephant Butte several times, but really never paid attention to the distance it was from El Paso. From my house to the lake is a quick one hour and forty-five minutes. Those of us that travel often for triathlons can appreciate the short drive. The second surprise of the trip was my motel. I stayed at the Fire Water Lodge in T or C and this was my second time staying there. As you drive up to the motel you certainly are not blown away, but the rooms are nice, clean, and have hot spring soaking tubs J. It was very nice to soak in the tub the night before the race and relax. If you ever stay in T or C give it a try.
Ok on to the race report. The course had a short 400 meter open water swim to start things off and I felt like I was going to have a great swim because of all the swim training I had been doing. I thought wrong! I had a little panic attack 50 meters into the swim and didn’t think I was going to be able to finish. Luckily, I began to breaststroke for the next 150 meters and regained my composure. I gave up a bunch of time, but began free styling for last 200 meters and got out of the water 15th. I don’t know exactly how I am going to fix this anxiety problem about open water swims, but for all of you out there who think you are the only one who panics in the open water…… you are not alone. After the swim began adventure number one. The photo below doesn’t do justice to the distance and climb, but you get an idea of how long it was to the bike transition area. The average time to transition was around five and a half minutes! Think about that for a second. The time it took to get back to transition is the same time that some racers could run a mile in!!
I managed to get to transition and started the bike portion of the race. The bike was a 12 mile loop/out and back and for the most part a great course. The roads were pretty rough at times and you had to pay attention to what you were doing. I know that sounds like a given, but on many courses you can really put your head down and pound out the miles. This course required lots of looking ahead and also a few tight turns. After ten miles on the bike you hit the big climb on the course. In just over a mile you climb somewhere between 600 and 1000 feet. It’s not the Tour de France, but it is by far the steepest climb I have ever seen at a sprint tri. Just think about the first hill at Buffalo Springs in Lubbock and multiply it by around seven or eight and you’ll get an idea of what kind climb it was. I had just enough in the tank to manage the climb and entered transition ready for a fast, easy run.
To my surprise the run was neither fast nor easy L. Apparently, the course was not done with its hills and climbs! Right out of transition you have a nice steady 200 meter climb and my legs were on fire once I reached the top of the hill. I needed to make up some time, because of my poor swim so I began to push it as hard as I could. I thought I was doing well, but then I saw Gretchen McElroy coming and she said “You better run hard, because I’m coming to catch you!” I thought we were friends? LoL Well, her motivation worked and I ran the rest of the course as if a she-devil were chasing me……..because she was! JK
I ended up with a time of 1:11.39 and finished first in my age group and fourth overall for the males. Gretchen had a tremendous race and finished first overall female with a time of 1:09.00. She finished second overall for both male and female racers!!! My friend John finished second in the Clydesdale division and looked strong the whole way. I was also glad to have met a few new racers this week, one of them being Art Sanchez. Art was first out of the water and had a great race. The other racer I met was Alyx Luck. Alyx competes in the 20-25 female age group and placed first in her age group and 5th overall.
The race director and staff did a great job of running the race and despite a few problems they were extremely attentive and made sure that everyone had a great time. For those of you out there who want a challenging course in a great setting, circle the Dam It Man triathlon on your calendar for next year.
