The Suro's: 2009

COLUMBIA TRIATHLON
This post is a little past due, but I thought I should post it since it took up about 6 months of "our" lives during the training and fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. On May 17th, 2009 I ran in my first Triathlon in Columbia Maryland which was an Olympic Distance Tri, which consists of a 1.5K swim, 41K bike, and 10K run. After hearing some guys at work talk about triathlons I figured I would give it a shot since I had been running over the past 2 years, swimming was easy for me, and biking couldn't be that hard...at least I thought. Rather then give all the details, I got a road bike, started training, entered the race as a part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raised over $2400, trained a lot, and set an original goal of breaking 3 hours. There were 1568 people that raced that day, and I ended up placing 396th with a time of 2:42:32, breaking my reset goal of 2:45:00. My times and places were as follows:

Swim = 23:04 (160th place)
Bike = 1:26:55 (542th place) 17.5 mph
Run = 51:07 (545th place) 8:14 per mile

Having fun the night before in the hotel rolling Anna around the hallways

Mandy made shirts for the family and surprised me that morning when I saw them (Team Suro & Team Daddy)

My cheering section who braved the chilly and wet weather

Transition area the day before the race (I had a remarkable spot right in the middle and at the end of the rack. Beginner's Luck!)

My heat entering the water and preparing for the start

People said the open water swim would be crazy, even for a good swimmer, and they were right. Kicking and punching, swimming over top of people...just plain confusing. Experience will make a big difference going forward.

Coming back in after the bike ride

Getting ready to re-rack my bike and prepare for the run, which was extremely hilly and the most challenging run I have and will most likely ever do.

Putting on my running shoes and preparing for the hour of pain!

I really wasn't in as much pain as it looks here, but I was happy to be done! Anna and my mom are right next to me cheering me on.

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH TRIATHLON

I wasn't sure if I was going to run another tri this year, but last minute I decided to enter a local triathlon in Perryville, MD on July 19th, 2009. I signed up 2 weeks before the race, so although I was still in good shape, I was not nearly as prepared this time and there were no nerves on race day. Getting that first race out of the way was great and it should all be fun from here on out. This race was an Olympic Distance event, but altered a little bit compared to the Columbia Tri. The distances were a 1 mile swim, 27 mile bike, and a 5 mile run. Basically the ride was 2 miles longer then Columbia, and the run was 1.2 miles shorter. I finished 144th out of 451 people and had a time of 2:34:42. I entered the Clydesdale Division this time (200 lb plus males) and finished 4th overall in my division. My times were as follows:

Swim - 26:18 (113th place)

Bike - 1:25:57 (150th place) 18.80 mph

Run - 39:31 (201st place) 7:55 per mile

The start of the swim in the Susquehanna

Much more relaxed this time in transition and during the whole race.

Who knows where this will lead. Most people tell me that this is an addicting sport, but I look at them more as experiences and something fun to do. I will most likely do a couple each year and keep doing them for fun, and who knows....I am thinking about entering my first Half Ironman in 2010. Look for future updates to see what happens.