Name of Race: Wildflower ½ Ironman
Date: 5/6/06
Location: Lake San Antonio, CA
Website: www.tricalifornia.com
Race type: Triathlon
Distance: ½ Ironman (1.2m swim, 56m bike, 13.1m run)
# of Participants: 2000
# of Spectators: about 4,000

Overall place: 14
Age Group place: 1
Amateur place: 2

Overall Race Report:
This has to be one of the hardest ½ Ironmans out there. Some people say it’s harder than an Ironman, if that gives any indication of how difficult this race is. However, it was a great day for racing and it brought out a lot of competitive athletes.

This year I came to race by myself. My wife Nikki couldn’t come as she had other commitments at home that she had to take care of. I arrived on Thursday night and stayed with some friends who live in Santa Cruz. On Friday morning, my friends and I had some breakfast on the beach in a little town outside of Santa Cruz called Capitola. It was a great morning and I was feeling ready to race the next day.

I arrived at the park at 3 PM and found the camp site. I camped with my friends from Powerbar and had a great spot just a few hundred yards from the expo. I saw Keith Meyer our team director right away and was excited that he came to watch us race. There were 3 or 4 of us from the team and I was excited as always to have teammates race. That night I had my ritual meal of 9 oz. of Angel Hair pasta w/ chicken and hit the hey at 8:00PM.

Race morning was a little overcast and cold, but I was feeling well rested and ready to go! I got all of my equipment ready to go and set up in transition. I saw my teammates Kim Loeffler and Matt Seeley and wished them good luck. I headed down to the swim in my QR Superfull wetsuit and said hey to my friends Vanessa and Drew from Powerbar and lined up in my wave. As the gun went off, I immediately found my rhythm and swum away from the pack. I was feeling very smooth and started to pass people from the waves that went off before us. Before I knew, I was at the turnaround and was headed home to finish my swim in 25 minutes flat. After a quick transition, I headed out on my super fast Ti-Phoon tried to pass more people from the other waves. This race is very hilly, so I prepared myself mentally and knew it wouldn’t be an easy course. I was feeling a little tired from my race last weekend (which was a very hard 15.5 mile trail run) so it did worry me. Nevertheless, I pushed on and got through the bike in a personal best time of 2:32. The run felt good the entire way. I ran a 1:23 which put me at around 6:32 pace. I had been working more on my hills in training and I think it paid off! I placed 1st in my age group, and 2nd amateur overall! Thanks to my sponsors for all the help!