Yeah, I know, how lame am I doing a dual race report?  Pretty lame I know.  But, things have been pretty busy around the Gennari household these days.  The new job has kept me busy.  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

The race in Tuscaloosa was part of an entire race experience in Tuscaloosa called Tri-Palooza.  Along with the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Trials race there was a 21-12 race (draft legal) and a Citizen’s race that made up this racing weekend.  Since I am a mere citizen I took part in the Tuscaloosa Triathlon.  For me the race could should have been called Hack-aPalooza as I’ve been dealing with some kind of funk for several weeks now.  I basically can’t stop coughing and it only gets worse when I do any kind of exercise.  It’s almost like I exercise induced asthma.   But, there’s a drainage issue going on here like nobody’s business which leads me to believe that it’s more of a lingering cold than anything else.  I’m going to the doctor tomorrow to get it all straightened out.  Anyway, enough about my sob story.

Saturday my family and I woke up early and drove from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa.  We got there just in time for the USAT Collegiate Championship race.  I knew Andrew was racing and wanted to show my support.  Andrew was in the 1^st wave and gave those young college guys a run for their money.  Andrew was about 6^th out of the water and then got into a good pack of guys during the bike.  Off the bike Andrew was down about 2:24 and things were looking pretty good.  Knowing how well Andrew can run I thought he might be able to catch some of the guys in front of him.  This is exactly what he did.  Andrew ended up 3^rd overall and did Team Timex proud.

After the Collegiate race the family and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed back down towards the race site to watch the women vie for the next US Olympic slot.  The race was awesome to watch and the crowds were amazing.  Four women broke away from the start and really put some time into the chasers.  You just knew that one of these four women would end up winning the Olympic slot.  The four women were Sara McClarty, Sarah Haskins, Sarah Groff and Julie Ertel.  These four women put about a minute coming into T2 on all the other chasers and never looked back.  Surprisingly (to me) Julie Ertel came out of that pack of four women to take the seconds slot to Beijing.

Before the men’s race it was decided by our four year old (Noah) that he in no way, shape, form or fashion would be hanging around for the race.  So, my wife and Noah headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap.  My other son, Ian, and I hung around and watched the entire men’s race.  In the men’s race Andy Potts immediately tried to steal the Olympic slot on the swim.  I think Andy thought that he could swim and bike away from everybody in the race.  He almost did just that.  Mr. Potts put almost 40 seconds on his closest chaser coming out of the water.  Then two things happened that doomed Andy’s effort.  A really nice head wind showed up on the bike course and Hunter Kemper, Matt Reed and Brian Fleishman all worked together on the bike.  Andy really had no choice but to sit up and wait for them.  The men’s race would come down to the run.  Well, at least that is what it looked like.  At the end of the last lap Matt Reed put in a huge surge and gapped the three other races by about 22 seconds.  That would be the move of the day.  Matt was able to keep that advantage throughout the four lap run course and sew up the Olympic spot to Beijing.

I have to tell you, it was great day to watch racing.  Not exactly the best thing to do knowing that I was racing the next day but, hey, how often to you get to watch Triathlon Olympic Trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (where I went to college)?  So, after watching the races my son and I had to hoof it all the way back to the hotel ourselves.  Yeah, I was pretty dang tired once we made it back.  After some dinner and some relaxing time I thought for sure I’d have a good sleep that night.  Nope, no dice.  I ended up coughing most of the night and getting almost no sleep at all.  What’s a guy to do?

The following morning the alarm clock went off at 5:00 and I was wishing I could sleep for eight more hours.  Anybody else ever feel like this?  I packed up all my gear, pumped up my tires and then headed out the door.  It took me less than ten minutes to bike from the hotel to the race site.  Once at the race site I grabbed my timing chip, got body marked and then set up my spot in Transition.  I was still wondering how this day would go.  Once I was settled I went off and started to warm up.  I felt OK but was still having some issues with coughing and exercising.  Once I got back to the Transition area I did some last second preparations and headed down to the swim start.  It then dawned on me that I hadn’t even worn my new Blue Seventy (http://www.blueseventy.com/) wetsuit.  As a matter of fact the tag was still on it when I brought it out to put it on.  Well, I am here to tell you that the wetsuit worked flawlessly.  As a matter of fact I am quite impressed with it.  You can tell the mark of a good wetsuit when you don’t realize that you’re actually wearing it.  I didn’t feel like I was wearing a wetsuit.  That was the good news.  The bad news was that I was coughing while I was swimming.  I don’t know if any of you have ever tried to do this but it is actually quite difficult.  I think I swallowed a good bit of the Black Warrior River during my swim.  Even with the water intake I did break away from a fairly solid field of racers in the event.  I was first out of the water and into T1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transitions in the past have normally been a huge pain point for me for this time I was in and out in no time.  I was still hacking up a storm but at least I was hacking in the lead.  I jumped on my new Trek Equinox TTX 9.5 (http://www.trekbikes.com/) and away I went.  The legs felt pretty good.  Not great but good.  I knew at this point that the race was going to be a “gut check” effort.  This basically means that I’ll go as hard as I can for as long as I can.  If I blow, well, then I blow.  Out on the bike course I was moving along fairly well (well, at least that is what I thought) until Professional Triathlete Kirk Nelson (http://www.trikirk.com/) came flying by me at Mach 2.   Man was he moving.  I didn’t even have a counter move for him as he went by.  I basically stayed within my racing “zone” and paid attention to my race instead of his.  Nobody else passed me on the bike except for Kirk heading into T2 so I felt that I had had a fairly solid bike.  Here’s a pic of me hammering (well, I thought I was hammering) the bike on Jack  Warner Parkway:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Coming into T2 I was solidly in 2^nd place.  Off with the Rudy Project Helmet (http://www.rudyprojectusa.com/) and on with the new Zoot racing flats (thanks Ben).  It was here where I noticed that I still couldn’t feel my feet.  Evidently the water was a lot colder than I thought.
The run was an out-and-back two loop run course.  At this point in the race I just wanted to have a steady but solid run.  The crowds during this race were pretty awesome.  I was getting all kinds of support from a lot of the college kids that were also there yelling for their team mates.  If I had a nickel for each and every time somebody yelled GO TIMEX I’d be a rich man.  OK, well, maybe not rich, but I certainly would have been able to buy one gallon of gas!
So, how did I finish up?   Well, I ran fairly well and finished up second overall to Kirk Nelson.  I saw Kirk out on the run course and the guy runs like a Gazelle.  He’s super smooth.  Some of the guys behind me were reeling me in and I could see them coming.  Thankfully I had a big enough lead and was able to fend them off before crossing the finish line. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And speaking of the finish line I have to give huge props to Tim Yount of USAT who was giving me all kinds of compliments and kudos for my years and years of racing triathlon.  Tim and I go way back and he’s definitely one of the good guys at USA Triathlon.  If you ever get the chance to participate in ITU World Championships and Tim’s there make sure you introduce yourself.  Tim is certainly a guy that you’ll want to know.
All in all, considering the circumstances, I’d say that I had a fairly solid day. 

Here are the overall top five finishers in the race with all of their splits:

 

 

 

 

You can certainly see that Kirk gave me a pretty good beat down.  I don’t think I could run a 15:58 5k in a straight running race.  Kirk did it while he was eating a slab of Dreamland ribs.  Yep, that’s how fast and graceful he runs.
And speaking of Dreamland Ribs, no trip to Tuscaloosa would be complete without going there.  And that’s exactly what we did.  The family and I took the short ride out to Dreamland and chowed down on some of the best BBQ ribs that you’ll ever eat.  The place is actually, well, a hole in the wall.  I think it’s held together with duct tape.  There’s a sign over the door that says NO FARTING.  I think you get the picture of what this place looks like.  But I have to tell you, the food is awesome.  I could have just sat there and ate Wonder bread dipped in Dreamland sauce and been happy!  But, I was there to eat some ribs and eat ribs I did.  If you’re ever looking to get some good ribs Dreamland will deliver.  Here’s their website; http://www.dreamlandbbq.com/.  Trust me, it’ll be worth your while.
After filling up with ribs it was time for our venture back to Nashville.  So, we loaded up the family wagon and headed north.  I felt pretty good about the weekend.  I got to see some quality racing, good friends and gotten to eat some Dreamland ribs.  What more could a person ask for?   Well, I guess he could ask for some good health.  All in good time I suppose.

Ft. Yargo next!

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