This past Sunday myself and Jackie Arendt headed down yonder to Rockford, IL for the Rockman Half. Leaving Madtown at 4:15, I wasn’t too pumped to be awake, let alone race, but an hour in my car, with its extremely loud and annoying tires, was enough to wake me up.

Image1: Madison at 4:15am

Now to the race…. 

The two loop swim took place in a local sewage containment pond, and was marked via a few dudes floating on big innertubes (I kid you not). I tacked onto the second swim pack, and hit the beach in 28’ and change, having avoided any attacks by local brown trout. No Michael Phelps swim, but I felt good the whole time and the swim times seemed a little slow across the board.

Image 2: My view from the swim course

Into T1, my new Aquasphere wetsuit (big fan btw) slid off like a seal on an iceberg. Onto the bike…

This is usually were I make up most of my time, but today my powersticks just didn’t have the power. I managed to move my way up to 4^th place by the turn around, but then things started to get interesting. First, my spare tubular jettisoned off the back of my saddle due to my ghetto-rigged attachment method. Next, I lost an arm rest pad that had stuck to some lingering road rash on my elbow. I watched it fly off into the woods, leaving me to ride ~10 miles skin on metal (not recommended). Then I fumbled and dropped my water bottle. I entered T2 in 5^th place, with a 2:17 bike split, unleashed some “mad T2 skills,” and hit the run on the heels of 4^th.

The run turned out to be its own adventure. I decided to take it out easy, as the course was non stop hills through Rock Cut State Park, and I knew it was going to be tough. By the time I went through the two mile mark (the only mile marker anywhere on the entire race course), I had settled into a rhythm and started to feel very good. Roughly 4 miles in, I came upon a fork in the path, an unmanned aid station, and no signage or volunteers to speak of. Three options presented themselves to me:

1. Go left, onto a muddy flooded out path 

2. Go right, up to a major road intersection (with no volunteers)

3. Turn around, but there was supposed to be timing mat at the turn around.

Three options, and they all seemed wrong. I killed ~2 minutes trying to figure out what to do, when two of the guys in front of me came running back down the path from the right, equally confused. We regrouped, decided to turn around (which was the correct choice) and were on our way. About a mile later, as I am flying full throttle through a left hand, downhill turn, I managed to slip in some mud and face plant the asphalt. Covered in dirt and blood, I eventually located the finish line and crossed in 4^th place with a finish time of 4:15. Winner Chris McDonald gave me a once over, and said, in his heavy Aussie accent, “You look like you’ve been to war.”

Overall I am very pleased with my race. I still have a lot of work to do before the big dance in October, but this was a great start. I love racing in competitive fields, and this race didn’t disappoint. I was beaten by 3 guys that placed top 10 overall at IM Wisconsin in 2008, and it was a lot of fun to be in the mix with such top notch athletes. Props to Jackie on her 2^nd place finish.

Results here: http://www.itsracetime.com/Results.aspx?ID=85

Oh yeah, the Sugoi race kits are “like super awesome.”

Mike