Osprey Sprint Triathlon
Oct 6, 2007
Public Landing, MD.
I hadn't seen this race mentioned here so I thought I'd try writing a race report. This was the third year I've done this one. It's sort of small and unassuming. Almost laid back, if a triathlon can be that. No chip timing, no USAT fee, no age on the back of the leg. But a very nice venue and only 2 hours from Hampton Roads, up the Eastern Shore. Also, this race is a fund raiser for the Maryland Coastal Bays Foundation. An organization working to preserve Marylands' coastal estuaries. For me, a nice respite from Saturday morning long runs and a good way to get that last triathlon fix for the season. Anyway, I dragged my 2 teenagers out of bed to drive up Saturday morning since they had previously agreed to go. They were pretty agreeable at 5:30AM on a Saturday. So, we get to the bridge tunnel and surprise, they don't take credit cards(I never have cash and of course teenagers have no money) so I had to go in and fill out some promise to pay paperwork. Not good since I'm already starting to stress about whether we have enough time to get there, do packet pickup, rack the bike and hit the porta-potty before the 9AM start. We ended up getting there at around 8:15, do the packet pickup, body marking, find a little corner of a rack where people grudgingly give up a few inches of space. That's another thing about this race, you rack your bike, not by number but anywhere you want. I liked that idea at first but it would come back to bite me later. I always enjoy the excitement of walking with a large group of wetsuit-clad people to the swim start. Even though I'm always apprehensive about the swim. When my wave goes off I feel pretty confident and focused on the task at hand. Only 750 meters. Just relax and breath to both sides, that way I can get into my own rhythm and hopefully pull evenly with both arms. This has been a problem in the past where my right arm hurts days later because it does all of the pulling in survival stroke mode. I think I actually passed some people, getting out to the first buoy even though I kept reverting back to only right side breathing. As I'm swimming I see people beside me walking... the water is only about 5 feet deep in places, but I'm determined to not walk. I roll along and after a while, just as in every tri I've been in, I see a steady stream of orange caps go by(the next wave). Very humbling! I feel like a truck chugging along while the sport bikes zip from lane to lane. I do take solace in the fact that I got out of the water with someone from the wave ahead of mine(he probably walked all the way or learned to swim last week). The swim exit is up the steps at the end of a pier, down which you run, on carpet to T1. The carpet was white and as I ran I kept noticing little splotches of blood. This made me realize that the bottom of my right foot was hurting. Guess I had cut it on the rocks at the swim start. T1 Went well and I was off on the bike. These are all country roads and smooth all the way. I just hammered it as best I could, passed alot of people, maybe 5 or 6 passed me, all wearing aero helmets and riding nice bikes.
There were a few turns on the bike course but plenty of volunteers to steer you right. I was pretty happy with my bike split, bike computer indicates I averaged close to 21 mph but race results say 19.6. This is probably due to the fact that T2 time, in the results, is combined with the bike time and I ran around in T2 for a considerable amount of time. Couldn't find my stuff. This was a result of not racking by bib numbers and not having enough time to really scout out the full layout of things before the race. But I finally did find my stuff and got out of T2 thinking... well... thinking, this hurts. But keep pushing because this is supposed to be where I become the sport bike. The run course is out and back. Always nice to see who is in front of and behind. Lots of motivation to not let up. Plenty of water on the course and very nice volunteers. Had a stitch in my side for a while but that went away and I was able to finish strong and feeling great. Of course, my teenagers were nowhere to be found so I'll have to rely on the official race photos if I want a finish line photo. I took almost 6 minutes off my time from last year. Just about all of that was on the bike. My swim focus from last winter hasn't taken yet. :-) Plenty of drinks(gatorade and bottled water) and good music afterward and the food was a bag lunch. Turkey, Ham or Vegi sandwich and chips. My teenagers ate my turkey sandwich. They report that it was good.
I highly recommend this race. Great community support. Great Venue(swim is in Chincoteague bay), bike and run on well maintained roads, close to home. And it always ends up being an exceptionally beautiful fall day.
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"My concern is not just about surviving. I would not live at any cost My attempt is to do better than just survive, but to thrive and to thrive with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."
-Maya Angelou
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