The Lava Report

Dang these sprint races are hard. The only pace is full throttle/pedal- to- the medal from start to finish. The longer distances you HAVE to pace yourself. Or blow up. Everyone in my age group (on the podium) went under one hour today. Which means older dudes these days are not slowing down. The podium here is Marc Hapke, myself and John Whitesel. Long time competitors, humble and fast. They are both there to rock and roll but are not all aggro and great sportsmanship. Refreshing.

With the electronic timing chip the accuracy of your splits is simply amazing. I dig it. After reviewing them on line tonight I would never have known I was 29th (damn near a different zip code) out the swim. I climbed up to 4th off the bike. Got run down by two 18 year olds @ 1/2 way point on the run to hold and "tie" for 6th overall @ 52 minutes flat.

The kid I tied with is amazing. I came up on him on the last climb on the bike, he hung with me the final miles into the run transition. I did not notice he was a below the elbow amputee until he came up on me on the run. This kid has heart, talent and a big future. Very nice kid on top of it all. He is training with the ParaOlympic USA Team in San Diego Ca. I predict like my good friend and multiple ParaOlympian Rudy Garcia, Thomas Cain is going to be a name you will hear in the future. And IMO a excellent representative and athlete for the USA. Go Thomas! You have new fans and supporters. Congrats to all whom started and or finished the challenging course today. And thank you to all the volunteers. The race could not be had without all your generous hard work.