Finger Lakes Triathlon 2012

Sorry for this being so late in the making but better late than never.....

I once again had the opportunity to race the Finger Lakes Tri  for the 3rd time in my career the 2nd weekend in September.  I always enjoy doing this as it is a huge fundraiser for the  Mary M. Gooley Hemophilia Center. I did my first Olympic race here a few years back...its amazing to think where I have come since then.  I remember thinking how far a 1500m swim was and then doing a 40k bike and 10k run!  Now to think...I am doing half ironmans and even considering doing an Full Ironman next year.  In college, I wasn't a fan of cross country because it was soo long...or so I thought. We would race 8ks then in the post season would go to 10ks..I could not wait till track where I could run the mile or 3k steeplechase...much shorter events!  Now with all my events lasting 2 hours or more I decided to do the sprint here.  It would be a fun race and I would get to show my support for TowPath Bike out of Pittsford, NY -  I count on them all the time with my bike...and it always runs smoothly.  Thanks Guys!
  I also was excited because a long time friend, Bryan Kent and local sprint specialist Dan Pierce were going to be racing.  I knew Dan as a fast swimmer so I knew I was going to have some fun chasing him down on the bike.  It is always nice doing local races as you can have many friends and family members come out...that can be a challenge when your races are scattered throughout the country so thanks to - Chelsea, Dad, Pam, Steve, Bruno, Robin, Josh, Nate and others who came out to  support me!
   As the race started my game plan was to hit the swim hard but still controlled then rock out on the bike.  The bike course basically goes flat, then up hill. then down hill then some flats...so by hitting it hard in the beginning you can make up a lot of ground.  After the gun when off I tried to stay on Dan's feet but he was swimming like a fish....he managed to get about a minute lead on me after the swim.  I had my wife, dad and others tell me how far back I was when I got out.  I had a smooth transition and started rocking on the bike. After a couple miles on the bike I was able to spot Dan and he was like a carrot for me...I started pushing even harder...a few miles later I was able to pass him and I knew the race was won as I felt great and knew no one was going to touch me on the run.  I kept hammering home and ended up biking the 13.4 miles at 350 watts...pretty happy with that.  After getting back into transition I started on the run and was really able to enjoy it!  The 5k went by pretty quickly and I was able to soak up the applause from the crowd as I was the first finisher of the day.  Overall it was a fun time supporting a great local race on a beautiful day in Canandaigua NY. Thanks to all my sponsors once again for the continued support throughout the season!  This dream of making it as a Professional Triathlete that can compete with the best is becoming more and more real.  Next up is my last race of the season...Ironman Pocono 70.3 in Stroudsburg PA.