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Friday, June 29, 2012

Home Turf: the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon, June 24, 2012!

Pre-race! Pol, Chris & PTC friends Lacey & Vinny
The Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon weekend is definitely a big favorite.  You can’t go wrong when the venue is literally less than 4 miles from your house!  Needless to say, the car pretty much sat in its parking spot the entire weekend, which is a good thing!
The weekend started out with Chris and I volunteering at the Sprint tri on Saturday at one of the most action-packed stations: swim exit.  Making sure that 2000+ triathletes got out of the water safely on to the uphill climb to T1 was quite a task.  One can experience anything from a simple hand-up to a full-body grab while cheering on and encouraging the athletes.  A very rewarding assignment, especially knowing we would be experiencing this as competitors the next day!
On to Sunday…race day for the Olympic tri.  What better place to race than in your own “backyard?”  Knowing the course definitely has its benefits, but knowing so many of the people around you is the absolute BEST part!  From fellow racers, to volunteers to crowd support, it was great to see so many familiar faces and hear, “Go Polly!” all along the way. 
The .9-mile Schuylkill River swim was actually a pleasant 80-degrees, which was perfect for trying out the new speed suit (thanks, TriSports.com!).  Escaping any potential debris or mutant river creatures, it was on to the 40k bike which has just the right mixture of hills, fast flats and great scenery around the river drives (believe it or not, I actually saw a deer on the course…in Philly…and yes, I have corroboration!). 
 Note to self: check bike rack # prior to exiting transition in the morning (I wasted a bit of T1/T2 time looking for where #1242 was in the mix…oops!).  On to the run, the first half of which is shaded…the second half, not so much.  I was out-sprinted by this guy at the finish line that I was attempting to “chick,” (he was having none of that!) and then learned that Chris was in some sort of “elbow” battle with some guy at the line!  A little “friendly” competition doesn’t hurt…usually!  
Post-race with Team TriSports teammate Craig Sheckler
 A big “shout-out” goes to Team TriSports teammate Allison Stewart for taking 1st elite female (4th OA) and Craig and Erica Sheckler for once again providing amazing encouragement and support!  Also, to Philadelphia Triathlon Club and all of our friends from so many area running and tri clubs who were tearing it up on the course or cheering like crazy out there!  Thanks for making this weekend so special and always a favorite.
Here’s the breakdown of Chris’ and my results:     

Polly:
Overall:  232 out of 1547 finishers
Age Group: (35-39F):  2nd
Swim: 26:47; T1: 2:33; Bike: 1:14:32; T2: 1:50; Run: 43:36; Total time: 2:29:21

Chris:
Overall:  190 out of 1547 finishers
Age Group (35-39M):  20 out of 171
Swim: 29:31; T1: 2:16; Bike: 1:08:47; T2: 1:44; Run: 43:43; Total time: 2:26:04
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