When The Tide Turns

It's great to be (almost) 45. This is the first year that I am racing in this age group. At today's New York City Triathlon, this also meant to begin the race in one of the last two swim waves, almost 2 hours after the elite racers went off. Well, this would not really matter much in most races, not so in New York though. While most swimmers were blessed with a nice current pushing them down the Hudson river, by the time we swam, the tide had turned and the current went against us. On top of it, it was almost 10 o'clock by the time I started the run, the heat around 90 and very humid did not favor a fast run either.

So, there was no chance to coming even close to a pr or course record. Nevertheless, this may have been my very best race ever. While my swim time was more than 10 minutes slower than my record time three years ago and the run also several minutes slower, the vast majority of my age group competitors had an ever tougher time with the conditions. I felt great the whole race, came out of the water strong and followed it with my best bike leg ever. Starting on the run I was terribly hot, but my legs felt great and I continued to pick off dozens of, mostly younger, racers who had started way ahead of me.

At the end of the race I finished in 2.41.33, an astonishing 16th in my age group out of 246 finishers.