Scoggins Valley...

5am and my alarm wouldn't shut up. Ok, Ok, I'll get up already. Go to brush my teeth. What's that noise? Oh crap, it is REALLY raining hard outside. This is going to be a long day...you can just tell. I put a bagel in the toaster and started the coffee. I stood there drinking my coffee looking at the pouring rain outside and thought to myself that I shouldn't race today...it's just going to be miserable and dangerous.

But then I remembered why I had signed up for this race. It wasn't for any type of placing or time goals, I just wanted to get some confidence back after having some serious health concerns at Pacific Crest Half Iron in June. So, I figured Hagg Lake (Scoggins Valley) would be a perfect race to do. It would land during my build up to Ironman Arizona so I could use it as a training day and the course is challenging so I knew I would get a good days work in.

But, back to the rain. This is going to suck!! I wake Meg up and we slowly head out to the car and make the 50 minute drive out to Hagg...windshield wipers going the entire drive. We get to the lake just fine and I start to set up my transition area. I see two of my buddies Brian and Clinton that are doing the race as well. Brian was giving me all kinds of crap for convincing him to sign up! Well, misery loves company Brian!! Alright, so bike is set up, runners are out and we make our way down to the lake to start the wet day.

The crowd (which consisted of the other athletes, volunteers and Meg) started to count down to start time. I wanted to attack the swim as I felt like my swim has been good as of late and I wanted to try and put the hammer on the field early. Dave Campbell was the class of the field, and I knew Dave was going to kill me on the bike so I needed to get out of sight and out of mind from him if I wanted a chance to be with him on the run.

Swim: I quickly went to the front of the pack and took off. My turnover was high. I rounded the first buoy and thought I felt a guy behind me (from the picture he was obviously there), but I wasn't sure. I kept the pressure on through the first lap and then just set into a long, comfortable stroke. Right before the last buoy, the guy that I thought might have been behind me passed me. I followed him to the beach and entered transition just behind him. My swim split was 21 and change. Just what I wanted.

Bike: I quickly made my way onto the bike as I wanted to get out on the course first and get myself distance from the field. The course is two loops around the lake with an out and back section each loop. The course is fairly hilly, especially after the out and back section. I could tell right away that I didn't have the legs. I'm in my Ironman build so my legs are a little worn down after many 200 -250 mile weeks. That being said I felt ok. I made it to the turn around at the out and back and saw Campbell coming in. He was a little over a minute, maybe two behind me still. I was leading the race and thought if I could just enter the run within a minute or two of Dave I would have a chance. Coming up to the end of the first loop I felt Dave coming up on me. He passed me right at the end of the loop. I was now in second and trying to keep Dave in sight. I kept my cadence up and was noticing that I was riding just as fast as him on the flats and rollers but the hills were killing me. I lost ground on the two climbs on the end of the second loop and entered transition in what I thought was 4th place (later find out that two of the people that passed me were either Duathletes or Sprint guys). I was actually in second still. I was very careful on the bike as I knew the only negative outcome I could have out there was to wreck in the horrible conditions. I split 1:12 on the bike which was over 6min slower than Campbell. Maybe on a dry day I would have been about 1:10? Hard to tell, but I do know I used my brakes much more than normal just to be safe :)

Off on the run and my legs felt pretty good. I went through the first mile at just over 7min and was slightly discouraged about that but had to remind myself that I'm in the middle of heavy Ironman training and shouldn't be running 6's right now, especially on this course. Again, this course is incredibly hilly! To add to that, the rain was still pouring. I wasn't noticing it as much on the run as on the bike though, just working harder I guess. I got passed about two miles in and tried my best to keep the guy's pace. He was just moving too fast. I kept him at about 400 meters for a while, but eventually he started to pull away. We made the turn around to head back and I saw a few guys coming at me fairly fast. I put my head down and really attacked the run back in as best I could. I didn't want to lose my current spot, which I thought was 5th. I crested the last hill and could see the entrance to the boat ramp! I turned around and saw nobody behind me. I had kept my place. I zipped up my kit and headed into the finish chute. My run split ended up at 45. Not my best, but considering the course and the conditions I was pretty happy with it. My overall time ended up at 2:23 which was a PR for me on that course. Considering the conditions and where I am with my training I was pretty happy with this. What I was more happy with was the fact that I actually came in 3rd overall behind Dave and the guy that passed me early on the run! So I ended up 3rd and won my age group. Not a bad day, despite the terrible weather! Thanks to Meg for the awesome pictures of the race!! My number one fan was the only fan out there in the monsoon :) Love you sweetie!!

-T