I have to point out that race day was a huge success for more than just me.
My Brother-In-Law Evan finished the race in under an hour at 59:21. Which is a huge accomplishment for his first time out.
My dad finished the race at 1:03:42. This was my Dad's 3rd or 4th time doing the race and this was his best time so far. A new personal Record after taking a break for 6 years. Prety darn good if you ask me.
Dad also finished in 50th place on the bike out of 388 racers.
As for me I had a lot of things I am happy with besides my finish.
1. I finished the swim only 26 seconds behind Evan, and he has been training like a mad man for this race...with a lot of conentration on the swim.
2. My Dad didn't pass me until the last 8 minutes of the race. From the very beginning I assumed that I would finish the swim before my Dad and then he would pass me within the first few miles of the bike. For me to stay ahead of him for almost the entire race was amazing to me. I think the thought that he was going to pass me at any second is what pushed me to fly so fast through the bike course.
3. I finished less than a minute behind my dad.
My dad has always been the epitome of fitness in my life. He has been the unattainable role model in my journey to getting fit and he has been my benchmark for many of my achievements. The thought has always been "Well my dad is the most in shape guy I know, so If I can be even close to what he can do then I have to be doing really good."
I had no allusions about beating my dad in this triathlon, my goal was to finish less than 10 minutes behind him and my brother-in-law Evan. So for me to finish 5 minutes behind Evan and less then a minute behind my Dad, well that is the biggest accomplishment of all.
I have no clue who the rest of the people I raced against were. I don't know how hard they trained or what kind of shape they are in. I know that Evan and my dad are in amazing shape and that they trained hard. The fact that I was able to finish so close to them, out of all of my race day victories, that is the one I am most proud of.
Tony
4 comments:
Congratulations!! That's a huge accomplishment.
I think being able to do these things with family is really special.
My dad is flying in to do my first half marathon with me and I'm sure that's going to be great as well.
Way to go Tony.
What a difference a year makes.
Congrats Tony!
~Nato
Awesome, Tony. Way to rock the tri, especially at this point in your journey.
Peace.
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