Kemah Triathlon

I finally got some finish pictures so it’s time to post about last weekend’s Kemah Triathlon. Yes, I won. Yes, it was an aquathlon (swim-run). Flooding on the bike course or something… that makes two races in a row modified due to weather. So effectively I packed my bike up, hauled it to the airport, put it together in Texas, left it at the hotel, repacked it after the race and brought it home. It was not a complete loss, though, as I did a 40 minute ride the day before the race:


Thanks to Barrett Brandon for capturing this moment for me and posting it on Twitter (I forgot my cycling kit). Needless to say this outfit was readily accepted in southeast Texas and there were definitely no instances of people yelling obscene things at me, laughing and taking pictures from the passenger seat of an F-350 pickup truck, etc. No, Nothing like that…

Race morning was about as bad as they come as we woke up to no power in the hotel – the massive storm system that rolled through the night before was responsible for that. No power = no coffee! We packed our bags using phone flashlights. Loaded the cars up in the rain. But while driving to the race we got the email – the bike course is partially flooded, the race is an aquathlon, and the race timeline is delayed one hour. While I really wanted to see where my cycling fitness is after a hard winter of work, I was more than happy to get a free hour to go to McDonald’s and get a massive cup of coffee.


Opening up the Kemah McDonald’s at 5 am.

Kemah features an Alcatraz style swim with a boat dive start. The water was very choppy and I did not do very well in the roller coaster waves. I immediately went off course and the current kept pushing me back off course when I tried to right myself. Here is a sketch approximating my path to the shore (orange line):

I found myself about a minute down out of the water but all that was left was a transition run and the 10K, which combined was about seven miles of running. I was in the lead by mile three and I cruised in for the win. It’s been awhile since I crossed the line in first – I need to do it more often!


Lifting the tape in a multisport event for the first time since 2009. It’s something! Thanks to Aaron Palaian and Onurmark Productions the free finisher pics (and a well run race).

Next up is St. George 70.3 tomorrow. The course is beautiful but incredibly hard. Unlike Kemah, I will definitely find out where my cycling fitness is…