On Sunday, I competed in the New York City Triathlon with Team Aegis. I had mixed feelings about racing in New York again. On one hand, I was excited to go back to the site of my first pro race. I had raced well there in 2001. However, in 2003 I showed up for a World Cup race there only to find out that it had been changed to a duathlon. The bacteria levels in the Hudson River had been too high to allow us to swim. For that reason alone, I was very hesitant to go back to New York to race. I just did not want to fly there to find out that the swim had been canceled. Fortunately, the officials told us the water was "safe" to swim in and the race was on!

As the starter gave us our instructions, he warned us that there had been a large amount of debris floating down the river all morning. He said that the other officials would be watching for it as best that they could, but he advised us all to take a second look before we dove off the platform. He was concerned that one of us would dive head first into a log. I think I was more concerned about diving onto a dead body than a log. Ever since one of my swim training partners told me that his uncle patrols the New Jersey side of the Hudson and that they average pulling 3-4 bodies out of the river a day, I was just sure that I was going to swim straight into a dead body (thanks for scaring me Vince)! I figured that was one triathlon experience I had not had yet!

Thank goodness it was a "clean" swim and I came out of the water without any negative experiences. I actually had one of my best swims in a triathlon, coming out in 5th place, right on the heels of two of my teammates (who are both awesome swimmers). I was very excited to be out of the water in the position that I was in. The swim times were very fast because we had the current at our backs. I think we all swam about 4 minutes faster than normal!

Julie, Sarah and I started to work together on the bike to try to catch the two girls ahead of us. Unfortunately, Sarah got a flat right away, so Julie and I were on our own until we caught one of the girls in front. The three of us tried to work together. I was taking my turn in the pace line, but I am not sure how much help I was, as I was getting knocked all over the road from the wind. I think my size was hurting me a bit. Somehow we were still gaining on the leader, but just as we were about to catch her, the chase pack of 12-15 girls came up on us. We had not been able to hold them off! At the same time, we caught the leader and we all formed one big pack. I think there were two packs way behind all of us, but it became obvious that it was going to come down to the run and that it was going to be a race between the girls in our huge group.

At that point, it was important to start thinking about the run. We finished the bike without any incidents. I did make one "rookie" mistake towards the end of the bike. As we made a tight U-turn I forgot to switch into to an easier bike gear. This made it really hard to bike uphill right after the turn. I was able to stay with the group, but it cost me valuable time as I came into the transition. It put me in the back of the pack as we went into the run which is not a great place to be in.

Fortunately, I had a fairly good transition and I headed out for the run. I quickly moved into fourth place, but I never got myself up to the three leaders. I was a bit frustrated in that I ended up running by myself for the entire run. The three girls ahead were in a race among themselves. I was too far behind the leaders, but I was also too far ahead of the competitors behind me to have a race at that point. I just tried to keep steady and get to the finish line.

Overall, I was pleased with my race, and I was especially pleased with my swim. I would have loved to have run faster and have finished in the top three, but I do feel like this race was a step in the right direction. After rough races in Hawaii and Arizona this past spring, it was nice to get a solid race under my belt.

I also really enjoyed racing with the Team Aegis girls again. As a team we had a successful race in that we finished 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th! A huge improvement from the Arizona race!

I am very appreciative of the great support team that I had in New York. Along with my Dad and our Team Aegis managers (Charlie, Robert and Siri), a friend from Atlanta, Jason, (now living and working in NY for the next 18 months) were all a huge help! I also ended up seeing the parents of a guy I grew up with after the race. They were at the race to watch their other son compete in the amateur race that morning. I guess they recognized me during the run and were nice enough to come up to me after the race. It was a lot of fun to see them!

I am headed to Edmonton, Canada next week for the World Cup there. I am really looking forward to it. I am especially excited about having my Dad, my brother (Chad) and his wife (Erin) there!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Kelly