"Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover" - Kearney (NE) Triathlon, May 19

Kearney hosted it's first triathlon and a USAT Sanctioned one at that! I make the 3 hour drive the night before the race and stayed in a Motel 6 that had bed bugs...I found out later with red welts on me. Nasty!!! Anyway, the next morning I was setting up in transition and checking out the competition. You know what it's like. Everyone is sizing everyone else up, checking out their bikes, their wheels, their physiques / fitness appearance, etc. You try to not psych yourself out by doing this but, it happens. I notice 5-6 guys who looked fast, were younger than me and who all had top of the line bikes/wheels. They looked fit, lean and ready to fly.

I was texting my wife Jen telling her there were fast guys racing and that I hoped I was able to beat some of them. This race had a 500m swim, a 10.5 mile bike and a 5K run. Came out of the water right where I thought I'd be and was happy with my time. I ran, hard, to and through T-1 and had a quick transition time. We biked an "L" shaped bike course with the first part and last part dealing with very strong crosswinds and on the longer portion, went straight into the wind then back with it. I was very happy to average 23.3mph with those winds blowing the way they were. Again a quick transition and headed out on the run. One big hill on this course just before the 1 mile mark. I put my head down, leaned a bit forward, shortened my stride and looked 3 feet in front of me as I chugged up the hill. Got to the top and started to loosen up and let it go a bit. Ran as hard as I dared, not wanting anything to tighten up. I took another 30 seconds off my last race's 5K time, averaging 6:30 miles running 20:15. Very thankful for that.

There were several heats so I really didn't know where I stood til the results were posted. Walked over and took a look, knowing I'd done my best that day and would just take the results however they came out. There, at the top of the list was my name. I won. First place overall. Wow. What about all those other fast bikes and intimidating athletes I spied before the race? Well, they were fast, good athletes but, I was a little faster that day. I could have easily "given up" even before the race started and just hoped to maybe go top 5 or 10. I was reminded that you can't throw in the white towel before the race even starts. Instead, before I hit the water, I said to myself, "Let's do this and see what you guys got!" One of them was wearing a K-Swiss / Trek racing outfit and looked, honestly like a pro. I thought he was a young pro. I really thought he'd win. Think again. I'm blessed to have won my 11th triathlon since I stared doing these almost 20 years ago. Thank you Lord!