Race Report - Granite Man Triathlon - Clearwater, MN

"If You Thought Every Second Counts...You're Wrong"

I wanted to connect with my friend Chris Anderson around a race this summer so I drove up to Clearwater, MN, about 40 miles NW of Minneapolis to do the Granite Man Tri with him. Drove up Friday July 15th. 6 hours, 40 minutes. Checked into my motel and then drove the race course. I think it's important to "recon" a course before you race it...I've been known to take wrong turns and didn't want to do that here.

Then I met up with Chris and he set up his Fellowship of Christian Athletes tent by the registration area. We set up a mock transition area and put out my bike and gear to show first-timers how to do it and to answer any tri questions. Left there at 8:15pm and hit the sack early. Up early and over to the lake. Set up my stuff and went for a warm-up jog down the trail through the woods that was the run course. Saw a deer! Love it! "Lord, I want to run like a deer today" was my prayer.

We all walked a 1/2 mile to the end of the lake and then swam straight back up the lake, drag race style to T1. I've never done a straight swim before. I was in the 7th of 11 heats. I loved the straight swim up the lake and exited with a PR for 750 meters. Had on my new Xterra Vector Pro sleeveless wetsuit and LOVED it. I didn't have the smoothest T1 and took a few seconds longer than I should have. Boy was I going to pay for that later!!!

Hopped on my Valdora PHX 2 and took off. I immediately started passing other riders. In fact, I passed 60+ of them during the 15.5 mile bike course. Wanted to bike 37:something and nailed it averaging 24.3mph for the bike leg. I was having a blessed race for sure! Took off slowly on the run as I've been having a bit of a problem with my right, upper hamstring/glute. Eased into the run and slowly built speed. Every mile was faster and I felt like I was flying the 3rd mile. Out and back, first and last mile through the woods on a trail, middle mile on a highway. Was supposed to be 3.1 mile but I think it was 3. Ran 19:33. Very happy as each run this year in races has gotten faster...may it continue! :)

Pushed it hard the last quarter mile and finished strong. Since I was in the 7th heat, I didn't know how I did til they posted the results. There was an elite wave and I figured they'd take up the top slots. Saw the results and couldn't believe I was listed # 2 overall with the exact same time as the # 1 place guy - 1:09:18. Crazy! We tied and beat all the elites. Crazy again! I was thrilled with the results.

Came home thankful for my 14th tri win and 3rd of this season. Couple of days later, someone sent me the text version of the results and I learned I'd missed first place overall by 1/10th of a second. Are you kidding me? Imagine racing someone over a 19 mile course, swimming, running and biking and getting beat by 1/10th of one second. Wow. I thought every second counted. Guess not. Every 1/10th of a second counts.

This was a GREAT reminder to push every second of every race - especially sprints and olympic distance races. I can think of 10 different places I could have pick up a second or two, let alone a few tenths... So, no more messing around :) All out, every millisecond! Seriously, I was so blessed to get 2nd out of 316 finishers and win my age group and beat those who signed up as elites. God blessed my day for sure. Thank you Lord!