Kure Beach - most fun race

Kure Beach might be the most fun race I have ever done. The family was supposed to come down with me to the race but at the last minute they pasted and it is a shame because they would have had a great time. The kids can play on the beach and cheer for you which actually makes watching the race much more fun.

I went down the afternoon before the race and met my pal Lucky at the beach to practice the open ocean swim. It was invaluable. We swam out and then practiced swimming up the shore line. The race has a strange format: swim 400y, run 1.5, Bike 12.4 mi, run 1.5 and swim 400 yards. So we practiced, getting through the breakers, swimming the shore and turning it back to the beach. Just being comfortable and knowing what to expect was a huge advantage. And it was just fun hanging out with Lucky and swimming in the ocean. I had never just swum in the ocean, pretty cool.

Well in addition to Lucky, Mark Kauffman was also coming down so I knew that we should expect some racing. I went off with Mark Kauffman because the 40-44 and 45-49 age groups were combined. Lucky went off a head of us so he did not have the advantage of the head-to-head competition.

Mark got out of the water a little bit ahead of me, so I was kind of excited to have him in my sights. But as soon as he put on his sneakers he was gone. I mean flying. The run was tough, it was hot and it usually takes a while to shake off the swim. I also was losing the “Juice” I needed for a great bike. I loved the format but I do not think it suited me.

I biked pretty hard but it was not and all out effort because I have been trying to balance myself for the other segments. I knew that I had another run and another swim coming. The bike was flat but we face a good head wind for half the ride. I figured that because Mark can out swim and run me and because the race is symmetrical that I would have to catch him by the halfway turn around on the bike in order to beat him. I did not. I passed him about 100-200 yards after the turn around and so I knew I was in trouble. On the run back, Mark caught me with half a mile or less to go and then padded his lead on the final swim leg.

I had solid race but did not earn any new hardware. I think my balanced race strategy is not working out. I need to blast the bike and then use the adrenaline to hang on in the run. But in the end I had fun. Oh yeah, Lucky beat me too but he lost to Mark by a handful of seconds.