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Monthly Archives: June 2010

RACE REPORT: 041 Wall Street Run – 3 Miles: 19:25?

Posted on June 25, 2010 by admin Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 3 Comments

The AHA Wall Street Run takes place in lower Manhattan’s Financial District and is pretty much organized chaos. The 3 Mile course runs a maze-like route through all the narrow roadways, finally ending at the ever-so-familiar Battery Marina. No I don,t have a yacht, it’s where a lot of the open water swims happen to end.

Erika asked me to pick up her number at the NY Road Runners, no problem. The problem, it seemed, was that I had not registered for the race!

Half disappointed and half excited, I left the Road Runners and sent some emails explaining my dilemma. Ed from ‘Dad Posse’ solved the problem. He couldn’t run the race so I could use his bib! Fantastic!

At work the day of the race I sat and thought about what I was about to do…
I was going to wear Ed’s bib in a 3 mile run.
SIDENOTE: Ed is in the 50-54 age group. (Sorry Ed for revealing your age)
I would surely take home an age group award for him, which would be kind of strange at the awards ceremony.

I decided to run without the official timing chip for 2 reasons. 1: Ed is running to gain entry into the NYC Marathon and however funny WE thought him knocking 3 minutes off his mile average in a weeks time was, the NYRR might penalize him. 2: Not fair to the 50-54 age group.

I met Mike and Patrick (also from ‘Dad Posse’) before the race then we set out to line up for the start. This is a general mess of a start with no seeded corrals and a total bottle neck right in the beginning. It’s a charity fun-run, not something where you’re going to be setting any records so I always tell people to just enjoy themselves.

In the start corral I ended up bumping into Anthony DiGangi who I met at the Fire Island 5K last year. He and his brother organize the run and I highly recommend it. I’m already signed up for this year’s race (fi5k.org).

The gun went off and it took me 2 minutes or more to cross the start. After getting through we were truckin’ at an 8 minute pace, people were hopping on the sidewalks and it was actually kind of dangerous from a sprained ankle perspective. This is why Erika opted to not run. She hurt her ankle in a bike fall Tuesday and didn’t want to risk injuring it further.

On Church Street there was a moment where the course widened so I sped up and cruised down the left side.

Back into the narrow streets it got really hot. It was already 93 degrees, but it seemed to escalate in those tight quarters.

I’m a huge NYC history buff and in my head I was thinking “Man, I would love to teleport an early Manhattan Dutch settler to this moment see what he thought of our little 5K.” At least he would know how far a kilometer was right? Ha.

Water Street widened the track again and I picked up my pace. We were running directly into the setting sun and it got HOT!

The final stretch runs right along the water. The group I was with all started sprinting and yelling, why not.

The clock said 19:25 when I finished but I have no idea how accurate that was without a timing chip and how far back I started. It just felt good to get the blood going and race with a big group.

I grabbed a bottled water and poured the whole thing on my head. Problem solved.

Then I heard “Hey Baker!” It was Daniel (or Dnorton). He and I chatted about the run, along with another fast guy who introduced himself to us.

I grabbed my baggage and was gearing down when I saw Mattsix, followed by Joeonetime! (using Twitter names make me imagine we are all super heroes)

I left them to meet up with Mike and Patrick. The 3 of us ended up going to Nancy Whiskey Pub which I have been wanting to go to for 10 years! It was awesome! A classic NYC dirty irish pub with loud rock-n-roll and cheap drinks. I shall return.

Good luck to Eissa, Ron and Sonja who race the Ironman Coeur d’Alene on Sunday! (I’m secretly jealous)

3 Miles chris baker Ed Mike Patrick wall street

RACE REPORT: 040 Lavaman Triathlon

Posted on June 22, 2010 by admin Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 8 Comments

Sex/
Age
Age
Place
Overall
Place
Swim
0.3M
T1 Bike
13.7M
T2 Run
4M
Total
Time
M32 3
19
9:49 1:33 36:53 1:33 25:39 1:15:29

Jim (from ‘Dad Posse’) had us sign up for the Lavaman Sprint Triathlon for 2 reasons. 1: triathlons are awesome 2: the course went by his Grandma’s house so we had a place to stay and easy access to the start!

The plan was as follows…

Saturday afternoon Jim and I drive down to Granny’s. Ed (also racing) would be either driving down to meet us later that night or leave at 4AM the next morning to arrive in time for the start. Mike and Gio would show up once the race had started to cheer us on.

Saturday morning I took a 4 mile run in the sun then hopped on my bike to meet Erika and Marie downtown to go to an art festival in Brooklyn. I parked my bike in Union Square then we took the L Train to the center of the hipster world. Any of you who know me know I despise hipsters and if I had my way I would hunt them. Full beard in the 90 degree summer sun = retarded.

We got back to Union square just after 1PM and seeing as I had til 4PM to play, I rode my bike out to Fort Greene to see Jasika and Claire who were having an impromptu gathering. Jasika made us Pear Sangria which was out of this world refreshing! After catching up with them I took off to head back to the Upper East Side. It took 40 minutes on my bike – not bad.

Jim picked me up and we were on the road around 6PM headed to Lavalette, New Jersey!

We arrived at the Jersey Shore around 8PM and after quickly saying hello to Granny we went out to get some food. We stopped at Mia’s and had some pasta. It was a cool and windy night and we were hoping the wind would ease up for tomorrow.

Back at the house we hung out in the garage drinking beers and working on our bikes, preparing them for the morning’s battle. Around 10:30 we were winding down for bed (we had to wake up at 5AM) when we got a text that Ed had just left Manhattan en-route to us! It’s easily a 90 minute drive. Jim and I had a quick conference and decided that in all fairness to Ed, we couldn’t go to sleep until he arrived. That would have given us the unfair advantage of 2 hours more sleep than him on race day, duh. Therefore, we continued drinking beers on the roof deck.

Ed showed up around 1 in the morning! In fairness to us, Ed insisted he have a beer! We rolled into bed at 2AM!

RACE DAY

No sooner did we lie down, we have to pick our heavy heads off the pillow. It actually hurts my mind and body right now just thinking back to how I felt!

Jim dug around the pantry for awhile and found some American Lite coffee which may have been from the late 70s. It was beyond horrible and yet… I still drank all of it!

My head cleared a little once we hopped on our bikes to ride to transition.

I set up my transition pretty quick then made my way over to Jim and Ed to see how they were doing. For such a small and local race there were some very hard core bikes floating around. Some to the tune of $10,000! There was also this total jerk in front of Jim who made me upset. He thought he was away “too cool for school.” In these kinds of events, 99 percent of the racers are awesome, totally down to earth, and fun to talk to. This guy was part of the remaining 1 percent. During the bike course he would become my target.

Before the start, we had time to jump into the Bay. It was really shallow, but the water was nice. I got stung by a jellyfish. He would not be the only jellyfish I encountered during this race. Mike had showed up and was taking pictures from the shore.

6:50 was my start and I waded into the water to wait for the gun. I wasn’t nervous at all and thought, finally, all the open water swims and triathlons had eased my mind. The gun went off and I dove in, digging hard.

After a hundred yards or so I slowed up my pace and caught my rhythm. I attempted a new technique I was working on last Wednesday in the pool and thought it was speeding me up. I finished the .38 mile swim in 109th position which was a slight improvement since the Rev3, but still wasn’t up to my standards.

Running out of the water I ran by Gio who was yelling something like “Hustle Baker!!!”

Made it through T1 in good time and jumped on the bike, taking off in hot pursuit of the leaders. (Did you notice that my T1 and T2 times are identical? Strange indeed.)

The bike course was a 3 loop, out and back, so you could always see whoever was in front of you coming back in the opposite direction. This is great because you can figure out how many spots behind you are. It also sucks, because you’re like “Seriously? How is that guy biking so fast! I have to catch him?”

The first lap was tough, but as I came around into my second lap, I saw that jerk from transition up ahead and really let my legs burn. I passed him a few minutes later and never looked back. I just stayed in aero position and let the pain start, never coasting.

I saw Ed and Jim a few times on the coarse and we yelled to each other! I also saw Mike and Gio at transition numerous times, taking pictures and yelling for us to kill it!

As I pulled into T2 to ditch my bike, I saw that there were runners already out and I knew I had some work to do.

Bolting onto the road my legs were not ready at all! It’s not that they hurt, I just can’t get up to full speed, like being stuck in the mud in a car. I passed a few guys and then around mile 1 we hit an aid station where I poured water on my head and took off! My legs were warmed up and in full swing.

SIDENOTE: Erika and I participated in a running clinic hosted by Danny Abshire, Ian Adamson, and Ian Anderson from Newton Running on Tuesday that taught me a lot about form. At a few moments in this run, I used what I had learned and it definitely helped me increase my pace and stay focused. Thanks guys!

At this point I was cruising at a 6:15-6:20 pace and steadily gaining on people. I felt good, but the sun was out and heating things up real fast. I wanted this to be done. Coming around the corner I could see the yellow of the finish in sight and sped forward.


I finished in 1:15:29 which I was happy with.

I found Mike and we cheered on Jim and Ed as they came through the finish at their respective times.

We grabbed food and watched the awards. I ended up getting a trophy for 3rd in my age group which was cool!

We rode back to Granny’s where we eventually took off to head back. Jim dropped me off at my cousin Cat’s grad party in North Jersey where we rocked until 4PM or so. Was I deliriously tired? Yes. Was all the pain and sleep deprivation worth it? Indeed!


—

I leave you (anyone who has ever considered doing a triathlon) with this…
This was Ed’s second triathlon (his first being the week before!) and he has only been training for 9 months or so. As he sat eating his bagel after the race looking somewhat serious, somewhat pissed, kinda staring off, I said “Hey Ed, what’s up, you good?” He chewed for a second then stopped and said, “That was Awesome!!!”

chris baker Ed Jim Lavaman Mike New Jersey

RACE REPORT: 039 Rev3 Quassy Half Ironman

Posted on June 10, 2010 by admin Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 8 Comments

Sex/
Age
Age
Place
Overall
Place
Swim
1.2M
T1 Bike
56M
T2 Run
13.1M
Total
Time
M32 26
133
45:26 2:18 2:55:16 1:39 1:39:56 5:24:36

Swim. Bike. Run. Seems easy enough right?

My first triathlon of 2010 (second triathlon ever) was the Rev3 Quassy Half Ironman in Connecticut this past weekend.

As far as training went, my philosophy has always been to just do as much of the 3 disciplines as possible. I really hate regimented workouts as it takes the enjoyment out of it for me. Mentally, I tell myself  ‘Okay, you need to do a speed run this week, 4 bike rides, a swim and maybe a distance run.’ but nothing is written out. I also like to sign up for a ton of races which keeps me on my toes and can be considered ‘training’.

Jim from “Dad Posse” had us sign up for this race months ago when I wasn’t even sure I could handle such a distance. Sometimes you just need a little push, you know. It takes place in Connecticut just west of Hartford, in some beautiful countryside.

Saturday morning I went on a quick bike ride, then proceeded to make 4 ‘Race Burritos’. SIDENOTE: Erika thinks I should market them, so this is the name I will be using for now. I also prepared some shrimp scampi to take with me for Saturday night’s dinner in the hotel. I didn’t want to go out and as all of us racers know… we have our rituals and this is one of mine. I packed all of the goodies up in a big blue cooler. It’s funny, when I was at the grocery store buying the cooler the gal at the register was like “Alright! Looks like a BBQ and some Sunday beers!” Not quite… try ‘first aid kit’ or ‘survival kit’. Evidently, her 5 year old son also likes to run.

It’s also very hard packing for a triathlon. So many components that I ALMOST forgot my running shoes! What a disaster that would be. I guess I could have experimented with barefoot running right?

Jim showed up at 2:30 to drop off his wheels. He had to bail on the race last minute but was kind enough to let me borrow his car. Thanks Jim! I took off, headed into the northern territories.

I arrived at 4:30 and headed over to race check-in. It was very organized. While dropping off my bike into transition for the night I ran into Bill, a fellow NYC Triathlete and runner! He was right across from me in transition.

SIDENOTE: This was a high caliber, therefore all the Pros came out. What does this mean? Remember, this is my first Half Ironman so I was already nervous, now enter people like Matty Reed (last year’s winner) who is like 6 ‘5 and has the sickest bike.

Back at the hotel I mixed up my water bottles with half Red Bull-half Gatorade. It looked a little bit like a mad scientist’s laboratory. I ate my shrimp scampi while watching some bad hotel TV and was asleep by 10PM.

RACE DAY

I had the strangest dream. I had woken up and went to the race and was and hour or two late. I was very upset and the race director was like, “you can go ahead and start with a 2 hour deficit if you like?” Right. I was freaking out and just then my REAL alarm went of. It was 5AM in reality and I was right on schedule. Drank a cup of coffee, had a banana and some granola and I was off.

Arriving at transition at 6AM (it closes at 6:30) I quickly set up. I made friends with these two fellas across from me who saw me taping 2 burritos to the top tube of my bike. “Hey man, what’s that, a PB&J?” “Nope, those are rice and bean burritos!” They laughed and upon hearing about how I had already tested this fuel in an Ultra and a Marathon they were firm believers.


Notice me contemplating where to tape my second burrito…

After laying out my bike and run gear I grabbed my wetsuit and headed down to the beach to get ready.

Wetsuit on, I waded into the lake to get acclimated. It was then that Gallacher came over and introduced himself. He is a good friend of Jim’s I had been communicating with on email. We had a few laughs and watched the Pro’s line up. Craig Alexander was among them who took Ironman Kona last year. He is basically a beast and would end up winning it. After the male Pro’s took off into the water there was a 3 minute gap, then the female Pro’s entered. My heart almost stopped when Natascha Badmann was 5 feet from me! She is a personal idol of mine and I never thought I would be IN the same race as her! Kinda felt like I was right where I was supposed to be in life… The women were off and then it was time for my age group to line up.

Before we get underway with race details first lets clarify some things for anyone not familiar with Triathlons.

Generally speaking there are 4 triathlon distances, Sprint, Olympic, Half Ironman and Ironman. They always go in the swim, bike, run order. Today’s race was a Half Ironman distance, my furthest and most challenging race to date, even harder than my Ultra. I think this has to do with the fact that your entire body is in pain because you use all muscle groups.

Swim: 1.2 Miles
Bike: 56 Miles
Run: 13.1 Miles

A battle.

We lined up and within the 3 minutes the gun went off!!!

It was chaos. I was trying to stay in the lead but seriously, its like a piranha attack (I have never been attacked by piranhas). As space opened a little, I got my life in order and was steadily swimming, sighting every third stroke. I’m not the best swimmer due to my lack of speed. It’s really bizarre as I don’t get tired, I just can’t move quickly through the water. This race is maybe a sign that I should take a master’s swim class.

It was a beautiful swim through a crystal clear lake, very different from the choppy and toxic Hudson River swim from the following weekend. I could feel 2 different waves of swimmers pass me, which was frustrating, but I just kept telling myself to finish, I will chase them down later.

Cruising up onto the beach 43 minutes later I ran into transition, ripping off my wetsuit. I made the good choice to throw on some socks before putting on bike shoes. A choice that may have cost me 30 seconds, but in the end I avoided some serious blisters.


Hopping onto Andraste (my Cervelo P2) I quickly got into rhythm. Immediately, I ripped open one of my ‘Race Burritos’ and began having breakfast… ‘Breakfast Race Burritos’? I like the sound of that.

In the beginning to middle of the bike portion of the race, I was playing leapfrog with this one gal who was part of the Trakkers Team. She had this really cool bike made by Isaac? I have never heard of this brand, perhaps custom? She was a really amazing biker and in the second half of the course she blasted past me and I never caught up. Props!

What gorgeous scenery. I caught myself gazing off across the rolling hills a few times before snapping out of it going “Baker, Hello! This is a race, not a nature show.” As many people have reported, this was an extremely difficult bike course. Hills, hills and more hills. Just when your legs were recovering and you were settling into a rhythm, around the bend comes another behemoth of an uphill battle. It was kind of funny in the beginning… but my humor had faded by Mile 40.

At one point while riding by a few guys, one of them yelled… “Hey man! IS THAT A BURRITO?!” I smiled and said of course it is, duh. He yelled back “Can I trade you a Lemon Gu for your burrito?” No way man, that was my lunch and high noon was fast approaching. I did however, let him know that I had an extra one back in transition he could have.

Never have I wanted to get off a bike and run more than I did at this point. Please, anything to use a different muscle group!

Throughout the entire bike course there were constant ‘bomb drop’ descents where we might have been going 50 MPH spinning out our top gears! It was insane! The best description I could think of was that of a roller coaster… the feeling right as you start to go down the first drop, in the pit of your stomach, where you are teetering between ‘This rocks!’ and ‘Am I going to die?’ SIDENOTE: When tucked into Aero position on a TT Bike the brakes are on the outside handlebars. Try going for those while bulleting down a monster hill.

The plan was to eat my second ‘Race Burrito’ during the last 10 miles of the bike in order to have a solid block of energy for the run. Why the last 10 miles you ask? During the (dirty) Jersey Marathon I learned an important lesson with my burritos. They process into energy 5 running miles, or 30 minutes, after consumption.

As soon as mile 46 hit you better believe I was hungry and I wolfed it down. My next invention is going to be ‘Race side-order of Guacamole.’

SIDENOTE: My joke the second half of the ride was, upon passing another rider who looked friendly and not too crabby, say “Hey! Someone told me we have to run a Half Marathon after this! Is that true?!” It normally got a few laughs.

Cruising into T2 I hopped off the bike and booked it over to my slot, racking my bike and tossing my helmet aside. I quickly donned my racing flats and put on my Nautical Star wristband, then bolted for the run course. It was a sharp left turn out of T2 and I was going too fast without my legs properly adjusted to walking again, almost flying over the side rails!

Miles 1 and 2 were downhill, and we were going against the flow of the bike riders coming off their last few miles. Gallacher passed me and yelled “Go Baker go!” It was right around this point that the sun made an appearance for the rest of the race, increasing the temperature to boiling!

Turing sharp right into Miles 3 and 4 we were confronted with a brutal series of gravel uphills! It was very hard on the calves and yet… very peaceful and quiet running in the woods.

Miles 5 and 6 took us down a neighborhood road to a turn-around and then back out onto the main roads. It was here that my energy soared and all pain from the bike had subsided. I’m not sure if I picked up my pace, but my spirits certainly spiked and I was running with a smile.

I have never really spent a lot of time in Connecticut, but I had my preconceived notions. Today altered my perceptions forever, in a positive light. I grew up in the suburbs of DC, Virginia to be exact, and if you went 20 miles due west you hit horse country. Miles 7-9 felt like I was back home! It was very rustic, with man-made rock walls, huge oak trees and elegantly designed farm houses. The only difference is that Virginia has this thick, musky, floral vibe to it and up here in the North the air was a little lighter. Whatever, it’s my story, I can talk about smells.

The last few miles were hard, but the thought of being done with this mayhem was what kept me going. The final mile was a gradual uphill through the woods.

A strange thing happened at this moment. I was by myself just trucking along when out of nowhere this huge monarch butterfly started flying alongside of me! It was to my right, pacing me, fluttering up and down right around chest level. It stayed with me for 100 feet before veering of into the forest.

Rounding the final turn into the ‘Finish Chute’ I sprinted. It may have looked like demons were chasing me, and yet, I was smiling.

Crossing the finish line at a high speed and then slamming on the brakes is a funny feeling. Think… Millennium Falcon coming out of light-speed… everything slows back down and your brain catches up to your body.

Time: 5:24:36 (Real Time clock pictured is incorrect based on our wave starts)

This Stats chart shows just how bad I did on the swim and how much ‘catching up’ I had to do. (I love statistical data!)

I got my finisher medal, then went for some snacks. I wasn’t thirsty or hungry as I had been very efficient in fuel intake the whole race! One thing I did do (as I looked around at everyone else who finished and took their lead) was remove my sneakers and socks to walk barefoot on the grass. It felt SO good.

I had finished right on time to see the Pro’s get their awards. They announced the women first and Natascha Badmann had came in 7th place. It’s so surreal being so close to the athletes you admire. Craig Alexander won the men’s race and even set a new course record. Nice work Craig!

Knowing that I would be fading in the next few hours, I hightailed it out of there and headed back to New York City.

SIDENOTE: I left my Garmin on the entire time I drove back to NYC… there goes THAT statistical data! Rookie move.

Driving down the Interstate with the windows down, sun pouring in and the Who’s ‘Teenage Wasteland’ blasting I put on a huge smile and thought simply, “Hell yeah.”

chris baker CT Half Ironman Jim Quassy Rev3

RACE REPORT: 038 Great Hudson RIver Swim

Posted on June 1, 2010 by admin Posted in All, Race Reports, Swimming 4 Comments

Time Distance Place
53:43 1.3 Miles
155

This is my second year of racing or being ‘athletic’. Therefore, I have been repeating races I did in 2009 the last few months, the Great Hudson River swim being one of them.

It’s a time to reflect, compare, contrast and ask “Why on earth am I swimming 1.3 miles down the Hudson River on a Saturday morning?” Bragging rights are cool even though all my friends are over me swimming in the Hudson, BUT, I have my first ever Half Ironman race (the Quassy Rev3) this weekend so I looked at it as a training swim, especially since the distances are almost exact.

The night before the swim I made some stir fry and basically did a lot of work. Unpacking that is… I was still sorting through boxes after my move a week ago. Erika was away this weekend it was a perfect opportunity to stay in and organize!

RACE DAY

I was up at 7… unpacking still…

I went to (Coach) Todd’s place at 11AM so we could walk up to the start. He cooked up some egg sandwiches and gotta say, not great pre-race food. Ila, Todd’s wife and my good friend, said she would just see us at the finish. Last year she escorted us to the start, took pictures, etc, etc. BUT like I said, it was year 2 and all our friends were way over Todd and I’s crazy swimming stunts.

We made it to the Christopher Street Pier by 11:30 and got checked in. I was number 12! No, that doesn’t mean I’m fast, it is merely because my name is Baker and ‘B’s’ are in front. This is also a bad thing which I will explain in just a hot second.

Todd and I quickly jumped into our wetsuits and greased up any areas that might chafe… ie: armpits, neck, ankles.

Marty from NYC Swim started to make the pre-race announcement when Regina from Chiu on This introduced herself! We follow each others racing history but have never physically met! It was awesome to hang out and as it turns out she is also racing a Half Ironman this weekend! A few words from Marty and then LINE UP for the start! SIDENOTE: I’m not normally one to get upset, but this one gal asked “what happens if someone doesn’t show up on the other side?” with a little chuckle. Well, during the Brooklyn Bridge Swim in September that happened because a man died during the swim. So, yeah, I was upset at that comment.

LINE UP means exactly that, you line up in numerical order. I am number 12 out of 250 so that’s in the front. Fine. Then, once we are ready everyone moves into the water single file starting with 1. The problem is that if you are in the front you have to wait until everyone is in the water before starting, duh, it’s a race. Did I mention that the water is ice cold?

We started filing in off the pier and I made it in okay with just a slight shock from the 60 degree temperature.

SIDENOTE: Lets have a talk about experience for a moment. It’s critical. I was flashing back to last years race (my first open water swim) and how I was freaking out when I jumped into the frigid water, hands in the air (like ya just don’t care) so they wouldn’t freeze, heavy fast breathing. Ha! Now I was bobbing around having a blast. Todd and I were even BS-ing about what we did the night before. “Not much man… *bob* *splash* just unpacked some boxes and made some stir fry.” “cool… cool.”

As soon as all the swimmers were in, which took maybe 5-10 minutes, Marty sounded the horn and we were off!

Unlike last year, I didn’t wait for the fast swimmers to go ahead, I started right into the soup! People are on top of you and touching your feet, it’s mayhem and if you have any fear of drowning, this isn’t the place for you. As soon as we rounded the first buoy and took a left into the Hudson going South someone kicked me square in the eye socket; 1- inducing pain, 2- flooding my eye with toxic water. I quickly released the water and dove back in, unfazed, but a little pissed off. I kept saying “Its not their fault, they didn’t know I was behind them.”

This was my third pair of goggles and by far THE BEST! They are the Aqua Sphere open water goggles and aside from the kick to the face I didn’t have any water leakage the whole swim and my visibility was great!

Unlike last year where I stopped at times to take in the fact that I was in the middle of the Hudson and I was tired, I dug right in and didn’t stop. I learned a new trick the Tuesday before the race, swimming at Todd’s pool. “Sighting” which basically is every third breath, you look forward and fixate on a target.

I noticed that during the second half of the swim I was zoning out and just cruising through the water. I was really having fun out there and had no fears.

As we entered the Battery Park stretch (or the last 1/4 mile) things got bumpy. Giant swells were making it difficult to sight at a very crucial moment, the point where e needed to make a hard left to get into the Marina and not get dragged out to the Statue of Liberty. Once I saw the sea wall on my left and knew I was in the safety of the Marina I picked it up a bit to try and ‘sprint’ the finish. Its a lot different than running, that’s for sure.

As I climbed out of the water I was thrilled to have completed this race yet again! We got our medals and then I hosed down in the clean water area. I then found Todd and Ila (Todd finished 5, 6 minutes ahead of me) who were hanging out watching the swimmers come in. My time was 53 minutes and change, which is wild as it shows you just how many variables go into open water swimming. That’s a full 10 minutes slower than last years race where we had the current gong with us!

Swimming is by far my weakest of the three triathlon disciplines. Its not that I’m bad at it, as I wasn’t fatigued from the swim, I’m just not fast for some reason. Oh well, I will just play catch up on the bike and on foot!

We proceeded to go to the Lobster Roll Cart and get some food. It was a perfect swim, and a beautiful sunny day down on the Battery.

Battery Park chris baker Great Hudson River Swim Ila todd
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