A Win is a Win

Did the Longhorn half two weeks ago and became a little under the weather after the race. Lots of congestion in the head and a nose like a faucet wasn't what I had planned in final weeks leading to Clearwater. Two weeks and very little training and I still have a leaky nose and bad headaches!

Texas Triathlon was today and the ride out to race site wasn't a good one. My head was hurting and my nose was running. The last thing I wanted to do at this point is ruin any chances of racing well at Clearwater, so I was thinking very hard about doing a U-turn and heading home. Since the drive was 90 minutes the fiancee and I decided to stay and see what would happen. Amongst the doubt, I was still very excited to race because Justin Daerr was also showing up. It would be nice to measure up fitness with him during the race. Unfortunately, a buddy of his was sick and he couldn't make it up.

The swim was a good one. I came out of the water 1-2 minutes ahead of second place and was in and out of T1 fast. The bike at Texas Tri is a challenging one with lots of hills and rough Texas roads. It zapps the energy out of you pretty quick. I managed to arrive into T2 in the lead and a little sore. The last five miles took its toll on my legs. Once on the run my plan was to run the first lap hard and then go hard again if my lead was in jeapordy. I put a couple more minutes on the chasers and cruised home for the win. I tell ya, winning is a very addictive feelling and I was happy to cross the line first. With Clearwater knocking on the door it was yet another confidence booster.

Tonight is the first of many wedding showers for the fiancee and I, so I had better freshen up.

-Cotter