Chicago

The swim is very spectator friendly. Lindsay walked beside me the entire time.


Me in the city.


Check in was in the suites at the Hilton. View was amazing.

Race start was 11:00am and I loved it! We were actually able to wake up at a normal time, eat a solid breakfast, and stroll down to race start. Going into the race, my training had been going pretty well in the biking and running discipline so I was confident going in until I saw the pro field was STACKED! The presence of Hayes, Bennett, Potts, Reed, and McMahon was humbling though :)

The swim paralleled the dock and going out you were squeezed in pretty tight between the dock and the divider line. The turn around was at 300m and then the course opened up. I didn't have the greatest swim...again and was down 1:30 on the leaders. I was told I was 17 coming out of the water and was not too happy to hear that.

The Chicago winter must have messed up the conditions of the road because it was rough! I started the ride like Landis and finished like Ullrich. Road solid and passed five guys on the bike. Went out too hard the first lap and died a little coming home. Bryan Lavelle was my target and he pulled away from me coming back in.

I decided to just go for it on the run and went through mile 1 at 5:05! I was either going to fail while trying, or just plain old blow up! This past year has been good fun but difficult because my form is coming back, but it isn't there yet. I feel like my body really responds well and I can come back and train harder when I do race and risk a blow up. Reeled in three runners during the 10km and came home top 10and in the money. It was one of those runs when I could have sworn it was a 33 high-34 low. I was disappointed to see 35:05. Maybe i will try some ITU events next year.

Was able to meet the K-Swiss crew who have been taking great care of me this year. Ivette, Mark, and Jon it was great meeting you all. Ivette, thanks for hooking up my wife with some awesome gear. She looks GOOD!