Weekend Report

Picture is from the pro Q & A. L to R Marsh, myself, Justin


My workhorse, my trusty Toyota has begun to fail on me. Last week I had to put her under the knife for some major brake surgery. The cost of the repair had me looking for last minutes races two days after I arrived home from Hawaii. Turns out Dallas was hosting a race with a 1000 dollar pursue. First takes home a grand and second takes home 700 dollars. I e-mailed the director and secured myself a spot into the race. I thought I was in for the money until I found out Brandon Marsh was also in the race!

Race morning came upon us and i was ready to go. I swam with Marsh, I biked with Marsh and boy did he bike! He is on a Scott Plasma and he looks dialed in. I was just hanging on in his wake. I was clean though and reaping no benefits :) I finally became close enough to take a pull and then Marsh was having none of that and retook the lead! We jumped off the bikes and began the run together. Now my running has been strong and after the first loop I was 100% sure I was going to be able to take him in the sprint to the line. We both knew it was going to come down the sprint. Mile 6 goes by, mile 7 goes by, mile 8 goes by and then it happened around mile 9 or 10. At the aid station I missed the water I desperately needed and had to go back for the water. Marsh saw this and took off. I thought I could catch him, but he was moving! My legs cracked and all I could do was watch him take the victory. Here I was so confident of my victory and it was taken from me. Marsh was the stronger man on the day and I look forward to future battles. Marsh, you have now officially become my new rival. Brandon's wife, Amy, destroyed the woman's field making it the fittest couple award. Congrats to Brandon and Amy!

Justin Daerr was racing in Dallas and i was able to finally meet him. Great guy by the way. What all will proabably never know is that a child ran out in front of Justin aduring the race. Justin stopped made sure the child was okay, then began riding again. He still closed a big gap to a smaller gap after attending to the needs of a child. Top notch guy. Justin had mentioned in the pro q and a was that once you lose focus it can mean the difference between losing and winning. My losing focus from the race caused me lose Marsh. I lost my rhythm and began an onslaught of negative thoughts. Race done. Not taking anything from Marsh, because I couldn't catch him at all. Just a thought on how important it is to stay mentally strong. They say training in 90% physical and 10% mental; however, racing is 90% mental and 10% physical.

Good news is that I made the money to pay for my car. Bad news is that I am about to take an ice bath to recover for the training that comes tomorrow.

-cotter