The alarm went off at 5:30am. I was dead asleep. Not sure if I've ever slept so well before an event before.

I rolled out of bed and got dressed for the Falcon Groundspeed Triathlon at the Air Force Academy. I had all of my stuff laid out from the night before so I was ready to go. I drank some water, fixed myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, grabbed a can of juice and headed out the door. I noticed the moon was still up as I was leaving. This was a good thing because that meant that it was a clear sky. No rain like predicted so I was happy and was ready for a good day.

I drove over the the Air Force Academy, parked and got my bike out of the car. I thought I would put some air in my tires so I removed the valve cap from my rear tire and SWOOSH! All the air rushed out of my tire. I was like DOH! What just happened!? I started to think Oh no, I hope this isn't the beginning of a bad day.

Apparently, when I removed the valve cap, I also unscrewed the valve right out of the stem. Didn't know that you could do that but there it was. So I attempted to screw it back in. Screwed it in tight, put air in the tire at 120psi and it held!

I then rode over to the transition area to get all set up. I had huge bag with me with all of my winter riding gear in it. It was cold. I got my bike set up and went in and checked out the pool. Then I got marked, had to re-sign my waiver for some reason and I was ready to go.

I chatted with a few other competitors for a little while then I got in line to get my timing chip. Turns out, because I registered so late that I was allowed to start at pretty much any time I wanted to. NICE!

I got in line to start just after the first few people in the first group got out of the water. I ended up starting at about 8:45 or so. Felt pretty good in the water and the swim was over before I knew it. 800 yrds in about 18 min I think. I then headed out to the transition area.

I was happy to see that my rear wheel still had air in it when I got to it. I then started to go through my clothes to see what I would wear. It was starting to warm up a bit so I decided to not wear the long tights and opted for the bike shorts instead. Put on my gloves, helmet and ate a chocolate power gel. The gel was kinda frozen so it sorta had the consistency of brownie batter. After I choked that down I drank some water and was on my way.

The bike course is great out there at the Academy. It starts with a short climb to an overlook area and then a long fast downhill. After the long downhill you turn right onto another long fast stretch along the front of the Academy with rolling hills but mostly downhill.

After this section you turn onto Pine Dr. for a long steady climb. This climb goes on for a while. It goes around a few curves and you find yourself thinking that maybe this climb goes on forever. Then you get a nice little break with a quick downhill, then two more shorter hills and out to a flat section before turning back into the transition area. 15 miles and change.

Once back in the transition area I racked my bike, took off my helmet and gloves, put on my running shoes, choked down another gel, and was on my way to start the run.

I liked the run course. It started with a little down hill but then BAM a pretty steep climb followed by a steady downhill section. During this section there were some porta-potties which by that time, I really needed. Leaving the porta-potty I felt like a new man and was able to run a bit stronger. We then went up a long uphill section followed by a nice downhill where I began to pick up some speed. We then made a left turn onto a trail where I saw the 2 mile maker. I only had 1 mile to go. I started up the trail and realized that this thing must be going uphill. It didn't look like it but sure enough, it was. At the top of this trail was a little stadium where the finish was. I did one lap around the track and finished in 1:46:19. It's not a great time but it's not terrible either so I'm pretty satisfied.

After the race the cadets were grilling up some burgers and dogs. I grabbed a burger, drank some water and hung out a bit to take some pictures.

This was a great event. I had never done a pool swim in a triathlon before but it went off without a hitch. The bike course is awesome and run was also fun with different types of terrain. The cadets did a great job with this event and I look forward to participating for many years to come.