Xterra USA Nationals

This weekend I had the opportunity to compete at Xterra USA Nationals right here in Ogden Utah. 305 competitors came from all over the US to compete in the event. My morning started off early and cold! The car thermometer was reading 37 degrees at 6:00am. I set up my bike transition, then drove up with my training partner Josh Mortensen to set up T2 or the run transition. It wasn't until we drove back down and seeing the lake for my nerves to kick in. I wasn't feeling too well getting over a small cold so I was a little unsure how I was going to feel. The race started with a mass start. The best I can describe a start of a race with that is many people running into the water is "an organized chaos!" Being my first year really racing, the swim really is my weak point and this race proved it. It seemed as though I could never find my rhythm, or get my breaths right. Stopping 4 or 5 times just to catch my breath and get myself together.

After fighting through the swim and just itching to get on my bike I finally finished the swim coming out 122nd place. Starting out on the 20 mile bike ride up Wheeler canyon to snowbasin I felt really strong but I constantly was getting stuck behind, and struggling to pass lines of bikers who too were fighting for their best finish. After about an hour or so of fighting, bumping, and even a crash with others I made my way back toward the front of the race to where I could really open up and put some time into those ahead of me. I moved up to 26th place passing 96 other riders in the up hill 20 mile ride.

T2 probably was the most difficult part of the race for me. It seemed every thing that could have gone wrong, went wrong! My inserts in my shoes kept crunching up, taking me 3 tries to get them feeling right. (*note to self...NEVER race with those again! Get different insoles) While struggling with the shoes my hamstring seized so bad I could not extend my leg. Ive never felt so much pain trying to rub it out to where I could extend it strait and start off on my run. After that battle luckily my beautiful wife was there to give me a quick shot of caffeine from her monster energy mocha to help with the cramps. Even though I cant stand the taste of those things, I think it helped!

The run was steep. Climbing up the ski runs of Snowbasin for the first few miles, fighting muscle spasms in that same ham, I wast able to run a decent pace the rest of the race. I think I averaged around a 6:30 mile, which isn't great, but its all i had that day. In the end i finished 2nd in my age group closing a 10 min gap down to 3 minutes put on me from the 1st place racer in my age group Patrick Valentine. (who is an awesome guy and had a phenomenal race by the way!) I was 7th over all in the amateurs. And 26th place out of the whole race including the Pros. Not my best performance, But I felt i took what i had to work with and made the best of it. There were may things looking back that i really learned and hope it will make me a better racer in the future!!