Rhode Island 70.3 #9 of 21 (yes it now says 21)

Woke up super early to catch a 7am flight to Rhode Island. This is race #9 of 21 for the Tri and Give a Dam project. Holly from Quiet Way was kind enough to drop me off at the airport so my wife Sunny could get some rest. Weekends when I am away are just as tough in her as she has to be a single parent for a few days. I tried this a few weeks ago when my wife went to a youth camp with our church. Trust me when I say I have the easier job. Hanging with 5 kids 24/7 is no joke. I do not know how woman around the world do it.

I couldn’t have anything go wrong today or I would miss check in. Missing check in would disqualify me from the race an ultimately affect the record. I had originally thought that I was flying on Friday and had plenty of time to get to the race and check in. Turns out when John Rose from DUB Nutrition booked my flight he didn’t realize how tight and nerve racking these few flights would be for me. This year I have experience several delays and a delay today could hurt the journey. With an “everything always works out for me” attitude I didn’t worry too much about it. There were do delays and I executed the perfect luggage/car pick up.
I found check in with time to spare, headed to T2 at the Capitol building and dropped off my gear bag. I quickly realized that T1 and bike check in was an hour away and I had 40 minutes to get there. I got my directions and sped all the way to the swim start in hopes to not see any law enforcement in a bad mood. The security folk there were very nice and let me build my bike and check it in- thanks guys!
In the end all worked out perfect (of course it did). I located the Knights Inn where I would be spending the next few night. Across the street was a Friday’s and I enjoyed a rack of Jack Daniels ribs before retiring for the night.

July 11, 2010
Rhode Island 70.3 The Swim
I woke up at 3 am (1am Utah time) and got all my gear ready for the day. They race shuttles to go down to the swim start were scheduled to leave at 4am sharp. Holy crap this was early!! I hardly slept the night before and hoped to feel good once the race began.... can anyone say caffeine!!
This was a beach start ocean swim. When the cannon blew we had to dive in and smash through the surf. This was kind of fun. Once we got past the bigger waves we were able to start swimming. The swim was straight out, left, left then straight back (my favorite swim course set up). Swimming out seemed like a long time as we were swimming into the rough surf. On the way back was a lot more fun. Despite the rough waters I had a great swim at 35:03

Rhode Island 70.3 The Bike
This ride was ‘suppose’ to be more fun than it was.... it was still fun as I love to ride! Usually the wind comes off the ocean and into Providence, but not today. Someone must have told the winds that James Lawrence was coming to race and to switch up from the norm. This point to point ride had more and bigger rollers than I thought would be there. And that darn wind was in our face the whole time - of all days for the wind to switch. But it really doesn’t matter that much as we all ride the same course, it would just be nice to not dance with the wind at every race. The scenery on this course was beautiful. Thick trees and points and nice ocean views at others. The last 2-3 miles were rough and sketchy. Pot holes, railroad tracks, and sharp turns. All in all a decent ride at 2:44:56 As in most races I was humbled by a few woman riders. I was battling with 2 other guys at about mile 40 when this tiny girl blows by us like we were going backwards on a climb. I thought “whoa that’s awesome!” I’m not the fastest biker out there but I’m certainly not the slowest. I marvel at the athletes that show up to these events, simply incredible.
Rhode Island 70.3 The Run

By the run the heat was starting to make itself known. This mostly flat 2 loop run was the perfect conclusion to a beautiful course. One big hill 1 mile into the run was unwelcome on the second loop of this run. Who am I kidding, it was unwelcome on the first lap too. It is always inspiring when I see the pro’s running and the pace they are holding, just awesome. Equally inspiring are the warriors who are out there for 7 plus hours in that heat. I had a steady run keeping my minute per mile in the 7‘s with a time of 1:44:19. I do not know how people run sub 1:30’s. I am going to figure this out. My total finish time was 5:08:39 and concludes race #9 of 21. I will be in Northern California next week. Donate if your board www.TriandGiveaDam.com and thanks for all the continued support.

One of the nice benefits of finishing before the masses is that he massage tents are mostly open. These are the true champion of the day. Working on tired sweaty athletes would not be something I would sign up for, but man am I grateful! I must have got lucky cause the gal I got worked on me for a good half hour. As I was headed to my car to wrap up the race day I passed an empty medical booth tucked way off to the side. On of the medical dudes say “you need a massage?” I thought “heck yes I do” So I went in a received an ice massage that felt wonderful. I race next weekend so hopefully this helps speed up my recovery.

I headed back to Fridays and enjoys some more of those Jack Daniels ribs. They tasted even better than the night before. After a small piece of rib heaven I took a much needed nap. When I woke up from the nap I felt worse than when I went down. My head was pounding and my legs ached. I walked over to a local store and found a car show taking place in the parking lot. I walked around and looked at all the cars and got some liquid to help rehydrate myself. Back to the hotel and the art of recovering. See you in Salt Lake City