Race Coverage

Words From a Big Picture Guy...

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 06:07

Pigman Race Report - By Josh Riff

Pigman long course this weekend represented a (near) culmination of a fantastic season that keeps getting better. As a big picture person the actual race itself was the small accomplishment, it is everything around the race that makes this race so special.

The facts:

SWIM: The day started off warm. The water temperature was 78 degrees so it was wetsuit legal. We were warming up but by the 7:30 race start we still could not see the first buoy. About an hour later the fog suddenly cleared and the race started. I caught a perfect draft and decided to "own" those feet and play it smart. I exited with two of the elite women with Dan Cohen right behind me...

BIKE: I had a good transition and quickly started gobbling up riders. My swim was 2-3 minutes faster than usual so I was making great progress and was passing some of the usual suspects earlier than expected. A rubbing brake slowed me down the week before at Turtleman so I brought my bike to Gear West and they put some "serious" speed back into it. A clean bike is a fast bike and it felt awesome. At around mile 20 I passed Thad and was in 2nd place. At around mile 24 Dave came screeching by (coming the other way of course). Dan Cohen passed me at mile 40 and snapped me back to alertness. I entered T2 in second place after passing Dan at mile 50 and had a rapid transition and was out on the run.

RUN: I have been having a fantastic running season, bouncing back from a bad accident in 2008 that had me quit the sport. In addition to good results (1:18 run at Chisago) I have been running relatively pain free and feeling light on my feet. Today was different. From the start I was waiting to get my form back but it was a struggle. By the time I hit the open road leaving the park it was well above 90 degrees and I was getting that Kona feeling, i.e. can i make it to the next aid station. The volunteers were awesome and every aid station was per Kona routine, water, ice, water over my head, ice in the hat. When the clouds would give us some cover I could increase my pace, otherwise it was a suffer fest. At the turn around I was way behind DKT but 4 minutes up on 3rd place. By mile 10, I wanted the race to end really badly but when I hit the hill near the turn around into the park I got a second wind and picked up my pace. With nobody behind me I could cruise in. It was a finish line I was happy to see. I ended up 2nd overall, 1st amateur. At liberty I was first overall, Chisago 2nd to Dave, Pig 2nd to Dave. I ended up taking home $400, making it my third income stream. I wont be quitting my other jobs anytime soon, so Dave don