USAT Nationals Race Report/Travel Madness Continued

After all the craziness of friday the race on saturday seemed like the easy part. The weather was beautiful even though by the time I got onto the run course it had gotten really hot. Going into the race I had some specific goals in mind, all of which would lead to an overall time of under 2 hours and 15 minutes because then I would be eligible to race as an amateur elite next year. My swim was a little slower than I wanted, 27 minutes instead of sub 25, but I more than made up for it on the bike. I had set a conservative goal of sub 1 hour and 10 minutes for the bike leg and I killed it, finishing in right at 1 hour and 5 minutes (22.5 mph average) on a really tough course that also had 6 turnarounds which really kills your speed. Out on the run course I realized that I was under the pace I needed to finish in 2:15 so I was able to relax and just go for it. Again, the run course was tough and hot, but I still finished the 10km in just over 37 minutes which is right at my PR. I finished the race in 2 hours and 13 minutes, beating my goal by a solid 2 minutes and officially making me an amateur elite!! My ranking overall and in my age group weren't that great and I didn't even come close to qualifying for the world championships in Beijing next year but the time is what I really wanted.

Now you would think that having finished the race the rest of the weekend would be pretty uneventful... and you'd be very very wrong. Sunday became the longest and most frustrating travel experience of my entire life! After arriving at the airport and checking in for my 11:15am flight I was informed at the gate that due to labor strikes at the airport in Detroit, which is where my plane was coming from, my flight had been cancelled. On top of that there was only one seat left to get me to Indy that day and it left out of Atlanta at 8:30pm. That's bad enough, if I was already in Atlanta... too bad I was in Birmingham!!!!! There were no flights to get me to Atlanta either, so what did I have to do? Rent a car and drive to Atlanta just to get on a plane and fly to Indy! ohhh man did that suck, not to mention the car ended up being a 2 door which made getting my bike case into it a little more than tricky. The only good part was I had some 7 hours until the flight left and it only took 2 hours to drive to Atlanta. Once in Atlanta I found out that the flight had been delayed until 10pm which would mean I would get to Indy by about 11:30pm! In reality the plane didn't leave until 11pm, I landed in Indy a little after midnight and I didn't get home and into bed until after 2am!!! so i was traveling from 8:30am until after 2am.... that makes sunday the longest day ever!!! It was atrocious to say the very least but my bike actually made it too for a change and Delta will certainly be hearing from me in the near future. If nothing else it is a great story to tell and luckily I have plenty of time to catch up on the sleep I missed thanks to my new status of being solidly in the offseason, ahhhhh!!! In all reality things are good. I'll post some pictures from the race when I get them...