Fuck ya.

I love to race, and thankfully, this summer has been full of alot of it. There have been a few weekends where I have raced multiple weekends in a row. I have traveled to places like Atlanta, northern Maryland, and all around the state of Virginia to test my Running and Biking fitness against other athletes. Last weekend, the weekend of the 4th of July, I decided that it was time for a rest weekend. It certainly was nice to not have to worry about any long car rides or race fees, although i did have to buy a new tubular due to the puncture that mine unfortunately got while racing the Mens 3/4 Criterium at Reston Town Center 2 weeks ago. Last weekend was definitely awesome. After a morning of training in Clifton and Burke I went to the zoo with Natasha and Kyle and then feasted some dankkkk Lebanese food before the fireworks. Sunday I worked a little before going for the hottest 60 mile ride of my life at 1pm, during which I drank 8 water bottles and then polished off 2 more upon my arrival home.

After this weekend my father and I traveled to Chicago where my dad went to school at Northwestern. We had a blast going to a White Sox game (Go SOX!) and feasting deep dish pizza. The morning was filled with hour long runs along the 18mile trail on Lakeshore Drive. I would just like to say that the people of Chicago are fuckin awesome. During these hour long runs I saw more bikes than you would see in D.C. in an ENTIRE DAY! People ranged from commuters with leg warmers to guys pacelining in SRAM jerseys with shaved legs and skin pulled tight across their cheekbones, a result of many hours of training as they got their morning training session in, i say morning because Im pretty sure there would be more punishment as the day aged for these men. The runners were in full force as well. After taking an off day Monday, Tues and Wed morning I was out the door at around 7 for my hour of running before the tour came on at 8:30. One thing that I definitely noticed was that I sure was not running around Burke Lake anymore, this flat fast boardwalk trail definitely was conducive for some FAST running. Both my runs totaled approximately 10 miles in the hour I was running at my normal distance run pace, which is only approx 6:20 pace back here! After runs, my dad and I would hit the city and be sure to be in the Bars to have a few brews and watch the World cup games. Thanks pops, this sure was a great break!

Upon returning from our Chicago fantasy-land of running and drinking beer and watching soccer I made my way out to the Wakefield ride on Thursday. It was good times except alot of the riders only rode half of the ride due to the heat and the many races this weekend. It felt good to be back on the bike though.

Yesterday was the Colonial Triathlon in Colonial Beach VA, my second Olympic Tri of the summer and a good tune up race for DuWorlds, working on transitions and bike/run. I knew that I was in good shape going into it but I was not prepared at all for what happened. The race was a water start and being me, I tend to like to joke about my lousy swimming with the other racers before the start of the race. It tends to loosen up the mood and nerves of the racers and makes us feel better so I frequently joke about the ridiculousness that we paid to put ourselves through this pain, it was 100% voluntary! The swim was two loops and amazingly after the first loop i was in 4th, my jaw dropped and as I ran across the beach for the second loop I think I muttered something like "Oh my god." This was not me, I was in 4th place in the sWiM, UN-FUCKIN REAL!

After the second loop I was still in the same place, and passed one of my competitors in T1. On the bike I was breathing hard but feeling good. I could tell I was flying. Before the turn around I caught another guy and went by him easily. I love catching people with the Zipps because I know how bad it sucks when someone blows by me with theirs, poor mother fuckers. The guy in first was 2min up at the turn around and 50 sec at T2. I noticed I was gaining on him on the run and caught him and picked up the pace as I did at a little past the 1.5 mark. I was leading the race and gaining on the second place man. I tried not to let the fact that I was likely about to WIN creep in my head to much on the run, trying to stay focused on the next 5 miles at hand. My splits were all around 5:45, until my last 2 miles were I dropped 10 seconds a mile. As i crossed the line in 2:04, 3 minutes ahead of the second place guy I did the Contador gun shot into the air, i decided a 2 finger Mark Cavendish salute, was NOT the best of victory celebrations. God it felt good, my legs still ache, and they did all last night, but with the help of my good friend beer I was able to ease the pain and get to sleep.

Congrats to Chuck Feerick for finishing 2nd in his age group (20-24), and Emily Anthony for winning the Womens Aqua/velo race. As always, thanks for reading!

This weeks goal, make sure I keep getting to the pool, and as always, eat alot of ice cream =)