PAINsville triathlon

on saturday i raced the paynesville triathlon. we decided to make a weekend of it so my family and a group of friends loaded up the van and headed out of town. we camped at a campground on the same lake where the race was held so we could be closer and not have to get up so early on race day. sounds good in theory but didnt work so well in practice. we stayed up later than expected and when i finally got to bed at nearly midnight i got a call from some other people who were camping with us but drove separatly. they were lost. i climbed out of the tent to consult the map and give them directions and awaited their arrival so i could direct them to their site. after many glances at the time i finally got to bed at 1:00. i still somehow managed to wake up a few minutes before my alarm at 5:30. great! i usually try to get at least 8 hours of sleep before a race and i got about half that. we made breakfast and headed off to check in and get body marking at 7:30. i got a great transition spot and surprisingly wasnt tired. i spent the next hour hydrating and warming up and after my 5th trip to pee the race was about to start. i decided to take a different tactic than usual at the start of the race and not go all out on the swim. i still made my way to the front of the pack but didnt have the goal of being the first out of the water. i settled into a descent rhythm and was the 7th person out of the water. i looked behind me and had a nice gap to the next person. i was happy with that. i took off on the bike and in the first mile i passed the guy ahead of me. i was feelin great. a few miles into the bike i finally started feeling tired. every mile started to feel like an accomplishment. the hilly course was really taking its toll on me and i kept glancing back and could see a rider making ground on me. i really had to will my legs to keep turning and resist the urge to stop and take a nap. he passed me right before mile 10 where the sign read "welcome to pain hill". i had to really dig deep up the aptly named beast so i wouldnt loose too much ground and by the end of the bike he was less than a minute ahead of me. i had a fast transition into the run and had no idea what to expect for the run course. i ran 100 yards and turned the corner right into a steep hill. my legs felt like lead. i felt like i was going incredibly slowly. i got passed by two guys before the water station at the half way point and i felt like crap. i was really pushing myself for the last mile since another guy was about 50 yards behind me and i wasnt going to let him pass me too. i held him off and finished 10th overall; second in the 30-35 division. i suddenly felt fantastic.