Only a week and a half before this event I was recruited by my friend Mike Demerly to run the anchor leg for a team he was putting together for the local YMCA Xterra Scales Lake Triathlon. Mike had already recruited a great swimmer, "Jeff Willis" and with Mike doing the mountain bike portion, I was to fill the spot of running the anchor leg. The swim leg was 800 yards, the bike leg was 11 miles followed by a 3.3 mile (3.46 actual) run. While the swim portion of the course was relatively flat, the bike and run sections of the course are littered with lots of ups and downs.

Pictured from left to right is Jeff Willis, Mike Demerly and me (Midwest Jeff - the blogger). This event was held in Boonville, Indiana at Scales Lake Park. The best I can tell this was property that was strip mined many many years ago. Now the property is heavily wooded with a large lake in the center. 2009 was the first year for this event and I had actually swam for a team the preceding year. The lake is very clear and calm which makes for a nice swim. Additionally, this is still a smaller race so fighting traffic on the swim is minimal compared to some other races.

The weather the morning of the race was a little more favorable than anticipated with temps in the low 80's and lower humidity levels than expected. A welcome reprieve from the heat and humidity we had been experiencing for the past several days. After a short pre-race meeting, the competitors headed to the beach for the 8am start. Given that I was running I didn't want to spend a lot of time taking pics and visiting so I found some shade and parked in my deluxe captains lounge chair. I wanted to just get a couple pics of my team mates in their respective legs and conserve energy for my run.

Jeff (our secret weapon swimmer) came out of the water with a stellar time of 12:50 for his split. That would turn out to be the second fastest time recorded by any of the racers that day. Seen making his way up to T1 to make the handoff to Mike the mountain bike dude.

The bike portion of the race consisted of two 5.5 mile loops.

Here is our team captain screaming through the spectator section of the course getting ready to start his second loop. His presence also meant I had only about 35 minutes to get geared up for my portion of the race. Mike completed his second loop right on schedule and finished his portion with a very respectable time of 1:10.39. Having gotten suited up I eagerly awaited Mike's arrival into T2. Upon his arrival I snatched the timing chip off his leg and floundered with the confounded Velcro elastic thingy for about 30 seconds trying to get it on my leg. After getting the twists out of it, I was off. Now while I was waiting for Mike I was kinda keeping a count in my head trying to have an idea about how many people were out in front of me. I estimated around 16 to 20. My goal was to see how many I could catch. A couple of the other teams had a pretty good jump on us so I would focus on anybody I saw in front of me. I had only ran this course once but I really paid attention to the lay of the land while I jogged it just a few days before. The first mile of the course was actually pretty fast with some really nice trail conditions. Starting out along the road for about a half mile then finally ducking into the woods. There is a pretty steep 25 foot climb right at the entrance to the woods that I was mentally ready for. The woman that I had just passed moments before obviously wasn't ready for what was to come as I heard her sigh as she encountered the wall of dirt and roots. I have to admit I was laughing at this point. She was #1. A couple hundred yards later you drop off the ridge and veer back into a really flat section of nicely mowed trail. It's fast and a joy to run in minimal shoes. A quarter mile later starts the second longest climb of the course (about 100 yards). I topped that on no problem and went through the first mile under somewhere around the 7:50 mark. I had still only seen and passed one person however. I didn't know if I was running that slow or if everybody else was just running faster. But then I emerged onto the roadside again (after sliding down El Capitan) and subsequently, the baseball diamond. There I saw 3 to 4 runners strung out in front of me. Knowing I had another good mile of trail in front of me I kept my exertion level up and started focusing on #2. Within the next half mile #2, #3, and #4 hear the words "on your left". Moving along, the next half mile is littered with some small climbs, descents and sharp turns. I couldn't see anyone else out in front of me but I could hear someone. This is also where I heard another racer expressing his discontent with those confounded walls of earth. It was quite funny but I chose not to laugh this time as I wasn't exactly just abounding with energy to spare. Nonetheless, I emerged onto a flatter straighter section of trail and took aim at my next two visible targets. Within 200 yards #5 and #6 gave way. For the second time, I emerged onto open road for about a quarter mile where targets #7 and #8 came into view. About 2 miles into this race I wanted to be a bit careful on exertion level as I knew the hardest part of the course was to come. I had just clocked another mile around the 8 minute mark and I knew this was flirtin' with disaster. Staying within my means I made my way around #7 and after re-entering the woods - squeaked my way past #8 along the top of a ridgeline. Now obviously as I was moving up through the ranks the #'s were becoming more competitive. #8 decided he wanted to give chase and he did. He jumped on my heels but I held my pace. I wouldn't have cared if he came back around or not as I was insistent on running within my means and not blowing on this short course. He never came around me, he just stuck there - that is - until we hit a couple hills. Then it was "bye bye" #8. You gotta love minimal shoes! A couple minutes later, and for the third time, I emerged onto open road to see #9 and #10 and feel just how hot it had become. They were approaching the dam and I was a good 150 yards back. By this time I was feeling the effort a bit as I had just come off a tougher section of the course. In front of me was the last third of a mile or so of nice flat ground to enjoy before dropping back into the woods for a final 3/4 mile tough finish. I wanted to take advantage of it so I picked it up and tried to close the gaps on #9 and #10. By the time I had made it across the dam I had caught up to #9. I had closed in on #10 also but he was still a good 75 yards or so out in front and I lost sight of him as he re-entered the woods. After repelling down another cliff into the woods I came around #9. Now this dude was tough. He was a huffin' and puffin' and came back on me at least 3 times. The guy was really annoying me as I thought he was gonna have a heart attack tight there on the trail. Now granted, this is a really tough section of trail and I was definitely feeling it too. But finally, after a couple minutes the huffin' and puffin' sound grew more faint. I had finally dropped him only to hear myself huffin' and puffin' pretty good. I was tapped. With less than a quarter mile to go I was excited to hear the sound of timing chips crossing the mats off in the distance. #10 would cross

before me as I never caught him. I'm not even sure if I gained on him that last half mile as I couldn't see him. I crossed the finish line feeling pretty good about my effort. I was definitely hurtin' at the finish.

Here is a pic of the "catch map". Nobody passed me on the run which also meant that I didn't get "chicked" this time. I usually always do. Maybe I need to stick with Xterra events! Anyway, it took me a few minutes to recoup. My split was 29:06 which worked out to a 8:25 average. The "Wacky Willis" team finished 4th out of 7 teams with a cumulative time of 1:53.30. For a group of middle-aged dudes, I think we held our own pretty good! Overall I really enjoyed running this course and getting the opportunity to race with and visit with my friends. The YMCA has done a great job with this race and I sincerely hope to once again participate in 2011.