Dam it Man Triathlon

The Dam it Man Triathlon is claimed to be the hardest triathlon in New Mexico!  This triathlon is the sister version of the Elephant Man Triathlon which is an Olympic distance race and this year a 70.3 distance will be offered as well.  If you ever consider doing the Dam it Man triathlon just know that it is not held in the same location as the Elephant Man triathlon and it is a little tricky to find.  I would recommend that you arrive a day early with plenty of time to find it and to become familiar with the coarse.

My daughter at the start of the bike ride

My daughter running like the wind!

    One of the most wonderful events to see is the kids Dam site duathlon which is held the day before the adult race. This event is offered for kids who are 5 years old and up.  My seven year old daughter participated in it and gave the family plenty of joy watching her and the other kids pedal and run.  I would really like to thank Kori for putting this together and inspiring kids to live a healthy life style.  My daughter is not to crazy about the bike portion because she is still learning how to ride but she can run like the wind.  The day before the Elephant Man Triathlon Kori also puts together an event for the kids so visit elephantmantriathlon.com for more information if you are interested.

If you look close enough I am the one with a yellow shirt.

  The Damn it Man Triathlon starts with a four hundred meter swim.  I do have to say that the best part of this race is that the swim is about the only part that is flat.  To get to the swim from the transition area participants have to walk down a long winding path to the water.  The good news is, you have to run back up the same path after you exit the swim to get back to the transition area.  I had looked at the results from the previous year and wondered why some of the T1 times were 7 minutes plus and now I know why.  If you ever do this event I would recommend taking some shoes or sandals down to the dock if you have wimpy feet like me.  There are two waves and it is a deep water start which was the first time I have done this type of start.  Getting out of the water was also a little tough since the water was deep and you had to get back up on the dock.   However, volunteers who were football players, were there to help pull athletes out of the water.  I was not exactly happy with my swim time, but I was one of the first Clydesdales out of the water.  Now in my opinion the hardest part of the triathlon was running back up the winding path to getting back up to transition.  If you look at the picture above that my wife took from the transition area you can get an idea of how far the swim is from T1.  

Running up the path to T1

    After reaching T1 I was passed by my friend and competitor, Jason McClure.  He is one of the nicest guys and it is a pleasure to be his friend.  However, when it comes to racing I have never been able to beat him.  He is super fast on his bike and by the looks of his run time he is much faster on the run than I am.  Of coarse the good thing out of all this is that it inspires me to train and get faster.  Can a triathlete ever be fast enough?  I would also like to mention some of my other friends, Greg G. who finished first over all, Gretchen M. who finished first overall for the women,  Brooks V. who finished fourth over all and Flip Lyle who finished 1st in his division.  I could only wish I could be as fast as these guys.  It was also a pleasure to race with Elvin P. and Mr. Wiggs and to see Elvin's kids race in the kids duathon.
    The bike portion of the race is crazy because of all the direction changes, climbs and descends.   My strategy for this race was to hit the bike hard so as soon as I started I hammered away on the pedals.  I really enjoyed the bike portion of the race because you can really get moving on the descends and I love the feel of speed on a bike.  If you ever plan on doing this race I do recommend that you become familiar with the coarse the day before.  Apparently some triathletes including some of my friends got off coarse and ended up losing time.  The pavement was marked with orange arrows,  however, if you are not paying attention you might miss them.   Also volunteers were placed through out the coarse.  I finished the bike in 39:00 (an average speed of 18.6 mph) which was great considering the nature of the coarse.  The last two miles of the bike is a worthy climb that takes the air out of most participants.  If you plan to do this race get ready to climb.

Riding into T2

    Coming into T2 I experienced a few problems.  I dropped my Garmin,  and put my shoes on the wrong feet (I am not sure how that happen).  I started the run and my knee began to hurt immediately.  I still have not recovered from a fall that I had back in June.  I had trouble finding my run pace and it did not help that the coarse had switch backs and was hilly.  The run portion of the race had one water station but during the coarse of the run athletes pass this same station three times.  One problem that was experienced on the coarse was that the first turn around was only marked with and orange dot on the ground and no volunteer to tell you to turn around!  Several athletes ran past this point and lost time.  After this point participants had to run up a gradual hill towards a water tower.  At the water tower you have to climb up a winding path to the tower where a volunteer takes your number to make sure you reach that part of the run.  Apparently the year before some people missed this section of the run.  The rest of the run is mostly down hill and by this point my knee pain disappeared and I was finally able to find my pace.  Coming to the finish line was great because the spectators were very supportive and cheered for each triathlete.  Crossing the finish line with your wife, kids and a crowd of spectators cheering you on is certainly the best part of the race.
  After I finished the race I entered the transition area to pack up my stuff.  A volunteer approached me and all the other athletes as well.  They asked us for our finishing time because apparently CEP timing did not turn on the timer at the finishing line.  At first I was upset at this blunder because how can you have a triathlon without timing it?  But then I remembered the saying on my FCA jersery,  "Why do you race?" As each athlete trains and competes there will come a time when the questions pops up in your mind, "why am I doing this?" (especially during the hard times).  To be successful in triathlons each athlete must answer this question with all of your heart.  The reason that I race is to honor my Lord and savior Jesus Christ who died on the cross for all sinners.  God has blessed me in so many ways that I can not even begin to count them.  I have a beautiful supportive wife and two wonderful daughters.  In 2008 I weighted close to four hundred pounds and had a bunch of health issues related to my excessive weight.  I prayed to God, asking for His help.  By His loving grace I have lost over 180 pounds and I have the ability to race in triathlons.  I do not deserve such blessings but God is loving and merciful and though it might be a small offering I race to honor Him!  Why Do you race?
    I am not sure how they figured it out but some how results were finally posted.  I had also timed my self so I know that they got it right.  Despite the problems that this race had I still highly recommend doing this race.  It is a lot of fun and it is a challenging race.  Is it the toughest coarse in New Mexico?  Out of all the sprint triathlons (30 to date) that I have done in all of Texas and New Mexico I would say that the three hardest sprint events would be the various triathlons held in Rio Rancho New Mexico, Ruidoso Triathlon and the Dam it Man triathlon.  If you plan on doing any of these races be prepared!

Santa Fe Triathlon

  The Santa Fe Triathlon is held at the Genovena Chavez Community Center which is a grand facility.  I just can't explain how nice this place is!  First of all it has an Olympic size swimming pool, a kid pool with a river raft area, and believe it or not a hockey rink with ice. 

Running to the pool after T2

  This event is a reverse triathlon which has a mass start.  The first half of the run is slightly down hill so make sure to warm up and stretch before the start of the run.  This year the route for both the run and the bike changed from previous years, but I would say for the better.  The run starts off on one of the main streets in Santa Fe and that is why the event starts so early in the morning.  On the bright side the entire street is completely closed to traffic most of the way (How nice it must be to have a city that is so supportive of living a healthy life style! Even the mayor and a city council member participated in the triathlon).  Of coarse that means that the second half of the run is slightly uphill.  The second half is on a paved running trail and part of it even goes under a tunnel which was cool.  There were two water stations along the run, one at the half way point and the second was just past the mile two marker.  I finished the run at a slower than usual pace (28:00) because of a knee injury, but I am just thankful to God that I can even compete. 
  The transition area is basically half of the parking lot of the Community Center and I purposely placed my bike at the far south end so I would not to have to run as far to the pool after T2.   That means that it is a longer run for T1, because the transition area flows in one direction only.  I had a decent transition and started off on the bike.  The bike coarse starts off with rolling hills for the first three miles, but for the next three miles it is a gradual climb that can take the wind out of your sails if you push it.  The bike route is out and back so the second half of the bike was really fast on Rabbit Road because of the down hill.  It took me about 36:00 minutes to complete the coarse but, both T1 and T2 times were lumped in with the bike split.  So everyone will have a slow bike split which can be misleading when you review the results.

Coming into transition after the bike

  Again, I had a long run through transition because of the one direction flow, however, it is a long run to the pool so I thought it would be best to place my bike closest to the pool entrance.  I had a fast T2 and ran with shoes to the pool because every other year I have done this event I ran barefoot which was a pain.  The pool is not exactly close to transition so if you do this event I recommend running with shoes to the pool.  The nice thing about this event is that a volunteer will have your shoes ready for pick up after you get out of the pool.  The swim is in an Olympic pool and is one direction in each lane.  For the first time I had a great swim and even managed to pass a few people.  Since each lane was only one direction it was not crowded at all.
  After the event athletes are provided with all sorts of good food.  Bagels, cream cheese, meat trays, fruit and water were available.  They also held several drawings for prizes such as gift certificates, helmets, and bike jerseys.  The awards that they gave away were medal style but made out of wood.  Also athletes who placed were given a prize which was really nice.  This is a well organized triathlon that had several police and volunteers on the coarse.  I heard that there were over seventy volunteers for this event.  I would just like to thank every one involved who put on such a great triathlon.  I would especially like to thank my wonderful wife who is always so supportive of me with all the training and events that I do.  If I had to complain about anything I would really have to look for something to complain about which would be the T-shirt.  I have done this triathlon for the past three years and each year it is a white cotton T.  Not a big deal I just wish they would change the color next year.  I highly recommend this event, not to mention Santa Fe is a great city to visit.

Bottomless Triathlon

  The Bottomless Triathlon is a lot of fun and is a must do event.   I have to admit that at first I was not really sure that I wanted to do this triathlon because of the short distance of the coarse.  The event starts off with a 400 meter swim in the Bottomless Lake.  I really enjoyed the swim because the water was cold and clear.  The camp host of the park said that the temperature of the water was 65 degrees but I am not sure it was that cold.  I will have to say that the name of the lake surely is accurate because after swimming past the shallow water there is a steep drop off and the water below becomes dark.  It is literally like looking over a cliff but under water which made it a little eerie to say the least.  The triathlon starts with two waves, the females go first and ten minutes later the males head off.  I was pleased with the swim and made it out of the water along side one of my best friends and brother in Christ,  Russell Shute. 
  I had a decent transition and was off on the bike only an 8.4 mile ride.  As soon as you start off you quickly come up to a challenging climb.  I hammered away on the pedals and made it up the mountain with little trouble.  The roads of the coarse where rough and riders really have to pay attention because on the side of the road in some places there are steep drop offs, most of which are protected by rails.  About half way through the race I realized that my front brakes were not working which made the ride interesting.  I continued to ride hard and depended on my back brakes when I needed them.  I made it to T2 without any mishaps and was please with the ride which I completed in just over 23 minutes.

Me and Russell in the transition area.

    The run is an out and back run that is only 2.4 miles but for some reason it felt like it was three.  I think the heat might have played a role in making the short distance feel so long.  As I started out on the run I headed out of the transition area in the wrong direction and lost some time, but thanks to a spectator I was quickly directed on the right path.  The run is basically flat and had two water stations along the coarse.  I was not to happy with my run split but I have not quite recovered from a knee injury that I sustained during the Tri- Raider triathlon in Lubbock.  I am however, very thankful that God has given me the ability to race in triathlons.  Both me and my brother Russell had podium finishes and competed not for our selves but for the glory of Christ our Lord and Savior. 
  I do recommend this race for anyone who is interested.  After doing this race I wish I could do the F1 triathlon held in August but it conflicts with another event that I have signed up for.   The F1 Triathlon is basically twice the distance of the Bottomless triathlon.   The T-shirt for the event was simple but nice and the awards were wooden plaques.  After the race, water, bagels and water melon were provided for the athletes. 
    The only complaint that I have about this event is that the race results were not posted to my knowledge and if they were I apologize.  Never the less the event was still well organized and had plenty of volunteers who deserve a pat on the back for their efforts.  Without volunteers none of the these races would be possible and I am very thankful for them.