Drove well south of here yesterday with Alex as we went down to Blacksburg to Va Tech for admitted students day. We had a nice meal at the Holiday Inn there and I awoke this morning and did a nice ride on my TT bike on the Huckelberry Trail--very scenic. Followed it up with a 15 minute run.
WE did the Tech thing and the upshot of that is that I think Alex will end up going to Boston College--looks like two Christoffersons in Boston next year!
We are now in another Holiday Inn in Thornburg, VA. I'm locked and loaded for the Rumpass in Bumpass Sprint tomorrow. They changed the race venue from where i raced in 2009--so comparisons are more difficult. All three legs will be different.
The swim i know nothing about (except that the water temp appears to be 65 degrees). The bike is very similar--hilly but fun. It is a mile shorter at 11.5 miles (or so they say), which I'm not a fan of. The way the course works the back-half is harder, which is in my favor.
Midge left me a voice-mail (she had done the Olie today) and said the run course really sucked--all grass and gravel with poor footing--she suggested I bring my training flats, which is not an option. Whatever, rough running courses tend to help me since my running forte is not grace and form....(not sure what my run strength is).
As I alluded to earlier, it will be a tough, competitive race for me. Of the people signed up on the website, Barr and Spenser will pose the biggest challenges. I've raced Barr--4 or 5 times before and beaten him each time but our last race he was less than a minute down--he clearly has been improving over the last few years. I raced Spencer only once, at Eagleman a few years back where he beat me by about a minute. He is a stronger swimmer, by quite a bit. I'll need to stay close and then make a strong move on the bike. And hold on during the run--what else is new?
Of-course, there are the folks I don't know about and there is always a chance that some strong folks will show up race morning--specifically Lange and Stroup have raced here before and if they show up tomorrow, I could be battling for a 3rd place.
Matters not--looking forward to getting out there and hammering away. Supposed to be in the 80s for the first time this year...should be a good test.
We'll see how it goes!
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