cinco ranch recap

cinco ranch came out of nowhere it seems, i had been fused with half ironman training and buildup for longhorn half next weekend, as well as well as real life stuff. i went into the race tired, but determined.

i knew with distances of, 400m/19mi/3mi, it was a bikers race. this did not help my confidence. i knew i had to hammer the bike, and stay in sight of all my buddies who can ride, and then leave it to the run. but, i knew it was going to hurt. i told myself, no matter happened, i was going to leave it on the bike course.

the swim started fast, with agnew, sustala, and myself together neck and neck not helping each other out. the water was so shallow in so many places, i think i beached chris at one point, but he beached me later on. i was happy about getting out of the water with those two, because they can freakin' swim.

t1 was a lil hairy, i still havent figured out how to put my giro advantage on without choking myself. i got out on the bike course in second place, and i was lactic, and a little panick attack hit me, all i could think about was how i didnt know my speed(speedometer out of battery), and that my legs were itchy as hell, in texas a lot of our swims are in little cess-pools.

about 4 miles in, my buddy and sugar cycles teammate, trent stephens, rode past me going about 35 mph. without saying a word. nice gamesmanship ole boy! i tried to hang, but couldn't. so i drudged on, and started feeling better as my legs warmed up. chris sustala passed me about mile 8, and said "do not let me out of your sight" chris is a great friend, and training partner, and knows the bike is my weakness, but had some faith in my fitness i guess. so i didnt, i wouldnt. at times i felt fine, and at times i was gritting my teeth.

t2 - i had a great dismount, but my bike got tangled in a crowd rope, and thank god somebody helped me get it out. i through my bike down, donned my flats, and ran off racing belt in hand. all i could hear was two different people yeeling to me, how far the two in front were in the lead. thanks guys. the hunt was on.

trent was 30 seconds ahead, and agnew(the boy from oklahoma) was 3 minutes. i know agnew and i have almost the exact same run pace, so i was going to just run my ass off and see what happened. i felt great until some high school cross country runner, passed me on the run course, so i tried to stay with him, as i began to cramp up, i realized he had no bib on, and he wasnt in the race, that cramp was with me for the remainder, but i felt ok.

i am thrilled about the race, because going in i knew it was not a runners or a swimmers race. i got second overall, behind the Sooner.

2

Liam O'Connell

24

3

5:51.3

2

0:44.1

9

46:02.1

24.8MPH

2

0:39.2

2

16:12.6

5:24/M

1:09:29.3