Speedwell Forge

Yet another rainy weekend during the summer monsoon season here in Central PA. It was one of those misty, drizzly mornings. The kind where you don't seem to really need an umbrella, but you find yourself getting wet if you don't use one. We've had enough rain where the venue was pretty muddy. And since the promoters of this race were insistant upon herding all the spectators into very small roped off sections like cattle, we had no chance of remaining not only dry, but clean. But I digress.


Brent's attitude about this tri wasn't the greatest (due to the weather?), and his results perhaps show that. This Olympic distance triathlon has been around for a long time, although Brent hasn't done it for years. The .9 swim, 26 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run are challenging enough without the dreary weather factor.

Put it on, take it off. These wetsuits are like body girdles. The athletes struggle to get the suckers on, then, wasting no time coming out of the water, they start struggling to get them off.



Brent didn't feel as though he had a great swim. Watching, I thought he came out of the water in better position than he really did. Once we viewed the results, he was right, this wasn't his best swim. The bike course was treacherous. Very wet, hilly, and one S curve right through the middle of a farm, complete with slippery cow patties on the road. Ugh! Brent made it through without mishap though, thankfully.

Brent looked tired coming in...of course, he had just completed the Olympic distance tri! He placed 4th in his age group, which he considered a sad ending to his tri season. Nothing left at the end but a messy clean-up!