A Call to Honor: A Triathlon in Memory of Rick Cashin

Official Results: 2nd OA, 1st AG M30 and under; 46:32

Pre-Race
The night before this race I only had 4 hours of sleep since Jess and I were at a wedding the night before. Despite the few hours of sleep I actually didn't feel tired that morning and the good thing about this race was that it was only a 10 minute drive to the start because the race was in Boxford at Stiles Pond, which is the next town over from where we live. Also, Stiles Pond is where my triathlon group, Tri-Fury does most of there open water training sessions and where I usually do my open water swims, but this year I've only made it out there twice.

Swim 1/4 Mile: 5th OA; 5:53 (1:27/100m)
I was in the first swim wave for this race along with everyone under the age of 30 and all the relays. With the race being small enough it wasn't a crowded swim start which was nice so I started out at the front. The swim was a rectangular clockwise swim. I got out to the first buoy faster than I thought and felt great and I was in 3rd or 4th heading to the 2nd buoy. I had predicted to finish the swim in about 6:30 because that was about the pace I was swimming this year, but I ended up being faster than I though.

Bike 10.5 Miles: 2nd OA; 31:39 (28:53 - 21.8 MPH)
My official time was 31:39, but this includes my T-1 and T-2 times so this is why the 31:39 seems slower than I actually was. I was excited to get to the bike leg of the race since I've really enjoyed this portion of racing this year. After exiting T-1, my heart rate was through the roof and didn't settle down until the end of the bike ride. The bike route was part of the Tri-Fury group ride that I do on Saturdays so it was very familiar to me, which was great! I was hoping to average around 22 MPH, but didn't hit that and I think that was because of the lack of sleep.

Run 1.5 miles: 1st OA; 9:01 (6:00/mile)
Coming into T-2 I saw my competition from the 2nd wave right behind me, Kevin Reen. I raced against Kevin at the JCC this year and I knew that he might catch me on the bike, but I just didn't know where. As I exited T-2 I was right behind him the whole way to the finish, but I knew since he had caught me that he had made up the 2 minute gap on me. The run leg was pretty cool since it was an out and back on an unpaved, but graded road. It was nice running on that instead of a paved road.

Post-Race:
Overall it was a well run race by the volunteers, the town of Boxford, the State Police (who Capt. Rick Cashin had worked for), and the Boxford Police. It was also a great end of the season race for me and it was awesome that is was so close to home for once.