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

Official Results: 2nd OA out of 180 / 1st AG M1-29; 47:06

This race is always a great race to do since it's so close to where we live so we don't have to get up that early for it. It ended up being great weather for the race, a little cool, but once the sun was out it was warm. We got there about an hour early to setup and warm up. I knew that going into this race that I would have a real good shot at winning it this year because Kevin Reen wasn't doing the race this year since he went to RI to do Firmman half.

Swim 1/4 Mile: 6th OA; 5:56 (1:28/100m)
The swim went really well for me this year even thought I was 3 seconds slower this year than last year, but that's because I haven't swam since I did Timberman. I thought I would have been much slower than this. I was in the second wave since the first wave was teams. Since the swim course was so short I ended up catching a lot of people from the first swim wave. For my swim wave I was 2nd out of the water and I was off to a good start.

Bike 10.5 Miles: 3rd OA; 29:20 (21.4mph)
I was really hoping to beat my bike time from last year, but I wasn't able to. The bike course is mostly flat with some turns and rolling hills, but its a great out and back. I know most of the course since my Saturday rides go through Boxford, but when I got out there, like last year I was worried that I would take the wrong turn and go off course so I ended up slowing at some of th turns to make sure I was going the right way. I ended up catching the guy that beat me in the swim about 3 miles into the bike and held him off until the end. I knew that once I caught him I was in 1st if I could hold of the other age groupers that were behind me since the other bikers that were ahead of me were part of teams.

Run 1.5 Miles: 2nd OA; 8:46 (5:50/mile)
Coming into T-2 I knew I was still in first, but I took me some time to get my shoes and socks on so I lost some time there. I was still able to get out in time before some other guys got out there, but it wasn't enough to hold them off since one of them had crushed me on the bike the 1.5 mile run wasn't enough time for me to get the time back. This was the only area I had improved in time this year and I was still able to take 2nd yet again, haha. Oh well!

Post-Race:
This was a well run race this year and as always the pre-race ceremony is great since the state police color guard is always there. The race director does a great job as well and I love how it's such a small race so close to home. Looks like next year I'll have to see if I can improve on my time from 2009 since I wasn't able to beat it this year.