“Splash and Dash” Round 2!

Last night, I picked Pharmie up from work and we headed out to Long Lake for the second Gear West Splash and Dash. In case you didn’t see my first Splash and Dash race report a few weeks back, here’s what Gear West said about the event:

...The swim is 200 meters consisting of 2x50 meter out and back swims. You will swim out and around a buoy and back then run out on the beach around a cone and then back in for another out and back swim. You will transition to a 1 mile out and back run north on Brown Rd. Then repeat. (200M 2 lap swim/1 mile run/200M 2 lap swim/1 mile run)...

For the past few weeks, they’ve had this logo on the middle of their main page:

(Bonus points if you can recognize the
cut-off logo on the right...)

Last time, there were 7 people. This time, that number had more than doubled! And the day was about 10 times nicer! (No chance of a thunderstorm like last time!) I chatted with a few “first-timers” about the course, how the race is run, etc, etc. I said hi to Jen, Kris, Mark, and Mike. I got to meet blogger Beth. Soon, everyone got set up in the “transition square:”

That's Pharmie on the far right

Here’s a shot of the buoys that were 50 meters apart (that we did twice / round):

Some people warming up: Jen on the far left, Mark getting out of the water, and Kris on the far right:

Pharmie and I were ready to go!

So 15 of us “toed” the line, and Curt shouted “Go!”

I did my first 100 in 1:22, and my second in 1:31. I had loosened my shoelaces since the last Splash and Dash so I could slip on my shoes without sitting down (like I had to do last time). So I was in and out of transition in 15 seconds.

I started the run in 6th place. I caught 1 guy in the first 1/4 mile. I caught 2 more before the 1/2 mile turn-around. There was a guy in front of me in a Gear West suit that was holding a nice pace. He was really pulling me! (Later, after the run, he thanked me for pushing him, and I thanked him for pulling me!) I never caught him or Jason, who was the first runner who should have won the first Splash and Dash (if it hadn’t been for a wrong turn). Last time, my first run was 5:59. Being I was pushing hard to try to catch this guy, my first run last night was 5:46. Not too shabby. That was good for a total time of 8:55 and 3rd place in the first round.

I cheered in all my buddies, and we were ready for a little break before round 2. Like last time, we had to get an “in-between-the-2-rounds” photo. Curt snapped this before everyone was ready (he wanted to get things going again), so we might look a little disheveled:

“Ready for round 2? Go!!”

I’m not gonna lie: I “ran” a lot of the second swim. It’s possible to touch for quite a while, and I stayed on my feet for a long time. I actually finished with slightly faster swim splits of 1:22 and 1:29 (even though I swung WAY wide at the buoy - I do NOT “sight” well once I get a little pooped). I was faster by 1 second in transition this time, running through in 14 seconds.

This time, I was the 4th to hit the run. I flew by a man and a woman 2 blocks into the run. (The woman didn’t do the second swim, but she wanted to head out on the run anyway.) Jason, the speedy guy, was the only one out in front of me, and I was gaining on him. After the turn-around, I was only about 2 seconds back. When we met some of the other runners on the out-and-back, Mike joked with Jason as he came up to him: “There’s NO ONE on your back. You got this! You can probably ease up!” That was a total joke because Jason could hear me breathing down his neck. Mike’s funny like that...

With 1/4 mile left, I KNEW I could pass Jason. As SOON as that thought entered my mind, Jason kicked and left me in the dust. “Guess not...” But 20 seconds later, I was gaining again. Coming down the final hill to the park, I was just 2 strides behind him. As we hit the grass in the park, I kicked it up and passed Jason in the final 50 feet to beat him by a second or 2. But that didn’t matter much because Jason had beat me by like 10 seconds the first round, so he was the overall winner. My final run was 5:45. Nice. And I think I held off the guy in the GW suit enough to have placed 2nd overall.

Last time at the Splash and Dash, I swam/ran 9:14 + 8:48 = 18:02.

This time, I swam/ran 8:55 + 8:51 = 17:46.

Soon, Pharmie hit the “line.” I put “line” in quotes, because there was no line. Curt just said “run to about here...” as he motioned to an area of the parking lot. So, like I said, here’s Pharmie hitting the “line:”

Not far behind her was Beth:

One of the guys from Gear West came down with hot dogs, and we enjoyed a great post-race snack! Thanks guys!!

Note Mark pointing to me above my hot dog...

Well, that was a good little speed session! Beth, it was nice to meet you! And it was great chatting with Jen, Kris, Mark, Jason, and Mike as we were getting ready to go! If/when Gear West does a “Splash and Dash” series next year, I’ll have to try to hit them again. They are just torture, but also a lot of good, clean fun!

I’ll be back with the official results when they come in, as well as Curt’s video highlights! Thanks all!!