A Few More "Square Lake Sprint Tri" Things

Last weekend, I placed 3rd overall at the Square Lake Sprint Triathlon. First place KILLED the rest of us by a long shot, and 2nd was just 0:14 in front of me.

Looking at the results, I came off the bike 10:03 behind the eventual winner before getting over 2:00 back on the run:

Look at the 1st place bike split compared to me back in 3rd overall! YIKES!

Turns out that the winner is a professional cyclist. WELL THAT MAKES SENSE!

That was mentioned in this MN Tri News article that also mentions me in 3rd. (And I was also mentioned as a contender in this pre-race MN Tri News posting.)

In the overall results, the men's 40-44 age group was stacked near the top. The winner was 31, and 2nd place was a young 18-year-old. Then a bunch of guys in their early 40s! The guy who finished 6th overall was 4th in his (our) age group and got NOTHING to show for it. Damn.

I was quite happy with 3rd overall fastest bike: I think that's only happened twice before (at this same race two years ago in 2021 and at the Heart of the Lakes Triathlon in 2019). Again, there was NO WAY to hold with the winner's pace, and even the 2nd fastest bike split was nearly 3:00 faster than mine. Happy to be in 3rd.

And I feel like I've been the fastest runner in a triathlon before, but I can't give any specific examples. First in the run at this race was BIG! I took over a minute off my split from last year, and I was HEARTILY the fastest runner there this year: I ran a 18:08, and the 2nd fastest runner was an 18-year-old who finished 12th overall with a 19:15 split. Even the fastest relay runner posted an 18:54. I'm super happy with my run fitness right now.

And in a final funny note, I had this exchange on Facebook after the race about eating lots of junk food at "Farming of Yesteryear" the day before the race:

My mother-in-law is the one making all the homemade ice cream, and it was a friend from high school who was raising money for my old middle school with the loaded nachos. And then "Farming of Yesteryear" makes a giant batch of soup to share with everyone, so I had 2nds! It all fueled me to a nice 3rd place finish at the Square Lake Triathlon!