Pics from the Square Lake 70.3 Triathlon

As I was looking for photos of the Square Lake Sprint Triathlon on Facebook, I came across an album of photos from the day before: the Square Lake 70.3 Triathlon. I raced the sprint the following day, but here are some photos from the longer half iron distance race:

R.D. Judi during the National Anthem.


Taped nips during the National Anthem.


Randy and Judi sending athletes off.


Old guy back goals.


Swimmers heading out.


A smile from Randy!


Lined up for the time trial start.


A SWEET ride waiting in transition! Notice the pancake decal under the saddle.


All swimmers in the water!


The leaders returning.


Epic beard and tats heading into T1.


GET READY, because you're about to see a lot of these 2 friends racing together...


Here they are leaving T1 realizing that some friends/family came out to surpise them!


Climbing that little bugger just out of T1.


I like this guy.


I think that's Dr. Joe!!

Dr. Joe was one of my wife's "race buddies." She likes to make friends during longer races to help keep her company, and they met during the 2009 Liberty Half Iron Triathlon. And then we cheered him on at Ironman WI later that year. Dr. Joe, I hope you're well!

Eventual winner Nick gets a bottle at the start of the 2nd loop of the bike.


More water hand-offs.


Close up on the cute kid in that last photo! Such a helper!

There were some missed hand-offs at the bottle hand-offs:

Dr. Joe!


Nick finishing the bike!


Kortney ended up as the 1st female (and 3rd overall!).


The sweet bike!


Using a trisuit to hold a water bottle.


Downhill to the first parking lot, and then heading back uphill before going back down to transition.


These 2 friends hitting T2 with some sass.


Sassy friends.


The friends running out of T2.


Up that damn hill out of T2 (transition in the background).


Cresting the hill, then heading back down only to climb out of the park again. (It's hilly out there.)


Patriotic on Sept 11.


Heading out on the run as Judi watches.


Nick coming in to take the win!


Kortney finishing as first female and 3rd overall!
She had the 3rd fastest bike split and 2nd fastest run!


I would do this and hurt myself.


I love family finishes.




"I am this guy's epic fan club."


That damn downhill to the finish... it felt out-of-control like this.


Here come the best friends! Hand-in-hand of course!

I'll be back with some photos from the Square Lake Sprint Triathlon in a few days. Let me tell you... I look pretty crappy in all of mine!

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Wassner Twins at Israman

Yesterday, I saw this tweet from Rebecca Wassner, who is half of the pro triathlete duo known as the "Wassner Twins:"

These 2 images accompanied the tweet:

Yeah, she ran my 1-mile pace for an opening mile of a marathon. AFTER A 2.4 MILE SWIM and 112 MILE BIKE RIDE.

I replied to that tweet, tweeting Rebecca and Laurel back asking if those were Israman splits. If you've been a LONG time reader, you'll remember I went to Israel in January of 2014 to race the "Israman Eilat" triathlon (half iron 70.3 or full iron 140.6 distance).

My 70.3 relay team for 2014: me swimming, Rany biking, and Sharon running.

Well, T2 of that race is high in the mountains above the Red Sea, and then the first 15K (or so) is downhill. That sounds great, but everyone who does it says it's KILLER on the legs, especially running the final 15-20 miles of the race after that (flat, along the Red Sea).

I had heard the Wassner Twins finished 1st and 2nd in the full iron race! Laurel finished in 11:13 with a 3:24 run, and Rebecca went 11:37. (Those times were good for 7th and 13th OVERALL!) Nice work!

The hills out there are fierce. Here's a paragraph from my 2014 Israman race report:

The bike ride out there is epic. This race was label by Triathlete Magazine as one of the "top 10 triathlons in the world." And the scenery and course don't disappoint. I was talking with a fast biker post-race (it was either Ben in our group or someone else - I forget). This person said that in half iron races, they usually hit 40K in an hour. (Yep, that's pretty fast.) But in this race where there's OVER 2,000 feet of climbing in the first 15K, his first 40K took TWO hours.

Waves of swimmers heading off into the Red Sea last week (found in a Facebook album)


Laurel posted this photo pre-race saying "Start of the marathon at Israman.
Run all the way down to the Red Sea. Fast first 10ks but... Ouch!!"


The winning sisters! (Image retweeted by Laurel.)


70.3 winner Ben Collins, 140.6 winner Laural Wassner, and 70.3 winner Jenny Fletcher!
(Found on the race's Facebook page.)

Laurel told me yesterday via twitter that she still couldn't squat down. The race was last Friday; this was 4 days later. Well, rest those legs, and nice job sisters!

If you want to look back on some fun Israel/Israman photos from 2014, here's my 2014 Israman race report, here's a collection of other people's Instagram photos from Israman 2014, here are my Instagram photos throughout my 9-day Israel trip (some AMAZING memories in there!), and here's a Facebook album of race photos from 2014. If you really want to look through a lot of Israel photos/posts, here's everything tagged with "Israel Trip."

p.s. Here's a post from almost 5 years ago where I met the Wassner twins.

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