2017 Tri Ballantyne Relay Race Report

I've heard of Tri! Ballantyne before. It's been going as long as I've been doing triathlons. Honestly though, pool swim tri's don't really interest me much.  However, when my friend Paul, the head of EPT racing asked me about doing a relay, I had to say yes. And this was only about 5 days before the race. Evidently their original runner had injured himself in a freak spatula incident.

Paul told me to pick up my packet on Friday. So I stopped by on my way home from work and got to the Morrison YMCA about 6pm.  They had packet pickup in the back and I had to walk all the way through the Y to get there.  Jones Racing had everything setup and organized, so it went pretty quickly.

Reppin'

Saturday morning
I got there around 6am.  I parked in the school parking lot next door as there was a path through the treeline.  Good parking spot, close to where you want to be, but seems like not everyone had figured that out.  The first (front) lot at the school had filled up and that back lot had not yet.

EPT and Me!

Epoch Performance Therapy Racing had a really nice setup there.  Paul does a great job with EPT for this race.  They had signups for people to bring different food and drink.  So I just hung out and talked to a bunch of people.

Our team consisted of Tall Jennifer on the swim. Paul and Chester riding the tandem on the bike and then me on the run. You could say that we kinda stacked the deck a little bit.  The tandem bike is a bit of an unfair advantage. But hey, Life Ain't Fair.

Tall Jennifer

Jennifer started the swim at 7:14am.  There were ten EPT relay teams racing. I think we were the last to start.  Everyone was together in T1 as all the teams started and were numbered in succession.  Jennifer came out after most everyone else.

 It was my job to transfer the chip on the chip strap from Jennifer to Paul.  I think I did pretty good. I wrapped it around Paul's ankle, gave it a slap and was like, Go Go Go! So they were off running through T1 to the exit.  So now I figured I had 25 to 30 minutes.  I went for a warmup and ran some with Keith, Joe, and Laura.  I did some pickups and then went back to transition for the transfer.

Land Ho!

Jennifer transferred chip from Paul to Me.  And I took off.  I started out a little fast. But in my defense, it is a little downhill.  And the adrenaline is pumping, starting there by myself in front of a bunch of my friends.

Map with Mile Markers

Once I made it out of the Y complex and made that first left, there was a lot of sidewalk.  Coming down Community House road, I saw tons of EPT bikers coming in as I was going out.  I pushed down the sidewalk and came through the first mile in 5:34, but didn't feel too bad.

We hit a little turnaround and the entrance of this neighborhood.  I slowed a bit on the uphill coming back out of the neighborhood.  I tried to push back out on the main road.  I tried to give a "medium high" five to as many EPT runners as I saw coming down the road.   I tried to lean forward and keep the pace.  I felt OK at two miles and came through it at 11:37, for a 6:02 second mile split.

After that you kinda get out into no man's land, as  you go back by the baseball fields (slight uphill) and then just turn around at the end of the parking lot.  I did kinda lose focus a little bit there before the turnaround.  When I made the turn I just tried to push for home.  After I cleared the trees and could see the finish, I pushed.  I split 6:03 for mile 3, so not too bad.

Cadence and Pace

I felt pretty spent at the finish and drank a lot of water.  I walked over and talked to some of the fellow tri guys from Fort Mill.  Then I walked back near the finish line with some of the other EPT folks.  We hung out there for a bit and then headed up to the EPT tent near transition.

I ate some food and drank some mimosas (they were actually pretty good).  Then we just hung out for a bit and ate and drank.  Some people did the body slide, but I passed. I decided to hang out for the awards.  I ran into some more Fort Mill people, which was cool.

So obviously we won the Relay and had the fastest overall time of the day.  Officially, I split a 18:01 for the 5K. Full Results HERE.  So then I thought it would be a good idea to go for a bike ride in the afternoon. But not just a stroll.  Because of the CMS TT I did on Thursday, I wanted to get in an interval ride. Yeah. Not such a good idea. It was an epic fail. I guess the TT and the 5K took it out of me.  Anyways, super glad I did both. It's always good to get some short fast stuff in to get your legs moving.

Tri! Ballantyne is a great event.  A lot of people do their first tri there.  They even have a kids' tri in the afternoon.  Fun for the whole family. Maybe I'll get something organized for next year! It would be a good time.