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Race Result

Racer: Keith Bohnenberger
Race: Worlgate - Race for Taylor Love
Date: Sunday, September 21, 2008
Location: Herndon, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 40 - 44
Time: 1:19:45
Overall Place: 23 / 105
Age Group Place: 8 / 25
Comment: It's all about Taylor



Race Report:



Stats:
Total 1:19:45
Swim: 0:05:20 (according to my watch)
T1: 0:03:34
Bike: 0:55:27
T2: 0:00:58
Run: 0:14:29

I did this race last year and met little Taylor. Taylor and her family had a big affect on me. I new I had to do this race again this year. Several of my co-employees did the race with me. We had a pretty consistent crew riding on tuesday and thursday mornings to train for the race. All together there were 7 of us. Everyone but me was doing their first triathlon. Overall everyone had a great time. A woman I work with won first in her age group and one of her sons won second in his age group ... and several of us enjoyed lunch at Jimmy's after the awards.

Well, I still can't swim. I went out way to fast and was sucking air after the first 50. I couldn't even get a push off the wall because I couldn't hold my breath. I struggled through the swim and came out of the water in 5:20. I was hoping for 5 minutes. I think I would have hit it if I started off slower which I think would have prevented me from burning out and struggling for the last 150 or so.

T1 is a walk down the steps out into the back of the worldgate parking lot. If you run, they disqualify you. I took my time down the steps and took some time to dry off because it was a little chilly. Saw Keith Jacobson who was volunteering in T1. I decided to go with the RATs racing jersey. Keith told me to represent!

As always I feel pretty rough coming out of the swim for the first several miles on the bike. Given that the race is so short and I had a Jimmy's lunch riding on the race, I tried to push the pace pretty hard. I was a little cold on the ride but felt pretty good. I saw my co-employees out on the bike course and shouted words of encouragement. I think I slowed down a bit on the return trip but overall I felt pretty good on the bike. As I came into T2 I saw Gator Jamie telling the bikers to slow down and dismount. She had a bull-horn and as I was racking my bike I heard her telling people I was a rock star. I got a big smile on my face, put my sneakers on and headed out for the run.

The run is only 2 miles so there is no time to waste. You have to hit it pretty hard and hope you can hang on. My feet were a bit frozen to begin the run but I quickly warmed up and settled into a good pace. As I got closer to the turn around I saw my co-worker that I had a Jimmy's lunch bet with. He was a few hundred yards ahead of me but$ he had a 3 minute head start on me because he was the 12th swimmer and I was the 24th swimmer. I tracked him down about half way back and finished the run pretty strong. I was hoping for a 14 minute run but couldn't quite pull it off.

I crossed the finish line and had a great time cheering on my co-workers and everyone else crossing the finish line.

I was a bit sad that Taylor couldn't make the race. With that said I am thrilled that she couldn't make it because as Mike mentioned in a previous email, the make a wish foundation sent her to disney to meet cinderalla. With all the trips to the hospital in NYC I'm sure the Loves enjoyed having the whole family together for some quality time. I continue to keep up with the news of Taylor's treatment and continue to pray for her recovery. I'm glad I got to play a small role in hooking Mike Gillette up with Love family. As he mentioned, Taylor is a truly a hero!

It was nice seeing Bradley Schultz out there on the course racing (he had a blistering bike split) and it was nice seeing Keith and Jamie out on the course volunteering.