It was another beautiful September weekend although the morning temperatures were a bit chilly. We racked our bikes on Saturday and caught the pre race meeting. Then off to Somers Point and the Historic Anchorage Tavern and Restaurant for a nice meal on the big front porch and then early to bed.
Race morning was very chilly, but it was worth it to see the beautiful sunrise over the AC skyline. Once the sun came up we warmed up and got ready for the swim. It was a time trial start off of a very small dock, but it went smoothly. The swim was in the Back Bay which is very shallow brackish water and protected. I enjoyed the swim and it seemed to go by quickly without much bumping! Getting out was a little tricky. They had a short ramp that you could climb up onto or you could use the ladder onto the dock. Neither was great, but I opted for the ladder and that was a good choice. I wore my new Xterra Velocity Speedsuit which was perfect!
The path to T1 was carpeted most of the way. This was very much appreciated because they have some pretty picky grass there. Unfortunately, there was a 10 yard or so long patch of gravel and sand that you had to ride through as you were leaving and entering the bike course. I was told that several cyclist fell in this spot. Hopefully they will correct that for next year.
The bike was pretty cool.....how often can you say you cycled on the Atlantic City Expressway...right through the toll booths!!! The course was advertised as 10 miles, but my PowerTap showed it was only 9. This was a little disappointing. Back through the gravel into T2 and on to the run.
The run course went along a few blocks of city streets and then up onto the famed Atlantic City Boardwalk. The local police were doing a great job, but traffic was a mess! The Boardwalk especially fun for me since my family vacationed there a lot when we were kids. The other exciting part was that the Miss America Pageant was in town and they held the Show Us Your Shoes Parade right there the night before!! It was an out and back course with one aid station you hit in both directions.
On to the finish line!! I felt good and really enjoyed being on the course along side my family! Melissa and Nicki won their division, Jerry had a fantastic first sprint and I took home 3rd place in my AG! There was a problem with medals at both the finish area and awards ceremony. They actually ran out of Sprint Finisher Medals and they didn't have the Relay medals. It was a shame because the medals are very cool! They gave out International Distance medals to the Sprint people that didn't get them. This was a disappointemnt to those racers wanting to document the actual race they did. Race officials did make good on sending out the Relay medals about two months after the race. I think with a few tweaks this race would be great. Right now I will rate it a B.
S 10:48
T1 3:20
B 30:26
T2 2:26
R 30:07
Total 1:17:10
PowerBar Ironman Perform on bike, 1 PowerBar Gel
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