Me and Conrad

Yeah, that's me in the photo with Conrad Stoltz! (Check out his blog - there is a link down in the sidebar of my blog) What do he and I have in common, other than the fact that we both raced the Xterra Southeast Championships in Pelham, AL today, in 100 degree heat, and maybe 100% humidity? Nothing! He is the man. Three-time Xterra World Champion, olympian in road triathlon for his home country of South Africa. He is tall, strong, fast, a freaking amazing mountain bike rider, and as nice as any person can be. After the race, we were sitting in the shade behind the awards area, and he was sitting a few feet in front of us, eating a giant plate of food. And me, being the complete dingbat that I am, walked over and asked him if I could be so rude to interupt his meal and have a picture with him. He put his plate down and stood up, shook my hand asked my name, asked about my race, and posed for this photo with me. Little old me , from Bloomington, IN! He is the man. What a super nice guy. It made my whole day! ANd what a day it was. The race was brutal for me. Harder than last year. The heat really got to me. All three disciplines were slower than last year. The swim was in an uncomfortable warm lake. At the start of the bike I washed out in a tight curve trying to make room for a couple of pros to get by, and have some nice trail rash. I drank a lot in the ride, just trying to stay hydrated, I was so scared I'd blow up on the run. This run is like no other 10k, and its even a bit short of a 10k. I'll try to find someone who has posted a elevation profile, because you just can't believe a 10k could be so brutal! SO, I sufered a lot. ANd lots of people suffered a lot. I even went to the medical tent! ok, not for an iv, or anything exciting, and it wasn't even right after the race - that was the time for the beautiful cool misting tent - every hot race should have one of these. But that trail rash - Alabama has a lot of annoying bugs, and they kept landing on my scrapes, and wouldn't leave my blood alone! so I had the med guys clean 'er up, and cover it. That's all. Oh yeah, I won my AG - slower time than last year, but its still a win, and it qualifies me for Maui again - yippee!

Big thanks to all my friends who help me train to get here, and my mom who came down with me for company, and Todd for putting up with my training addiction, I mean habit. Its all for fun. Maybe I'll have a little better race next Sunday in Richmond - not that an AG win isn't good, but just a little faster would be good.