once again I found myself on the beach of Lake Quassapoge waiting for the starting gun to fire. 

I asked myself “are you ready? Can you dig deep enough?” 

I took a deep breath and tried again “I am ready” I told myself “I will dig as deep as I need to to finish the task at hand. I will find a way to smile when it gets tough. I will make it passed each bouye, sight for the next one and finish strong!”   

3…2…1..GO! Have a great day racers was the last words I would hear from announcer and voice of Challenge Triathlon (Americas) Sean English. For now….   

Pulling those knees high I walked till the water was about chest high and dove off toward the first swim marker. What felt like longer than it should I reached marker one. Fists & feet were flying around me so moved to a more inside track. Market two down…now the turn….a quick torpedo turn…”hey this is going well,” I think to myself “I always race Quassy well.”  A third down and heading toward the second set of markers and then the final third and start sighting the big water slide to head for swim exit. 

Standing up for the first time I always feel like Bambi trying to run on ice in that cartoon. I do my best to quickly find my way up the ramp and to my bike. 

I don’t know why or how but I always have the longest T1s. No clue what I’m doing in transition that takes so long. Must be all the autographs (ha! Yeah right!)

Helmet, bike gloves, sunglasses, cleats and nutrition! Let’s roll!  Pictured above are those famous Quassy hills! Man they really can eat you up and spit you back out. Turn after turn this course keeps you honest and will humble even those most accomplished triathlete. 
The new run course this year kept things fresh and I swear the Challenge team added more hills just because they could! 

Race support was great and I tried my best to contribute to the atmosphere by cheering on everyone who passed me (there were a lot of them) and I remembered to thank the volunteers and even picked up some trash on the course. 

The party was at the finish and I was determined to get there. I ran harder than normal and I probably didn’t need too either. I technically should apply my tried and true run 4mins walk 1min but the voice inside my head told me only walk the aid stations. Eventually I made my way there. I stumbled into the finish shoot surprised to still have a little in the tank.   

I couldn’t have done anyof this without the support of my wife, friends, teammates, and of course The Challenge Family and all our fantastic sponsors Powerbar and PBTeam Elite, TriSlide, BlueSeventy, Polar Waterbottles, C4, and The Challenge Family.