Let's keep this ball rolling

It's been a few nights since my last entry and I wanted to pick things up quickly from where I left off. If you recall, I was rolling through some updates on the following topics:

(1) Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon in Ft. Sumner, NM
(2) Hexy finally gets his drink ware
(3) Philly Tri back home in Philadelphia, PA
(4) Traveling to San Francisco, CA and my swims in the Bay

In my last entry, I went into great detail about my amazing trip up to San Francisco to swim in the Bay with my friend Keith. Great time. If you enjoy open water swims and haven't swam in the bay yet, put it on your to do list. Right now. You'll thank me later.

Philadelphia Triathlon

I traveled back to Philly this summer to do the Philly Tri (Olympic). All the years I lived in Philly I never knew this bad boy even existed. I'm sure I was detoured around Kelly Drive due to the race at some point, but never even realized it. Go figure I moved 2,000-some-miles away before becoming interested in triathlons. Oh well. A good excuse to head back "home" regardless.

Flew into PHL Friday night and it was raining. Raining! Something I hadn't experienced in quite a while. And it wouldn't stop. What's up with that? Picked out a shiny Prius from the car rental lot, threw my bagged bike in the back seat and headed to the hotel on City Ave. Met up with my buddy Sean (who was also doing the race) downtown for a couple beers and dinner while catching up on life. After he bounced out to the suburbs I met up with some co-workers at the Urban Salon to surprise a friend at his surprise birthday celebration. It was a surprise within a surprise. After the normal debauchery, we ended up cabbing (oh, how I miss those) over to NoLibs to some hipster bar for a few more drinks and socializing before calling it a night. Luckily the change in time zones helped me keep up with the young kids.

Saturday was a relaxing day which started off with a brunch with Jon, a good friend/old coworker in Rittenhouse Square. Then headed off to the Please Touch Museum area to meet up with Sean for race check-in and to browse through the pre-race festivities. Luckily the rain had stopped and the weather was comfortable. The rain hadn't spiked up the river enough to call off the swim portion of the race. That was good news. Saturday night was quiet and ended with an early night in the sack. Was going to be an early morning Sunday for the race.

Sunday morning came fast. Race morning. Sean picked me up and by the time we parked, walked down to the transition area and found our rack, we had about 5 minutes to get everything ready before catching the last bus to the swim start. Hurry up and wait. We were practically the last wave to start so we had plenty of time to hang around (in the line for the bathroom) before we started. I think our start time was about 7:45. It was a deep-water start in the Schuylkill River. Water temperatures were over 80 deg F and wetsuits were legal but not eligible for points or rewards. Most people went without. Oh my, the river was warm. The horn went off. Go time.

Sighting in the river was a breeze. It was, for the most part, a straight shot until a "J" shape turn at the end. Didn't swim into any dead floating bodies as many people expected I would. Swim time was in the area of 1/2-hour for the 1500m current-assisted swim.

The bike course was a two-lap trek through Fairmount Park. Some decent climbs and fast flats. Was having some gear-shifting issues. After climbing a few of the hills in my small front gear I was running into some issues shifting into my large front gear to go down the hill and speed off into the flats. Was an enjoyable bike ride nevertheless. Final time on the bike was around an hour and twenty minutes.

First half of the run was in the shades along MLK Drive. Legs felt pretty good off the bike and with the exception of fighting my normal post-bike cramps/bloating, the run was decent. Around the 1/2-way mark started feeling more comfortable on my legs and picked the pace up. The second half was a bit more sunny and it was a hot sun beating down on us. My final run time was around 55 minutes. Here is the breakdown:

Swim: 30:31
T1: 4:20
Bike: 1:18:23
T2: 2:59
Run: 53:43
Total: 2:49:56

Some interesting facts:

• I beat all other participants from New Mexico. Forget the fact that I was the only one from NM.
• My time was faster than all participants with the following names: Edward, Ron and Ralph.
• There were 18 Andrews in the race, and I was the 14th fastest. 

After the race, Sean and I met up with our buddy Tom and grabbed some food and drinks at a restaurant close to the hotel I was staying after. After we split up I was out for a quick nap.

My return flight wasn't until Tuesday. I purposely gave myself an extra day in Philadelphia to soak in what I've been missing. On Monday I met some old coworkers for lunch down by my old office to catch up on the dirt. Then Monday night I had a ticket to see the Phillies take on the Pirates at Citizens Bank. Coincidentally the guys had tickets to this game in the season ticket package I used to be a part of. I checked out a few innings of the game from my seat before meeting up with the guys to hang out in the concourse. Eventually we ended up heading across the street to the new Infinity Live complex (where the beloved Spectrum used to stand). Enjoyed some beers and conversation along with the usual debauchery.

The trip came to an end too quickly. Before I knew it, I was back on a flight headed off to the desert. Spending time in Philly reminds me of all the little (and big) things that I miss about living in the city. I really should get back to visit more often.