AZ State TTT Championship - RACE REPORT

In typical fashion, my alarm goes off stupid early.....2:51AM to be exact.  Yeah, that's right, 2:51.  My snooze button gives me an additional 9 minutes of slumber.  I set the coffee timer the night before and double checked that it should start brewing around 2:45AM, but what I didn't check was the current time on the coffee machine itself.  Because of my oversight, no go-go juice was waiting for me once I arrived downstairs.  Not off to a good start.  I flip the switch, sit down in front of the tube, and press play on the DVR.  I wasn't able to stay up and watch my Arizona Wildcats football game the night before, so I figured I'd catch up this morning.  Side note here....I'm not sure what is better, watching the game live and experiencing the highs and lows, OR watching on the DVR.  If I watch it on the DVR, not only can I fast forward through the commercials, I can fast forward until it looks like something happened (TD, field goal, turnover, etc).  Somewhere during the 2nd quarter, the coffee maker signals me that she is done brewing.  No, we haven't run out and purchased one of those fancy K-Cup makers that everybody has....we are doing just fine with the same maker we've had since our wedding 11 years ago.  Anyway, I pour a cup and grab a left over doughnut from the kids juice/doughnut/bagel sale the day before.  Chocolate with chocolate icing and chocolate lava inside.  After another cup of coffee, and another quarter of football, it's time to relax in "my office."  I peruse a few triathlon magazines and a few swimming ones too.  In fact, there is also a Sig Sauer brochure, of all of their weapons, in there as well.  Before I know it, I've spent too much time rereading the same articles that I have been for the past month and looking at the same guns.  It's go time.  I assemble what little items need to go (I did most of the major packing the night before) and head out the door to be at James' house by 4.  I pick him up without much fanfare and we head off to rendezvous with Ben.  Dave stayed at a hotel with his wife near the race course, so he was on his own.  We pick up Ben and head off into the still very dark morning.  As the sun started to shed light on our surroundings, we could see a number of ominous clouds lurking near by.  In fact, some of them were clearly letting some rain fall down.  We get closer to our destination and the nerves kick in again.  The three of us stop at a convenience store and promptly lay claim to various stalls in the bathroom.  I take up residence in the last stall, while James occupies one two over.  Ben takes the one between us.  James and I carry on a conversation like nothing else is going on.  We finish, wash hands, James grabs a coffee, and we see Ben outside.  Um, yeah, that person in the stall between us?  No idea who that was.  Dude must've thought we were creepers for sure!  On the way to the race sight, it is very clear that it has been raining for quite some time and there is the possibility of another storm moving in.  Finally, we arrive, Dave follows close behind, we set up, and start warming up.  Unlike last years 15-20 minutes, we wanted a good 30-45 minutes of trainer time.  The rain started coming down good now.  In fact, it was coming down sideways, so I had to move my bike/trainer so I wouldn't get drenched.  Finally, it was time.  With fitness in the bank, a full summer's worth of practicing, and all warmed up, we head to the start line.  I run into two athletes that I coach at the swim studio, who are both training for IMAZ 2013, and just about die laughing when I see them.  These goofballs love to have fun and their "kits" definitely demonstrated that today.  Each had on a Hawaiian shirt and cut-off jean shorts.  Classic.  Anyway, we finally get to the front line and it's our turn.  After this, there really isn't much more to say, so this will be quick.  After a few pulls, Dave promptly drops out.  I had no idea why, but after the race was over, I learned that he got a flat tire just 3 miles in.  Damn.  Another year, another 3 man TTT in a 4 man TTT event.  Oh well, flats happen, it wasn't his fault, and that's just racing.  Me, James, and Ben ended up turning in a time of 58:08 (25.6 mph ave).  Compare that to our 2012 TTT with Carlos (57:02 / 26.3 mph ave) and to our state TTT last year with Joel (59:11 / 25.2 mph ave).  You can clearly see that having a 4th person cuts approximately 2 or 3 minutes off the time (the only time we actually had all 4 was the regular TTT with Carlos).  This year, we finished 4th out of 7.  Technically, I guess you could say we finished 3rd because the 1st place team was from Mexico and not state eligible.  While they weren't eligible to win state, and the state jersey, they still get the 1st place medal.  That means we missed the podium by about 2 minutes.  Well, hopefully next year, we will have it together again and finish with all 4 teammates.  Seriously, I think that I'd look pretty good in an AZ State Championship jersey, don't you?!?!

This year, as opposed to last year, we came prepared:

Me warming up:
 

The team warming up:
 

It wasn't ideal TTT weather:

Awesome:

Waiting to get under the starters tent:

Getting closer.  That team in front of us (Octane) ended up winning the state championship because the 1st finishing team was from Mexico and, therefore, not eligible to win said title: 

We are up next!:

We started off with four:

But ended with only three after Dave flatted at mile 3: