Lake Dunmore: The Complete Race Report

So much to say... this might be a long one folks. Let's break this up a little...

First - A new member has joined the ranks of team scrappy this weekend, and I think the story is worth mentioning. Meet Josh. (this picture will also be his profile picture... on our newly created members page.)


You might add the caption "What the frick did I get myself into..." to this picture - and you'd probably do so with good reason. You see, two weeks prior to this picture, Josh's life was simpler for two reasons:
  1. He had not yet decided to do an olympic distance triathlon with absolutely no training.
  2. He had not yet met he Nichols family or the Dunne family.
And yet, here he was, Saturday night, sitting at dinner the night before his first ever triathlon with the Nichols and Dunnes eating dinner at a restaurant in the middle of no where that was described as having ambiance, and yet had a "snack bar" that served soft serve ice cream attached. The next morning Josh woke up to complete a race, never having swum laps, riding someone else's bike with CLIPLESS PEDALS and shoes that were two sizes too big, and only having run 6 miles twice since he decided he was going to do the race two weeks earlier. As we mentioned in the previous entry - mission accomplished. Bravo Josh - bravo indeed. You are welcome to post details of your experience any time, as you are now officially the third member of team scrappy.

Next - Some stories of a weekend filled with wonderful experiences.
Of course these experiences centered around our favorite race, the race that has now served as first triathlon to two of our three members. We thought it was appropriate to volunteer this year, and help out with preparations. You know, give back to a race that has given us so much, or something corny like that. Jerrod Rushton (the other "Gered with a J") really has preparations for Lake Dunmore down to a T, but he certainly lacks the free help he deserves. If you have done this race, or are considering doing it next year, consider volunteering too. If first and second place (Gered and I) had the energy to spare, so do you. Honestly, it's pretty fun to play another role in such a fun race, and Jerrod is one of the nicest people you could get to know.

Anyway - camping!!! Camping is a great installment to this trip. We did it two years ago, and loved it. I think last year, we got a little wimpy and worried about how it would affect our performances. I'm not sure sleeping in a bed last year did much, because I think Gered and I were both happier with our performances this year. In fact, camping proved to be a fantastic distraction to the day-before-adrenaline-rush. I honestly didn't give much thought to the race until the morning of. I won't tell you where we camped, because there are only about a dozen sites, and I don't want people snatching them up before we get there, but I will tell you that if you find a place to camp - it has the potential to add a lot to the experience.

Last - Making friends has been fun. Great race to Chris Coffey and his brother Cory, Kevin Bouchard-Hall, Gary Snow, Ike Tucker, and others! It was a pleasure meeting you all. You're all fierce competitors, and we look forward to racing with you all next year.