Race Coverage

Omaha 2016 - My "A" Race...

Tuesday, 06 September 2016 23:10

By Christel Kippenhan (seecktri.wordpress.com)

1.5 km / 40 km / 10 km
So, this was it, the triathlon highlight of the year, my A-race for 2016.

Leading up to the race

The plan was for Neil King and I to make the 8-hour trip to Omaha together sometime on Wednesday before the race, spending Thursday and Friday to do course reconnaissance, taken advantage of the open swims to get familiar with the water and its temps, and to do some final workouts to somewhat get used to the Omaha weather. Then race on Saturday and support Craig Peterson in his race on Sunday, before heading back to Northern Minnesota.

Aber erstens kommt es anders und zweitens als man denkt.
(But, first it always goes differently, and second never as you expect) ...

About two weeks before the Nationals, Neil developed some pain in his foot around the ball of his big toe. A few days later he was diagnosed with a fractured first metatarsal. There went his A-race and my travel and racing partner.
I’m so thankful for great friends like Lisa and Craig Peterson. They agreed to already head to Omaha with me on Wednesday afternoon instead of following Neil and I on Thursday morning. So, instead of heading over to Fargo and down I-29; I drove to the cities, went for a shake-out run with Craig, packed their van with all of our luggage and bikes, and, as soon as Lisa came from work, we headed south on I-35 and then east on I-80 towards Omaha. Traffic along I-35 went pretty slow because of a major car crash around Austin, MN, so we did not arrive at our hotel until 1 a.m. on Thursday morning. I was ready to just fall on the bed and go to sleep. READ MORE