Ghost Town Triathlon

Howdy y'all! We did the Ghost Town Triathlon yesterday and it was a blast! It is a pretty new triathlon, yesterdays race was only the second one ever held! But for being so new it was very well run, even when the race staff ran into construction problems they rerouted the bike course and it all turned out great!

So let's start reviewing this race, first to the swim. The swim was a pool swim, not my favorite to be honest, whenever possible I try not to sign up for races in the pool, I used to not feel this way. I'm inherently scared of deep water, especially water that I can't see the bottom of and the creepy, scary, monsters that live in said water. But when you live in Utah and you want to get an earlyish season race in most of the time it's in a pool. Ok, well now that I got all that out... sorry! So we started off by getting in a line depending on how fast you can swim, so we had to ask the people around us what their time is, I'm not a huge fan of this because people often often say they're faster than they really are or they say they're slower then they really are and this creates log jams in the pool. Since you swim two lengths each lane and then go under the lane lines it gets hard to pass people because of the traffic. We learned our lesson from our races 3 years ago when we said we were slower then we really were, this time we put ourselves up towards the beginning and we didn't have any problems.
Thankfully the swim is short, only 300 yards, pretty much anyone can do this! It may not be fast or pretty but anyone can do it!

We pushed hard the whole time it was real quick, and BOOM just like that we were off to T1! Now here is a major tip!!! Get to the race early, we got there at 7am and the race started at 8:30 am. This

gave us enough time to get a good spot on the bike rack, our transition area set up, pick up our timing chips, and warm up all 3 disciplines. This race is on the small side which is nice so the transition area is fairly small so it is easy to find your bike and get off and started onto the bike course.

The Bike Course!

Brady's favorite discipline, mine.... not so much! The course this year was a three loop 12.9 mile course due to construction and it was surprisingly hilly, nothing crazy but looking at the course on the map makes it look completely flat but let me tell you it is not! The course takes you through mainly neighborhoods with volunteers and police officers at every turn so it is pretty impossible to get lost. However the course is not a closed course, I learned this the hard way on the first lap when a car decided to turn at the same time as I did, my turn ended up being wider than I intended it to be and

I got a whole lot closer to the car than I would have liked to. I literally was touching the car with my arm and leg but I pushed off and just kept riding. On a side note I actually biked the best that I ever have in a race, surprising I know but it was good and FREEZING!! Our hands and feet were numb in T2 and it was tough to get our shoes tied!

The Run!

The run course is an out and back!! YES! I love out and back courses because you get to see the other racers and can cheer each other on as you are running! It starts on a slight down hill which really helps when you are trying to get feeling back into those freezing bike legs! The down side of this is that the finish is up this same very long gradual up hill street. Let me just tell you the last quarter mile we were like "come on I should be closer!" haha but the finish is worth it!

The Finish!

This is the best part, I mean you get a cowboy hat and a medal right as you cross the finish line! Another great thing is that this year they gave you free pizza! Woodfire grilled pizza, delicious! The medals are great and they give plaques to the top three winners in each age group and next year they are also giving awards for fastest swim, bike, and run! Pretty much everyone comes out a winner at the Ghost Town Tri!

We had a great time, this was Brady's first race in 3 and a half years so he was nervous but he did great! We both finished first in our age divisions which we were super pumped about! If you are looking for a small race with BIG personality this is the race for you!