Quad City Triathlon

Today was the annual QC Triathlon held in Davenport, IA. The weather was great, but the flooding that the Midwest is experiencing reduced the normal number of entries. Interstate 80 has been closed about 15 miles west of Davenport for the last couple of days and it doesn't look like it will reopen anytime soon.

This is the third time I have competed in the QC Triathlon. Since I am not a swimmer or a runner, I enter in the team section. Our runner, Mark has been competing in running events since he was in high school. His goal this year was to complete the running stage (3.1 miles) under 20 minutes. Good job Mark, as his time was 19:20 (12th overall).

Our swimming member, Jimmy got sick the day before the race and we made a quick substitute (14 hours ahead of race time). We were glad that a mutual friend, Muffy agreed to help us out. This was her first time competing in a triathlon. Muffy's time was 10:40 for the 600 yard swim. Good effort on such short notice.

My goal in the biking leg (15 miles) was to reduce last year's time of 44:55 by 4 minutes. This might have been a little too optimistic. I ended up with a time of 42:15.

Our aggregate time was 1:16:44, which was good enough for first place in the coed team division and first overall (teams). This year there were only 8 teams competing, which was less than previous years.

Our bike club (Melon City) had several participants in this year's event and we placed very well in the standings. This picture captures the majority of our triathletes.

This year I dedicated the race to my son-in-law, Casey; who was diagnosed with acute leukemia 5 weeks ago. He has been in the University Hospital in Iowa City since the diagnosis, but is responding well to treatment. Patti and I tried to go up and see him this afternoon, but all the roads from Muscatine to Iowa City are closed due to the flooding. Our daughter lives in Cedar Rapids and it has been under siege from the flood waters for the last 4-5 days and she has been unable to go visit Casey. With all the water we have in Iowa I am thinking it might be time for me to take up swimming. As I log this journal entry at 5:30 this evening there is a severe thunderstorm watch for our area. The news media is talking about this event as being a 500 year flood. It may be time to build the ARK.