Stanford's dominating performance on Sunday at Lake Almaden is worthy of exclamation. Since we raced on a Sunday AM, and I spent the past year as a professional Catholic, and I was honored with the "Divine Transitions" Award at the team BBQ, I feel comfortable saying "Holy". And since I typo-ed the acronym for this race enough times with an accidental but dangerous substitution, I now feel comfortable typing "Sjit". Thus, I say loudly:
HOLY SJIT! STANFORD TRI TEAM TURNS IN AWESOME PERFORMANCE!
At least I'm chuckling to myself about that one. On to the stats and anecdotes. Conditions were beautiful, and the field included a good number of professional triathletes and triathlon legends. 30 Stanford athletes competed. PR's all over the place and many top finishers. We had our own cheering section, and no other team or group could touch us. There's a word for that: Domination.
Full results: http://www.athleteslounge.com/results/event/2018/results.php
Studly Swimmers: Bryan E was 4th fastest overall on the swim. Adrianne was 3rd fastest woman on the swim. Top Ladies: 7-Grace; 11-Kath; 13-Adrianne 4 Men in Top 10: 2-James; 5-Charlie; 6- Byron; 9-TimH. Not far behind were 12-BryanE; 13-Simon and 18-JeffS. Photo Finish: Charlie held on during the run. Almost. At the last turn with 100m left, he couldn't hold it any longer and let loose an impressive projectile vomit. Apparently someone has priceless photo evidence. Did I say priceless? I meant to say gross. Charlie still got 4th with an awesome time. Age Group All Stars: 3-Kendall; 4- SarahL Swim, Bike... stroll? The Stanford men looked great off the bike. A pack of them zoomed into T2 and then took off on the run. We counted them all, but lost MarkB. As we looked around and figured we had missed him, he strolled up along the side of the run course wearing his sandals with a big smile. No running due to shin splints, he explained. He was satisfied with his swim, bike, stroll-and-eat-cookie. Flat Bike Course: The bike course was fast and flat. Unless you were Derek. For him, it was flat and flat. He got 2 flats and rode a good number of miles on the rim before Praj gave him another tube and a pump. User Error: Dan Golden lost his goggles on T1. He attempted to use Sherry's method of leaving cap and goggles in the wetsuit sleeve, but later realized his goggles were lost. Coach faulted Dan for "user error", rather than blaming her T1 method. Dan was still grumbling at the BBQ. Who needs goggles anyway? Friederike lost her goggles during the swim and learned she prefers to swim without goggles. When asked why, she cited "better sighting." Triathletes do it longer: First time Olympic Distance Tri for Praj, Kath, maybe others (sorry) Incrimental improvement: Sean PR-ed by 45 minutes. WOW, how did he do it? read on... The Prodigious Panchal Pajama Party: Sean hosted Praj, DanG and Adam for a carbo-loading, Clueless-watching, pre-race slumber party. Yes, 4 dudes watched Clueless. In defense of the movie, Sean explained, "She's witty, but it's subtle." Right. The manly men also attempted to watch an inspiration movie about triathlons halfway through Clueless, but Praj insisted that they must finish Clueless. SHOCKING! The WCCTC honored James with the Male Omnium Award for the best combined performance in the WCCTC races this season. He was about 156 pts short of a perfect score of 12,000. Come on, James, how are you gonna make up those extra points and be perfect next year? We expect better from you. Home Brewed "Milk": Byron supplied the post race BBQ with some of his home brewed "milk" which we all enjoyed thoroughly. Thanks to everyone who came over to my place, and thanks for the snacks and desserts! Cookies to go with the Milk: Cheri baked 80 cookies for the team! She was a great cheerleader along with Cecile. They even had signs! "There's always Cal" One of the best lines ever. The crowd was gathering for the Awards Ceremony, and the Stanford crew parked front and center. In the announcer's running banter, he called us out, let us do a team cheer over the PA, and also cracked a few jokes about Stanford. Then he said, "Well, I couldn't get into Stanford when I was young and I still probably couldn't get in." To which Kendall shouts out, "There's always Cal!" And then the announcer repeats Kendall's line over the PA, and the entire crowd collectively goes OOOOOOOOO and laughs, while the 8-10 Weenies give us dirty looks. Yes, that is Domination.