Survival in the Mountains

Well, I survivded a weekend of racing at 6500 ft of elevation, and camping in a tent with my girls
(Mary & Meg).
We had a beautiful, and actually quite easy drive up to Show Low, Az on friday a.m., the only real hitch in the getty up being Meg getting a little white faced from riding in the back seat of the car on very hilly roads. A little pit stop to change to the front seat and to get some dramamine, ( I tried to tell Mary before we left to give her some) and everything was peachy again.
We arrived around 10am after a three hour tour, and went to work setting up camp. 1hr later we where swimming in the 54 degree lake for a shake out swim before the race. We went followed that up with the typical packet pick up thing and then a little get together with the Phoenix Tri Club for Pasta and all the fixins, (especially Marys famous mint/chocalate brownies) and we where headed to bed by 8pm for a 4:10 a.m. wake up call.
Race morning went as planned in transistion by 5:10 a.m. all set up and ready to answer the bell at 6:30 to start the 1.2 mile swim. (not my best swim) exited the water at 33:00 minutes, oh well, gotta go hammer the bike. because of my achilles injury for the last three weeks, my plan was to go hard on the bike and just be smart on the run. "Dan this is not your "A" race".
After a very brutal bike leg with LOTS of climbing and more than your fair share of cross winds,
I dismounted with a respectable 2:41:00 split, considering that the course was long and ended up measuring 58.1 mile and not 56, I was fairly happy, only being passed by two people the entire ride. And with that off I went on the run, telling myself just take it easy and don't push it beyond about 80%. Right out of transition I heard a scream of "GO DADDY", and that always helps pick up your spirits. Lets just say I am glad that I wasn't trying to race the run leg, it was yet again very hilly. I still was only passed for good by one person the entire run, I so wanted to run him down, but stuck to my plan. BE SMART DAN!!! So I just stayed with him from mile 6 all the way to mile 12. At that point we where passing people that had went to hard early and we had run ourselves into the top 10 for sure. I told him to drop the hammer and go for it, seeing he was only 26 I wasn't really competing with him (Jesse) on that day. After one last mile of mostly down hill, with one last climb (the killer that most people have to walk up), I was through the Finish line and greated with my finishers metal (by Megan) who had volunteered the entire hot, sunny day over 6 straight hours. Mary was quickly at my side to take care of me post race. If you haven't seen me after a race, especially one at 6500ft, I generally need a little aid. Mary took care of me with water and popsicles for the next half hour or so. THANKS BABE!!!
I finished up with the 6th fastest run time even after all that, 1:38:00, not a very fast run time for me, but considering the day I was just glad to be done and with an 8th place finish overall!!
See you again next year Show Low!!!