Weeki Wachee River Race

February 17, 2007

Linda and I drove over to Weeki Wachee by way of Lakeland and Dade City this morning. It was about an 80 mile drive, taking 1:45. It was cool early, but by race time at 10:30 AM, the sun warmed up to 55 degrees. The 11-mile race started upriver on a very narrow stretch with probably 60 boats. There were way too many boats, so the start was very chaotic, with several flipping over right away. Among other groups, the Georgia Tech college team, Slovak Olympic team and some high schoolers all showed up in their K-1's. The river had a stiff current with some very tight turns, so there were plenty of mishaps on the way upriver.

The last mile upriver was wider and allowed you to get into a better rhythm without traffic and the tight turns. Once we made the turn at the 5.5 mile mark, the downriver segment was much more fun. The current helped me stay in the high 6's and low 7's mph and the turns were not as tough to negotiate heading down. Towards the end, I missed a turn and had to turn around for a short distance. Fortunately, the two guys closest behind me closed, but did not pass me, as I got back on course and up to speed. It was a difficult but fun course.

My time was 2:04:26 for the 11.21 mile course. Splits were: 12:17, 13:37, 12:47, 13:34, 13:14, 10:43, 9:24, 9:46, 9:09, 8:41, 9:15 and 1:52 for the last 0.21. The overall pace was 11:05 at 5.4 mph.

Afterwards, we had lunch at a restaurant across the river from the start line overlooking the water, where we also had the awards ceremony.