Wednesday night was even more impressive. After hearing that Daniel's wheel had been damaged on the plane that morning, there was a fight for what little car space was left for carbon wheels. Score: 12 bikes, 10 wheels, 2 tire pumps, some seat posts, helmets etc. We waved goodbye to Dan and Adam, sending them with some Starbucks Double Shots knowing it was not likely to be enough for the 27 hour drive. Those of us without carbon wheels taped them into boxes that we had begged local bike shops for (thank you UCSD Bike shop and Sante's Dad!) We knew they were above the 62 inch size limit of American Airlines, but were taking the chance and were prepared to offer to put their logo on our shirts if they would just let us check them. Had we had to pay the $100 oversized fee, the drive across the country would have been pointless, when the cost to ship a full bike was $80. 

The rest of our group left from Lindbergh Field the following morning. Richard's truck was full of wheel boxes and roommates were recruited to drive other cars. No measuring tapes were pulled on our wheel boxes at check in. Phew. We switched planes in Dallas and met Tri teams from USC, Stanford, and Berkeley in the airport waiting to board the same flight to Birmingham.

We arrived in Alabama and caravaned in 3 PT Cruisers, think Italian Job, but not quite as cool, from the airport in Birmingham to Tuscaloosa where the race was being held near the University of Alabama. We attempted to make it to the Parade of the Olympic hopeful athletes, racing in the Olympic Triathlon Trials on Saturday after our race. However, we were only in time to see Miss Tuscaloosa sing America The Beautiful and some young dancers dressed as Madeline dance around with giant pencils...What exactly either have to do with Triathlon I'm not sure.

Dan and Adam arrived with the Prius and our bikes Thursday around midnight after 27 hours of driving...only to be woken up by housekeeping at the hotel at 9am. Friday morning we had the "continental breakfast" of Raisin Bran, milk from a fridge, the tiniest muffins ever made, and WonderBread...Adam wondered if it was bread.  

We went to the Athlete Village during the time slot for Californian teams and picked up our race packets with our numbers, caps and shirts. We unloaded our bikes from the Prius and put them together, sifting through the piles of bike parts. We headed out to ride the 2 miles to the transition area where we would start the next morning. Sante managed to get a flat about 600 yards in, not a good omen, and Lauren only had a few gears. We rode part of the course and ended back at the Athlete Village to put our bikes back in the cars yet again. Luckily we had 4 cars at this point. 

The team dropped Blair off at the transition area where she attended the Captains meeting, trying to remember all of the details and rule reminders in her head due to lack of pen and paper (no littering, keep gel wrappers on you until you get to an aid station, the swim course has been changed, waves are 4 min apart, Transition opens at 5 AM, no bib number needed on bike, medical stickers to be turned in to medical tent, no one has the Specialized D2 helmet right?)

Some of us swam in the river, and some swam in the University pool next to Olympian Andy Potts. Afterwards we regrouped for a pasta dinner with the other collegiate teams before heading back to our hotels as the rain started to come down. On the Tuscaloosa news we caught an interview of our very own Sante Kotturi, sporting his new argyle cycling jacket, sharing his wisdom and informing the world that our only hope for the morning's race was that we wouldn't get flats.

It looked as though a tornado had touched down in our hotel rooms as we all tried to get ready for the race the next day. Equipment for three sports is never easy to organize. As we put our race numbers on our caps, helmets, and bikes, Allison turned her sheet of numbers over to find that she had been given the numbers for Jessica Johnston from Berkeley. How about that for some unwelcome stress?

Race morning was sunny and dry, well at least when the sun came up. We put our race suits on halfway and filled our water bottle with Accelerade “crack” powder in the small hotel sinks. The 3 PT Cruisers and the Prius were driven to a parking lot 2 miles from the race site that would be our rendezvous after the race. Allison, Dan and Blair rode to the course from the hotel, and Allison got a flat on the way. She informed us that it was her first flat ever! Good timing eh? We fixed the flat under two headlamps on the freeway quickly, although it seemed to take an eternity as Allison still needed to get her correct timing chip and stickers. We arrived at the race site to the announcer calling for Allison Johnston, which was very convenient the first time, but worrisome when they began calling her name again after we knew she had gone to talk to them, and especially when they sent people walking through transition asking for Allison Johnston, or anyone who knew her. We were hesitant to admit we did. 

Race officials were not letting waves into the water until 6 minutes before their start time. We wanted more warm up than that, so after hearing someone say and point "Amanda Felder got in down there and swam up," Blair, Darlene and Allison headed off to do the same thing. It was good timing and all five of the Triton ladies were able to find each other in the water right before the start. Thanks to Xterra all 5 of us were outfitted in new wetsuits, and most of the men’s team raced in these suits as well.

The race was Olympic distance; 1500m swim, 40k bike, and 10k run. The sun was awkwardly low over the Black Warrior River making sighting pretty difficult. The bike was a two-loop course. With the two loops and merging of 10 waves there were 15 people every 100 meters. Thus, making focusing on riding well virtually impossible while trying to maintain legal distances from everyone. The run had three significant hills in it and ended on a winding sidewalk along the river, lined with spectators. 

      Daniel Derkacs was the first Triton to finish with a time of 2:01:00 until, for the first time in his 11 years of racing triathlons, a two minute time penalty was added making his official time 2:03:00. Daniel was the 9th Graduate student, and 30th overall, even with the time penalty. Justin Arnold was the second UCSD finisher in 87th place with a very solid time of 2:11:23. Justin also had the 27th fastest undergrad run split of the day. Dan Anderson was the third scorer for UCSD in 121st place with a time of 2:15:17. Dan has proved to be very consistent, staying in UCSD's top three every race he has done this season. The other half of the crew that drove across the country was Adam Strobl. Adam returned to Alabama after being the only male from UCSD to race in the 2007 Championship. This year Adam went 2:17:26 (146th.) Freshman Sante Kotturi raced in his first Nationals for UCSD. He followed a rough swim with a solid bike and very good run, to finish in 2:20:36 (175th.) Richard Armenta returned to Nationals after racing in 2006 in Reno, NV. Happy to be out of the water, he finished the race with the 36th fastest undergrad run split of the day, finishing in 2:24:20 (206th.) 

Our assistant coach Chris Burnham (racing for Miramar College) was 48th in 2:07:53. Very solid after having little to no run mileage all season. 

Amanda was racing with a berth at the World University Games in Turkey in mind. This spot on the team in June would come with an individual win. She did the work and won the race overall by a full minute with her time of 2:07:30. Our coach Sergio Borges will be coaching that National team and it is particularly fitting that Amanda will be there representing the US!

In just their first season as triathletes, Lauren Chiodini and Allison Johnston's finishing times make it look like they have been doing this much longer. Lauren was the second female scorer for UCSD. After a rough swim she came back with an awesome bike and incredibly fast run, finishing the race in 2:20:17 in 15th place overall. It may not have seemed like it was going to be Allison's day at 5 AM that morning, but Allison put together a consistently strong race and was the third and final scorer for the team in a time of 2:21:18, 19th place overall. Her ability to set aside the chaos of the morning reflects her mental strength to focus and just get out and race. 

Darlene came out of the swim in great position near the front of the field, but unluckily got a flat on the bike. She was able to continue and ended the race with an awesome 10k run and what looks like could have been a significant personal best without the flat. Her final time was 2:28:06 (41st.) Blair put together a solid race, having personal best bike and run legs finishing with a PR time of 2:28:57. But Blair didn't make it anywhere near 11 years without a penalty, her first made her official time 2:30:57 (56th.) 

After some mingling with each other, the Felders and Pawson/Ryan family members who came to support us, we met back at the Prius to load it up so that it would be ready to leave early the next morning. We then spread ourselves around the course to watch the most elite in our sport race for a single spot on this summer's Olympic team. 

That night at the Collegiate awards ceremony we got to see Amanda go up twice on her own: once for being the Overall National Champion, and again for being the overall Graduate winner.  The men's team was 16th overall out of 50 teams. As the women's team results were announced we heard the gap between 3rd and 4th place was just 2 points, and the gap between 3rd and 2nd was only one. I would be interested to see what our heart rates were when they announced second place. It was not us. We had won. For the first time in UCSD history, our Women's team won the National Championship. 

With a Men's score of 238 and a Women' team score of 35 we were 7th in the overall combined team competition of 45 teams nationwide!

We discovered that American Airlines will let you take a 5 foot long championship poster as a 3rd personal item. There is plenty of room in the coat rack at the front. Keep an eye out for it in RIMAC. 

For innovative ways to stay awake on ridiculously long drives talk to Adam, and be sure to ask for a demonstration. It is quite entertaining.

Thank you to everyone who sent their support in various ways, and for those of you who get us out of bed, onto the track, into the pool, and on our bikes every day.