Bryan Brosious: Janet Clarkson Memorial Triathlon

~In Memory of Janet Clarkson~

"This One Is For Janet"

Sometimes in life we have moments that we try and stretch, prolong and make last. Moments that play in our minds both before and after the actual happening. The Janet Clarkson Triathlon is one of the those moments. It is a very special race that is put on for a very special reason, the memory and celebration of the all too short life of Janet Clarkson. After winning this race last year I had the opportunity to become familiar with Janet's story from her parents, family, and friends. I knew coming back this year that the race would not be for me and my personal fulfillment, this year's race was for one reason, my race was "For Janet." That was my motto leading up to the race, throughout the race itself and up until writing this post. I know Janet would be doing the same things; running, biking, and swimming if she was still alive.

Needless I had a lot of personal pressure riding on this race, pressure to do justice for my motivation, "For Janet." Most people did not know of my "For Janet" personal motivation but I was surprised how many people remembered me from the 2008 race, must have made a good impression, pressure to live up to them again this year.

Throughout the race I was getting updates on time in comparison to last year. "Forty-three seconds ahead of last year," was what I heard while riding by an aid station on the bike. I heard similar updates throughout the race. A lot of people were cheering for me to break my 2008 record, and I really wanted to deliver for them. I felt like maybe my effort to go faster than last year may inspire those watching, even if it was just one person, to "go for it" in some unrelated aspect in their life, maybe even convince them that they can do it too...like convincing them to sign up for this race next year.

Overall I had an amazing day, it was hard, but I thought of Janet not having the opportunity to race with us, and all those people cheering for me and willing me to eclipse my previous record, when I felt tired on the run. I am happy to say that I smashed my old course record of 1:30 by three minutes, clocking a 1:27.

Upon reaching the finish stretch I saw the clock and knew I had "killed it." I checked over my shoulder and slowed to a walk. I was bound to enjoy the fleeting moment of racing, and winning- I train thousands of miles and hundreds of hours every year, all in an attempt to collect all the satisfaction in the 10 seconds it takes to go through the finish chute. Let me tell you, it's worth it, some days it does not seem that way, but in the end it always is. -I let the cheers fill my ears, the people cheered so loud, even as a center-stage, attention-seeking person, I felt a bit awkward having so much attention and noise coming my way.

**Satisfied of what I was able to do. I plodded across the finish line with my head tilted back and smiling because I did Janet's memory justice. Janet's father (race director) was waiting at the finish line for me, I grabbed his hand and quietly said, "that was for Janet." He replied with a "thank you Bryan," and a hug.

I feel very lucky to do what I do, whatever that may be. I had an amazing trip and race with Mackenzie, who also took the women's overall, and my parents. Two more special fans I had that I want to mention is the Waldrons. Mr. Waldron is the former fire chief where I grew up, it was his actions that saved my parent's house and neighborhood from a wildfire a few years back. He will always be a hero in my book. He's known me since I was little so it was nice to see him and Mrs. Waldron again.

**Plus, can't leave out my girlfriend Corrie, she's starting to get the hang of the whole triathlon lifestyle, she's very supportive, she has been to three races and I have won them all...lucky charm? I think so. She's always waiting for me with some Recoverite or a bottle of water, very nice. I won't mention that she woke at 4:45am to travel to this race because it might make her realize how much "craziness" she is enduring. :)

**Me and Mackenzie...and Quintana with our overall awards.

**Family portrait...yeah!

**Picture of me and Mackenzie with our dear friends the Clarksons! (Janet's parents) So how about the race? Well we left our house at 5am as to make it in plenty of time for the start...all 5 of us, 1 dog, and two bikes. A stop at the bakery, some wicked driving by yours truly and the Tahoe rolled into West Yellowstone in style. We unloaded our items into transition, greeted the Clarksons and all those people that recognized me from last year, before we applied the body glide, pam, wax ear plugs, no fog, and suited up.

The water in the lake was the coldest I have swam in this year, very chilly. After catching my breath that was stolen by the cold water, I swam about a 500 yard warmup, I knew that I was going to swim very well today. We exited the water and waited for the start and subsequent mad dash -n- splash swim start.

**Waiting for the scuffle to unfold...I feel like a dork in my wetsuit and swim mask

When the gun went off I hit the water, ran thigh deep and dove in with a head first stream line, cold water breached the neck seal on my suit...cold! I had swimmers around me matching my pace for about a hundred yards, I thought they were going to swim with me so I was determined to make them suffer if they tried. At 300 meters I had gone clear and was swimming well. I have been swimming very well this year, at a pace that is much faster than I previously could, add in the cold water dissipating all my body heat, I was able to swim very hard and break a gap before the turnaround at 500 meters. A group of three had broken off the main field and was sticking together about 30 seconds back of me and probably 45 seconds ahead of the pack.

Usually I would slow down and swim easy after opening a gap, but like I said I knew I was going to have a great swim, I kept what seemed to be torrent pace, but I never felt tired or any hint of fatigue so I kept swimming. It wasn't long before I entered the marina, my swim gap had busted wide open and stuck at a minute plus.

I hit transition one, deviated from my normal protocol by putting my shoes on at my spot instead of on the bike. It was less than a minute before I was on my bike and hammering.

My goal was to be completely out of view from those chasing by riding super hard until the first aid station. I rode extremely hard, way above threshold until aid station one. I couldn't see anyone behind me but the trees and corners only allowed for a 20 second view at the max. I backed off the pace at the aid station and settled in. I chose to ride a soft tire this year to hopefully cling the dirt better in the corners, had a few missed turns last year and wipe outs. In retrospect I did not budget for the rain soaked dirt that held the tire's grip tight this year. The wet dirt this year would have warranted a higher tire psi, I could feel a little too much friction with the low psi, but it was too late to change, I continued to ride.

I made it past the other three aid stations riding hard and swerving from side to to avoid the mud (I hate to mess up my triathlon clothing kits). I was counting down the miles until T2. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13...getting close. A gentleman told me I was ahead of my previous time as I made the final corner before coming in side saddle for the dismount. The crowd was loud.

I put on my running shoes and visor and started to exit T2. To my surprise a lady jumped right in front of my running path and shouted, "how does it feel?!" Hhm...I'm not a rude person, but my initial thought was how the heck do you think it feels, I probably have Hammer Gel, spit and sweat all over my face, I have 10 rocks in each shoe and I have to run my guts out for 30 minutes...that was too long to say so I had to settle for a brilliant reply as I sped out of transition, "it doesn't feel good." ha ha.

It's no secret this year has not been friendly in terms of the run. I still run fairly well considering my situation. I had no idea who was behind me or how close they were. I know there are fast runners at this race, and I saw a lot of fast bikes in transition before we started.

Eh, can't do anything about faster runners, I just focused inward, this was "For Janet" and I was going to win. Mile one came easy, running well, mile two, little bit tougher. I didn't see the sign for mile three so it seemed incredible long, let's face it the run always hurts, it's never fun, if it is you probably are not running hard enough. Mile 3 and 4 on the run share the last miles of the bike so I was passed by cyclists finishing their race. I did my best to muster a "good job" to those that cheered me as they passed.

I ran a little scared mile 3 to 4 because that was longest run of the year territory. I could feeling a tightening in my knee, not pain, and most likely a phantom feeling in my mind and not in my knee, but still uneasy. I hit mile 4 hurting but still going fast, someone shouted "you are going to break the record!" I had no watch so I kept going.

At 4.1 miles I could see the finish chute, and 4.15 I saw the clock, checked behind me and slowed to a walk. A man yelled, "don't stop yet, you can do it!" Buddy, I am not walking because I'm physically tired, I am walking because I worked years for this moment, a moment that lasts a fraction of time, a moment that is never guaranteed, a moment that few ever achieve, a moment that is so rare in life that 99.9999999 percent of the satisfaction in this moment can only be held for seconds; the rest is lived in memory, a moment that was "For Janet." I could go on but you all know what comes after this moment, you read about it at the begining of this post, thanks for reading.