Seeing black...and Orange....

Race #2 completed.  Let me tell you, it was easier said than done in the "European heat wave"!  With temperatures soaring into the mid-30's it made for a HOT run!  I had an excellent start in the swim, a solid bike where not much happened and then was first out of T2....I knew it was going to be a hot one, so I figured it was an all or nothing type deal...either I went for it and felt like a million bucks in the heat or I went for it and blew up in the heat.  Well, it ended up being somewhere in the middle, not a great run but not a bad run for the conditions and how I felt (the run course was apparently ~10.5k).  I hung on, just as I started seeing stars and things were about to fade to black, for an 8th place finish!  I also missed out on being Dutch Champion (a feat I have yet to conquer!), a young Dutch girl had a great day and ran up from the second pack to finish 5th overall.  Things are looking great for the Dutch women this season!

After the race I was driven down to the south of country to stay and train with the young Dutch team.  On sunday night we all went to the town center to watch the football game.....here is the sea of Orange....

It was too bad about the outcome, otherwise there would have been quite a party around the country!

Up Next:  The Hamburg ITU World Championship race series event on July 18th.  This one is at a decent time and should be covered live, click here.