The Presidential Lakes sprint distance triathlon will always hold a special place in my heart. First of all the organizers DQ Events put on a great no frills race allowing for all levels of athlete to come out and experience what triathlon is all about which a great for the growth of the sport. Secondly if you don't fall into that category then you have the chance to compete against so of the toughest local competition from the area in a heads up race to the finish line.

As I arrived in Browns Mills for the 2013 sprint race I met up with my teammates from Philadelphia Triathlon Club (PTC) Mike and Brian. As usual there was some good pre-race discussion about anything and everything that was unrelated to the fact that we all planned on going all out for every minute of the .25 mile swim, 11 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run that lay ahead of us.

Entering the water you notice that it is a cedar lake (plenty of them in South NJ) and that there is quite a big of mud/grime that has been stirred up from practice swims and the rain a few nights before. Overall though the temperature is good and there is enough viability for a safe swim. And just just as thought thoughts leave your mind the gun goes off and you're in the thick of the race. I started towards the front of the pack and there was plenty of contact as we all sorted ourselves out coming in the the fist turn. With with a few more turns we all sprinted the last stretch of open water back to shore where I emerged covered in "lake muck" but in 12th place overall with a time of 8:18.

Knowing my teammates were not far behind me I got out of transition as fast as possible and began to power through the flat out and back bike course. During the turn around I got a glimpse of where my competition was and I knew that I'd have to stay in the 20 mph-22 mph average to stay in the race. Fortunately I was able to manage 22.5 mph for a 29:18 over the 11 mile course.

As I came into transition I knew that I was going to have to push myself hard on the run (my weakest area) to maintain my position and bragging rights over my teammates (competitive? Never). As I exited transition in a full sprint I began trying to figure out what pace I needed to hold, but threw that out the window as I a spectator down the road let me know they just saw other PTC jerseys rolling into transition. Forget strategy, put your head down and RUN.

As the road ran out and we transitioned to fire trail for the turnaround I saw both of my teammates not far behind and as we exchanged high fives I knew that they were both gaining ground on me so I did my best to pick up the pace as soon as I returned to the flat roads.

As I made the last turn and could see the finish line I pushed with whatever I had left in my legs, which was not much, and managed to cross the finish line at full stride for a run of 22:37 (7:18 pace) and an overall finish of 8th place (1st in AG).

While I was catching my breath and the finish I saw two green jerseys fighting to the finish was happy to be able to congratulate Brian and Mike as they finished 14th and 15th overall while both won their respective AG as well.

As we received our travel mugs(most useful trophy ever) for our PTC podium sweep we all got o enjoy the rest of the day knowing that as a group we came to push ourselves and would be going home with not only the hardware but invitations to race the USA Triathlon National Championships.