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<p>Taking the time to look at your race results online can be a quite humbling experience.</p><p>Just Sunday evening, I was feeling pretty good about myself.</p><p>I had completed my first Olympic distance triathlon just a couple months short of my 50th birthday.</p><p>And even though I had some aches and pains in places that had never been sore before, I was pretty proud of myself for finishing the 1,500-meter swim, 22.5-mile bike ride and 6.2-mile run of the inaugural Strive Beech Mountain Lakes Triathlon in 3 hours, 34 minutes and 18.1 seconds.</p><p>Then on Monday I thought I would take a look at the official results. It was not pretty.</p><p>I finished 78th out of 79 finishers. Taking a look at my times for each portion of the event shows why.</p><p>In the swim, I set a blazing pace, finishing in 45:47. Somehow I managed to climb out of the Lake of the Four Seasons before seven other competitors.</p><p>Things then went downhill in the cycling portion of the event. Yep, a guy who considers himself an avid cyclist, had the slowest time of all the competitors in that discipline 1:29:20 (although I blame how much the swim took out of me for that).</p><p>And I managed to finish the run in a blistering time of 1:14:40, for a 12:03 mile pace. (Just so you don&#8217;t think I&#8217;m always that slow, my pace in April&#8217;s Scranton Half Marathon was 10:30.)</p><p>Even my transition times were among the slowest of the group.</p><p>But hey, I finished and that&#8217;s the important thing. &#8230; Right?</p><p>It was a wonderful event, and it is kind of neat to have my first Olympic distance race be at a first-year event, like we kind of started this thing together.</p><p>And I can&#8217;t even begin to describe how nice the volunteers and race organizers where, especially the two kids on the run course who let me know I wasn&#8217;t actually the last runner left on the course.</p><p>I certainly will be putting the Strive event on my race calendar next year.</p><p>But the really good news is that I have plenty of time left to get better for my next race.</p><p>Yep, I have all the way to Aug. 22 to get ready for the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon.</p><p>Ah, but what would be the point of doing these races if they were easy?</p><p><strong>Unique piece of equipment</strong></p><p>David Searfoss certainly wasn&#8217;t the oldest competitor in the Strive event, but he most likely had the oldest piece of equipment.</p><p>The Wilkes-Barre man completed the bicycle portion of the event on a bike he said he bought in 1980. Back then, Searfoss said, he used the bike to get back and forth from a job he had at the Aquadome.</p><p>For those of you too young to remember, the Auquadome was a public swimming pool located adjacent to the Coal Street Park, near where the Toyota Sportsplex is now.</p><p>Searfoss said he has a more modern bike, but he likes the feel of 36-year-old machine.</p><p>He finished the race 3:15:49, completing the bike portion in 1:22.08.</p><p><strong>Best, worst parts of the day</strong></p><p>Definitely the best part of the day &#8212; other than when I actually crossed the finish line, of course &#8212; came on the second loop of the 6.2-mile run.</p><p>A 65-year-old competitor who was heading in toward to finish line while I was headed out took the time to offer a few words of encouragement to me.</p><p>&#8220;Come on, youngster. Keep going. You are doing great,&#8221; he said.</p><p>It&#8217;s been a really long time since anyone has called me youngster &#8230; a really long time.</p><p>In contrast, the worst part of the day had to be waiting for the event to start. Usually, I spend this time complaining to my good friend and running buddy Amy Feldman about how much I don&#8217;t feel like competing.</p><p>It really helps me get ready, and Amy seems to enjoy it. I think.</p><p>Unfortunately, Amy isn&#8217;t a triathlete, so I had nothing to do before the start on Sunday but worry about whether or not I would finish the triathlon.</p><p>Amy, I&#8217;m pretty sure there&#8217;s still time to register for the Wilkes-Barre event.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Times Leader Assistant News Editor Joe Soprano heads out for the bicycling portion of the the Strive Beech Mountain Triathlon on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_jogo4_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Times Leader Assistant News Editor Joe Soprano heads out for the bicycling portion of the the Strive Beech Mountain Triathlon on Sunday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_jogo1_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Times Leader Assistant News Editor Joe Soprano gets ready for the run portion of the Strive Beech Mountain Triathlon on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_jogo1_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Times Leader Assistant News Editor Joe Soprano gets ready for the run portion of the Strive Beech Mountain Triathlon on Sunday. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>TL Assistant News Editor Joe Soprano reaches goal</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Joe Soprano</p><p>Triathlon Tales</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Assistant News Editor Joe Soprano at 570-991-6393 or on Twitter @tlnews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Joe Soprano, Triathlon Tales: It’s all about finishing, Isn’t it?