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Ryan Hunter-Reay goes from worst to almost first at Pocono Raceway

<p>If you&#8217;re attempting to complete a triathlon, it&#8217;s probably not a great idea to work a night shift before the event.</p><p>And I can tell you from personal experience, it&#8217;s also not a great idea to spend most of the night before the race up with an upset stomach.</p><p>But that&#8217;s exactly what happened to me the night before my attempt at finishing the Olympic-distance version of the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon.</p><p>I arrived home from work not feeling my best, but thinking a few hours of sleep and I would be as good as new. I was wrong.</p><p>Within an hour of trying to go to sleep, I was dealing with some pretty serious discomfort. It kept me up for most of night, but I did manage to hide the fact that I vomited from my wife.</p><p>I&#8217;m pretty sure, she would have kept me from competing if she knew that. (She would have probably had to call my mother to do that, but let&#8217;s all be happy it never came to that.)</p><p>Finally, around 3:30 a.m. or so, I figured I would give it one last chance to get some sleep, and see how I felt when my alarm went off in a little under an hour.</p><p>I did wake up feeling a bit better, but still not 100 percent. But since my bike was already at Harveys Lake, I decided I would just head to the race and see what happened.</p><p>And somehow, on an empty stomach with just about an hour of sleep, I managed to complete the 1.5K swim, 40K bike ride and 11K run.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t pretty at times, but finish I did.</p><p>In a familiar spot, too &#8212; next to last place. I finished in 4 hours, 2 minutes and 54 seconds, nearly a half hour slower than my time in the Strive Olympic Triathlon three weeks ago, but both the run and bike were shorter in that event.</p><p>Still, it was good enough to complete a quest that I began in January of 2015. Back then, I set a modest goal of finishing the sprint-distance version of the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon.</p><p>When I started, I could barely run a mile, and when I did, it was a pace so slow calling it running was generous.</p><p>I worked hard and reached that goal in September 2015 and almost immediately decided that I should take a shot at the Olympic distance.</p><p>Since that time, I&#8217;ve run countless local runs, started a Sunday tradition of long runs with my good friend Amy, finished a half marathon and done two Olympic distance triathlons.</p><p>And now, I will get to retire my Triathlon Tales column. (Well, until the public outcry demands its return.) Trust me, though, I won&#8217;t be stopping doing triathlons any time soon.</p><p>There is a lesson to be learned here, however. It&#8217;s if you have a goal you want to accomplish as long as you set your mind to it, you can accomplish it.</p><p>Even if a bad stomach and a late night at work try to get in the way.</p><p>Well, that and the fact that there is a huge difference between a sprint triathlon and an Olympic distance one.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Joseph-Soprano-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Soprano </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Joseph-Soprano-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Soprano </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_js2_faaCMYK.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">----------------Fred Adams|for Times Leader 8-21-16</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_js2_faaCMYK.jpg</photo1><caption1>----------------Fred Adams|for Times Leader 8-21-16</caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Joe Soprano</p><p>Triathlon Tales</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLnews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Triathlon Tales: Not exactly the way it’s supposed to be done