Hey everyone!



Sorry it has been awhile since I sent out an update to everyone, but as per usual, it has been extremely busy. Right after Mexico I had my last round of midterms to finish up and that lead right into the week of finals (I know, midterms…three of them…it kind of defeats the purpose of the name). As a result I was pretty swamped for a couple of weeks back-to-back. However, that didn't prevent me from getting even closer to the end of my college career, a race in Memphis, and a sweet little bit of news about my summer.



With the conclusion of this spring's semester here at the University of Wisconsin, I became a graduating senior. That means that I have one more semester of classes to go and I can graduate (13 credits to be exact). It is a pretty nice feeling. Also, since I have gotten quite a few inquiries on this, my official majors are Economics, History, and European Studies. Yes, it is quite a mix, but I did what I enjoyed, and anyone starting college that is reading this, I suggest doing the same. It makes the college experience so much more enjoyable.



Two days after finishing my last final (which was worth over 50% of my grade…) I found myself in Memphis, TN for the long-standing Memphis in May Triathlon. My little sister, April, came along for this trip which was a nice little treat—in part because she did some of the driving!  She actually came not for the race itself, but the barbecue that is a key component of the Memphis in May Festival that lasts the whole weekend right on the river front.



As for the race itself though, it didn't quite go as planned. The race holds sentimental significance to me as it was my first Olympic distance triathlon that I ever competed in. It was also the first time I went sub-2 hours in a triathlon as well. It was, this time, going to be my first ever non-drafting professional race. All of my professional racing to this point had been done on the ITU, and therefore draft legal, circuit. Minus the fatigue from a long couple weeks of cramming and studying until my eyes nearly bled, I was feeling pretty well.



Now, when I race on the ITU circuit, the races don't normally start until late in the afternoon to accommodate a more spectator friendly atmosphere. I like this as I am more of night owl than a morning person. However, since this race has a large amateur contingent (over 1,700 people) in conjunction with the professional portion, we race early. In fact, we start before the amateurs do, so that meant at 7:30am, so we were out of bed at 5:00am…early.



It was surprisingly warm out for that early in the morning, but this race has a reputation of getting very hot, very quickly. The other unique fact of this race is that we start in a time-trial fashion. That means for the professionals we go one at a time on a ten second interval. I was the third person to go. My swim went pretty well, though it wasn't anything to brag about having not been able to swim much in the past three weeks. But, that wasn't much of a concern as the bike course here was very flat, and by far one of the fastest courses around. Thanks to Machinery Row Bicycles I was riding a stellar Trek TTX that was tricked out and set-up to fit me perfectly. I knew I was going to rock the bike. I was rocking the bike to until about mile 13 when my front tire blew. Yep, I got a flat. In race like this, a flat tire means you're out of contention for anything, not to mention I ride tubulars which are glued on and therefore hard to replace on the fly. My race was done :/ The worst part was that I had been averaging over 27mph at that point.



It was quite demoralizing, but as my sister and teammates pointed out, I didn't end up in the medical tent this time.



Now, I wouldn't want to end on a sour note, and thanks to a phone call on Friday I won't be.



Zoot Sports, a triathlon/running/swimming/biking apparel company based in Vista, CA just happened to be looking for a summer intern. Now, since the internship I was planning on having in Chicago fell through due to major mistakes on the part of individual in Chicago offering it (namely going the terms of the internship from paid to unpaid, housing to no housing…two weeks before it was to begin), I was looking to find work around Madison, most likely as a bartender or for a small security firm as a ad consultant. My good friend Brad Culp from Triathlete Magazine though was holding onto my resume on the off chance something would pop up out there.



Zoot got a hold of me early last week and by Friday we had worked out the terms of an internship in the marketing department of Zoot Sports (www.zootsports.com). This means I'll get to spend the majority of my summer (June 17th to August 12th) in sunny San Diego working and training. As most of you probably know, I love that area of the country and have been trying to find a job out there or some other means to make that my new stomping ground. This is the opportunity.



So, as always, everything is happen like a whirlwind on my end. I love that! I like the adventure and rapid fire pace of things. It keeps you on your toes and guarantees that you never get bored! Now, if you're out in the San Diego area this summer at all, please, drop me a line!



I'll be out in Colorado and Utah for a couple races the weekend of June 14th before heading to San Diego directly from Denver and my coach's (who I can't say enough good things about) house. I promise to keep everyone updated as the internship progresses, as I am sure it will provide for many good experiences and tales to tell. Look for another update prior to my departure for Colorado and then again after that weekend's set of races.



Last of all, thanks to Wolfman (that really is his name!) for letting my sister, my teammate Tate and I crash at his place for the weekend of Memphis in May. Also, thanks to Machinery Row for the outstanding bike support and to Power Bar for their continued product and nutrition advice/support.



Stay in touch everyone, and check out www.kamnetz.com for photos of the past races.