First race of 2008

I decided to sign up for the duathlon in Rye. With Mooseman a week a way, probably not the best idea, but why not. The race was a 3.2 run, 17 mile bike and another 3.2

On Friday night, I had a beer and a glass of wine with my dinner. Not the best prerace meal. I started to watch the Celtics and ended up watching the whole game. Take a look at the clock, midnight. Perfect, race in 6 hours!

I woke up at 5am and took care of Wonder Dog. He was a good boy, so that made it easy.

I threw on the back pack and rode to the course. I grabbed a good spot in the transition area and then went for a run to wake up the legs. On the warm up, I was a little sluggish and my stomach was noisey.

Race start - I do not want to sound like a jerk, but people need to be more considerate to those who are faster then them. I am roughly 50 people from the front and there is no way some of these people should be even close to the front. It is a narrow start shoot, without a lot of room to go around people. The gun goes off and people who run 9 minute miles are saying to each other, this is way to fast of a start. My point exactly! Move back to where the people who run 9 minute miles are. I know this sounds cocky, but I would never go to the front of a open water swim race and slow others down.

So, I go way to the outside and pass around 30 people in the first minute. My heart is jacked and I am running hard. Five more people drop behind me and I am now in the lead pack. We quickly break a way from the herd and fly down the road. This is the first time I have ever taken off in the lead pack. I usually stay in the front of the large group, but this is an awsome experience! It was so cool to be running behind the lead police car. I couldn't help thinking one of these guys is going to win and I am running with him!

We rip through the first 3.2 and I have my sights on the 14 people in front of me. Of those 14, 4 people are only running the 5K road race. So I am actually in 11th.

I fly through the transition and do a quick head count. Damn it! No one is in before me and out after me. In the first mile of the bike I pass one. I start to flirt with the idea that I might have a chance for a top ten finish. Mile 5, just passed an Ironman racer. I immediatly start to think, am I going to hard? Either way, I am now in the 9th place!

Mile 6 - Hit route 1-a (coastal road) and a wall of a head wind. It felt like there was an elastic band tied to my bike. The harder I pushed the more I stretched. Same conditions for everyone, so gotta go hard. I know my strength right now is on the bike, so I have to pour it out. I clench my teeth and push harder.

At mile 13 I see two more riders, they continue to get closer and closer. My hamstrings are screaming. My left butt cheek feels like I have a knife in it. I pass the first guy and use the emotional boost to catch the other guy. I am now in the seventh place and I see another rider.

All of a sudden I get passed by two guys!! Where the hell did they come from?? A little fustrating, but I am now in 9th place. I take a quick look behind and I don't see anyone. The rider in front of me that I have been watching, also gets taken out. Only two miles left and I can't catch him.

I cruise into the transition area and I already have my feet out of the shoes. I fly in, drop the bike off and start running. My legs feel like concrete.


Out of now where I get passed by two more guys. My friggin hamstring is screaming and I am fustrated. So I push harder and end up catching one of the two guys who got me on the bike. In my head I think I am in 10th place, when in actuality I am in 9th.




I want to be in the top ten, not tenth so I push harder and start to close on another racer. It is the other guy who passed me on the bike!

I get about 10 feet from him and pace off him for a mile or so. I think I wore him down mentally. He looked backed several times, slowed slightly and then I knew I had him. I wasn't doing it completely on purpose, but I didn't want to push to hard and pass early, just to have him return the favor at the finish line. As I passed him, we had a friendly chat and we wished each other a good run. What an amazing sport!

The last mile was a steady pace in. I knew I couldn't catch the guy in front of me and I had built a cushion for myself from any attackers.

Kind of funny side story - There were some people heading in from the bike as I was finishing. I was asked by a gentleman with a look of astonishment, "are you actually finishing this thing?" I smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He returned the smile and just shook his head.

I finished in 8th place and really proud. The training is definetly paying off.