Finally, a race other then just time trialing. This is the exact same coarse I've done several times including last Spring. It was a beautiful Fall morning for a race. As I racked my bike in the transition area I noticed that the transition area was about half the size as in the spring. I guess a lot of people were done with multisport racing for the year. I'm just starting!
The race started out fast with me being in the leading pack but sadly watching the others pulling away fast. It was hard to concentrate on my own pace instead of trying to pace with them. I'm just not a fast runner. After the first 3 miles I figured I was in about 18th place which I was happy with.
I had a little problem with mounting my bike but basically the transition to the bike went smooth and fast. Out on the bike course I was able to catch 5 people in the first 3 miles which contains the mostly challegening hills of the whole 13 miles. It took a while to get comfortable as my legs were still feeling the 3 mile run. But by about midway I felt like I was up to speed. I caught a few more people that I knew were going to be reeling me in on the last run. I needed to add a lot of time on them. By the time I got back to the transition area I was able to see the race leader heading out on the run. That meant he was only about 3-5 minutes ahead of me. Believe it or not I considered that great. See, the guy is a friend of mine as well as teamate on the Now Sport triathlon team. It also meant that I had pulled myself up to 5th or 6th place. Cool. I think I said "Hey Derrick" as we passed. Like we just happened to passing on the street.
I transitioned to my running shoes smoothing but I was not striding well. I was now paying for that extra effort on the bike. I was quickly caught by a couple guys then later on by 2 more. They just sprinted by with nothing I could do. Frustrating. By the last half mile I was completely alone on the park path. It a weird feeling to be by yourself like that in a race. It's always better to have someone to pace against even if they are creaming you.
I sprinted in alone for a 1:18 finish.
I finished 9th overall and was 1st in the mens 40-49. I turned in the the fastest bike time of the race, beating the overall winner by over a minute (he was the second fastest). That's great and all but both his running times were 4 minutes faster then me! Wow. A good race for me however I actually was faster on this course in the spring. I was hoping to better that mark.
Clearly I need to work on my running this winter. Which is fine because I really enjoy running more then biking. How ironic is that.
Here is a photo of my teammates in the race, Derrick Podratz (overall winner), Mike Davis, and me. Derrick will be heading to Italy to compete in the Duathlon World Championship. He's wearing his USA team jersey. All three of us won our catagories so we're holding up our gold metals.
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