Waking up this morning at 6 a.m. my head was pounding and my nose running. Although my throat was scratchy I jumped into a hot shower and pulled on my race day clothes (long sleeved wicking shirt, t-shirt, running shorts, racing socks, Detroit Tigers cap, and my "lucky" sweatshirt, an Oral Roberts University sweathsirt purchased for $5 at a Champion Sports outlet) and made myself a cup of tea. I had not yet decided if I would compete today, but woke my wife up anyway so that she could get ready to come with me. She is my "team" and I always perform better when she accompanies me to the meets.
As Anne got ready, I loaded the bicycle onto the rack and took a quick trip to the supermarket for some bottled H20 and a Clif Bar (yum!). Driving to the field on this cool, very fall-like morning, I debated whether or not I would even compete today. To add to my uneasiness, I was also nervous about my equipment. While I have a really nice Giant brand hybrid bicycle (kind of like the one picture to the left, below), I observed while viewing some pictures from last year's race, that very few bikes looked like the one I have. When we arrived at the park, Anne and I decided to check out the transition area. As I suspected, my bike was indeed very different than those of the other competitors, but we figured "what the heck," and I decided I would give it a shot.
We got the bike set up in the area, and arranged my stuff (helmet, my daughter's old Power Puff Girls towel, three bottle of H20) on the ground for use during the transitions. It was at this time that, considering my health, I began to think about running/biking the Super Sprint (2m R/10m B/2m R), rather than the Formula One (2m R/10m B/2m R/10m B/2m R) I had signed up for.
There was a really large number of people competing this morning, but the best thing about road racing is that everyone involved is very pleasent and supportive of one another. (This and many of the races I participate in our orgnaized by Yellow Jacket Racing and Fleet Feet Sports Rochester. These folks do a great job in creating a warm supportive experience for athletes at all levels.)
The first 2 mile cross-country running stage went pretty well for me. It was great to run again, which I hadn't run since the marathon a few weeks ago. I also hadn't run a cross country race since the spring at which time it was about 90 degrees and 100% humidity. Today was much more comfortable. Running through the woods and up and down the dewy glens was oddly relaxing, especially in light of what was to come.
The 10 mile biking stage was incredibly challenging. Just as I thought, my bicycle put me at a slight disadvanatge. It was frustrating as I tried to pedal up and down the sloping road (switching gears at the appropriate time) and watched as those whom I had easily passed during the run glided by me. It was a great application for anything I could remember from highschool Physics (which isn't much.) Given the size of my bike (and my monstrously long arms!)I could not get my torso any more parallel to the ground than an 80 degree angle, which meant that I was almost sitting straight up and, therefore, creating significant drag. Result? More energy exerted for a minimum amount of speed. I had not ridden the course before so I had no idea how far along I was... at about what I guess was the 8 mile point, I had made the unconscious decision to finish only the Super Sprint.
As I made my way down the hill ("No Pedal Zone")to the transition area, I saw Ann near the front of the bike dismount point. Anne followed me into the transition area, sur to saty outside the roped off spaces. I set my bike up, dropped my helmet and jogged over to give her a kiss. I told her it would only be a few more minutes, because I was only going to do the "half."
It felt great to be running again. After a few seconds of adjsutemtn to the running form, I was on my way. I quickly passed five people who had passed me during the bike stage. I felt very comfortable moving up on the paths... the running and biking routes were the same during each stage so there was a much higher level of familiarity this second time around. In the end, coming down the last hill, I felt great and making my way through the finisher's chute, I was content with my decision to cut the race short. As I sit here now, about 5 hours later, with a fever and headache, I still think it was worth it and I'm looking forward to competing in the complete Rochester Spring Classic Duathlon (on a new bicycle, hopefully!)next year.
I'm still waiting for the results to be posted, but Anne says I came in seventh overall in the Super Sprint. I'm curious to see my stage times and will post them when they are on-line.
Update: Times just came on-line. I finished seventh out of thirty eight competitors. My splits were as follows: 2m R--0:15:13.096, 10m B--0:36:05.785, 2m R--0:15:38.659 = Total time--1:06:57.540.
Life is a guts race!
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