Raceday! The time for redeption finally arrived. I rolled out of the backseat rather stiff this morning. It was downright chilly and still real dark when we woke up at 6a. I asked a few of the volunteers standing about getting inside the YMCA to use the bathroom and they pointed me in the right direction.

My first task of the morning was getting the wheel covers installed. Jess took charge of the cooking and let me focus on mechanic'ing. I took off the cassette and installed the wheel covers. I didn't have a flathead screwdriver with me, so Jess helped me hand tighten down the bolts holding the two sides together. I nearly screamed when I installed the wheel on the bike and realized that something with the covers was causing the freehub to rotate with the wheel--not allowing coasting! As quick as I could, I removed the wheel from the bike and then the cassette from the wheel. Fortunately, I found the problem. The wheel cover was touching the freehub just slightly and with the cassette on top of it, it wasn't allowing the freehub to rotate. I made the fix, then we ate quickly the oatmeal Jess made. It was still quite tasty even though we ran out of fuel before the water boiled.

Once I had the bike tuned as well as I could and lubed the chain, I took it on a quick spin around the library parking lot. It was hardly a warmup on the bike, but it was enough to get me comfortable in the adjustments. The wheel covers and red race tires were a really nice touch. I changed pretty quickly after that as I only had about 45 minutes till the scheduled start time. I ran my warmup across the street around some soccer fields. That let me be totally alone and I tried to calm myself down to focus on the race. It was hard to get limbered up because of the cool air, but I donned my MIT Cross Country long sleeve shirt to keep warm. I could feel the miles of riding from this week in my legs, but it was hard not to feel good with the excitement of getting to race again. After relieving myself of some extra weight, I stretched out by the car.

Checking out the competitors milling around in the transition area, I really felt like my thoughts of winning the race weren't all that outlandish. The quality of bikes was way down from the New Jersey race and I assumed that would be the case overall. There were still plenty of bikes way nicer than mine, but none were ridiculous--and none had disc wheels. I felt pretty good about my chances--especially if there weren't any great runners amongst the group. I was mostly hoping that my new Michelin treads would keep me from suffering the same fate as last time.

They finally brought us over to the start line, where I only ran a couple strides. I positioned myself on the front of the start line and soon we were off. Not more than 200 yards down the road, it was clear that it would be myself and another runner building a large gap on the rest of the group. It was also clear that this was the worst I'd ever felt running a 5K. The pace didn't feel especially fast, but I am not in running condition. I kept looking back making sure we were alone and it was pretty clear we were. About a half mile into the race, the other runner started talking to me! We chatted for about a mile. I found out he was from Salisbury, he was typically a 16:00 5K runner, he was competing in his first duathlon, and he was looking to run 16:40 for this 5K. I told him about as much and also that I felt 16:40 wasn't in my legs or lungs today. We ran side by side until about the halfway mark where he started to pull away. Our first mile split was 5:18 and exactly together.

The 5K was an out-and-back past South Rowan High School (where I played an away JV basketball game). The route was almost entirely uphill on the way out. The incline was small, but plenty to give me trouble running out for 1.5 miles. Coming back, I tried to keep the gap to a minimum and keep anyone off of me. It always adds an interesting element to a race when you get to run back facing the folks who are trailing you. My second mile split was 5:34 and I came to the transition area in second place, running what I think was 16:52 for the 5K. I heard those splits called out to me. Jess had on the watch 17:13 for the 5K and 21 seconds for the transtion. I think the reality is a slightly faster 5K with a longer transition.

I made up the ground on the frontrunner in a hurry. I passed him hard in the first mile and didn't look back. I was happy to be off my feet but keenly aware that my quads were no longer in tip top shape. I kept putting distance between him and me and really started counting down the time till I would win. In my mind I had the race locked up and won. Then after a few more miles it dawned on me that if I passed him that fast, then surely many more would pass him and they might be coming for me. No sooner did I have that though than I looked back and saw a guy maybe a hundred yards behind. He was closing and I started pedaling scared. I used the downhills well and the discs really hummed. I hit 50+kmph on the downhill stretches and tried to add to my lead. As we entered China Grove proper, there was a long hill that really taxed me. I was turning about 26 kmph and really spinning it fast. It hurt.

At about 16 km of the bike, the chaser finally caught up to me. He snuck right up behind me and started drafting! This is illegal in triathlon and duathlon and I was pissed. I told him, "Hey, no drafting," but he didn't listen and stayed put. I told him again, this time yelling. He at least moved over to the left so he wasn't right behind me. But a few minutes later, he was right back behind me and I was livid. I gapped him and hammered down and I figured I'd lost him for good. But he showed back up with a mile to go and this time he tried to pass me! I looked down at his Carbon Fiber fork and I got pissed. I was exhausted and worried about losing the race after leading for so long, but all it took was about thirty seconds of all out pedaling and he was history. I had a large enough gap coming into the transition that I figured I'd won. I had some trouble figuring out where to go and the officials weren't all that helpful. I ended up parking my bike in the wrong slot and dropping my helmet to the ground after almost running off with it on. I rode 34.3 kmph average for the course. Jess had me timed at 31:32 for the bike, making the course short at 11.2 miles instead of 12. I lost my bike computer data, so unfortunately, that's my best guess.

The mile was the longest I've ever run. It was another out and back on the same course as the 5K and my legs felt like what a guy at work described as "sausages." They were rocks that didn't want to move. I was thanking God that I had a lead as I really didn't want to have to kill myself. I looked back just to make sure that was the case. I made the turn-around and focused on making my form look as good as possible for the chaser to review as I went past him. After that, it was all over and I knew I'd won. I was so happy to be running downhill and I eased up with about a hundred yards to go. I even had time to tell Jess to take a picture of me. She told me to run and quit worrying about that. My mile split was 5:43. I took my #1 notecard to the scorers table, then walked my bike to the car.

I was able to shower quickly inside the YMCA and I was refreshed and feeling great as the race continued outside. I sipped on a Gatorade and told Jess all about the race as we waited for the awards. They had trophies for all the age group winners, but for some reason their awards for the overall winners hadn't arrived. I got a handshake instead and a promise they'd be sent out in the mail. Jess and I ate lunch at the Godstock festival across the street. I enjoyed having a Carolina burger with a delicious Cheerwine. After lunch, we piled back in the car and headed east to my home in Albemarle.

It was a lot of fun to win a race--espescailly in only my second duathlon. I have to be honest about my performance here, however. I have a lot of work to do on the running aspect. I am a shadow of my former self as running under 17:00 for the 5K hurt way more than it ever should. I also had probably the worst focus of any race I've ever participated in. That's a product of the 55:14 time that I spent racing. I stupidly counted my chickens before they'd hatched and almost lost the bike because of it.

The competition level had a lot to do with my win also. This was a far more laid back and family friendly duathlon with not a lot of high level performers. It was perfect for me as a beginner and I'm glad I came. It's very encouraging to know that I can win a race and yet have so many things I can improve upon. As hard as it is to work running into my daily training schedule, it will be essential to being good in this sport. To note in the results, the chaser (who probably should have been DQ'ed), Greg Sabo, ended up second and the first runner was Robert Miller. Below, Jess is wondering if the trip was really worth it. "At least he finished this time," she says.

Results
17:13 (5K) / 0:21 (T1) / 31:32 (C) / 0:21 (T2) / 5:47 (1mi)
55:14 Total