Prairie Punisher Duathlon

I had a dream (last night) that I overslept and missed the race. So, I was kinda surprised when my alarm went off this morning - I didn't miss the race after all!
I barely even drank a full cup of coffee, as I gathered the rest of my stuff together. I didn't even really have time to make a "real" breakfast, so I ate a Cliff bar and banana on my way to the race. I downed a couple bottles of water before I even got to Gardner's high school.

Since I already had my race packet, all I had to do was pick up my timing chip and get body-marked. I grabbed my running shoes, cycling shoes and towel to mark my spot in the transition area. Our age group was at the back of the transition area, but I found a spot close to the end of a rack and put my stuff down. There was no line, so this went pretty quickly - same story at the bathroom. Another bonus to this race...you don't have to use porta-potties, they open the restroom facility at the high school's track. Very nice!

I ran into my teammate, Leslie, when I headed back up to transition.
We chatted for just a minute about our Ironman races, and then I went back up to my car to get the rest of my stuff. I pumped up my tires, and realized my spare tube/CO2 pump was all on my other bike. Wooops! Well, let's just wing it and hope I don't have any issues today! Back over at transition, I talked to the fella who had his bike next to mine, while I set up my stuff. It's so funny how little set up you have for a Du compared to a Tri...or at least that's how it seems. Time for the pre-race meeting...I spotted Kent (massage guy) and his wife, Allison - I hadn't met Allison yet, so I walked over to meet her. We only talked for a couple minutes when they called us all to the start line. And, with a literal..."on your mark - get set - GO!" the race was off!

RUN 1 - 5k - 30:02
I started toward the back on the first run, 'cause in past years I've gone out too fast with everyone at the front. (Well, maybe I should've done that just to speed me along?!) So, I just hung back and took it pretty easy. It really was extremely humid, and there was a fog/haze that was so thick you couldn't see too far ahead. One of my goals (silly as it may be) was to actually run the entire time on both run legs. I was surprised that I didn't feel too badly as I started running. Here's confession time - I've only run 1x since the Ironman! It was part of a brick workout I did out at Epic a week or so ago. Otherwise, I've just been biking and swimming. So, I wasn't sure how it would go, trying to crank out 6.2 miles today.
Of course, as we looped out, I started seeing all the people in front of me...WAY in front of me. I saw Leslie, and her husband, Jeff, then Kent, and Allison not too far behind him. I also spotted Galen (who I met at the Epic brick workout), and he looked like he was having a good race. It's hard not to get frustrated at being so stinking slow out there, but I just kept running...maybe one of these days I'll gain running speed! :-)

T1 - 1:47
Yes, I'm aware...this is a long transition for this distance race. I (clearly) was just taking my time, changing shoes and getting my bike gear together. I also walked to the bike mount area - prolly should've hurried along a bit more, but whatever! Oh, is this a race?

Bike - 27.5k - 53:07
The bike started out pretty easy. It's a fairly flat start, but I knew it would get hilly. It's always fun on the bike, 'cause I pass people. I RARELY (if ever) pass people running, rather I get passed/smoked by lots of other runners. Anyway, I got up to speed and just settled in. It was the most bizarre thing - remember I mentioned the fog/haze - well, you couldn't ever tell if you were on a hill or not, since you weren't able to see the road ahead. Very, very strange. Of course, I could glance down at my Garmin to see what the grade was. I'll admit, this didn't seem as hilly as it has felt in past years either.
One thing was for certain - sweat was just pouring off me! It was as if someone was holding a hose over my head. The top tube of my bike was covered with salt/sweat. I was downing the fluids, more than I usually would, but it didn't seem to help. I cannot remember exactly where it was, but I think around mile 11 or so, I felt some twinging in my calf. I drank more and just hoped it would be fine. For the next few miles, I continued to feel a little something every so often, but just kept spinning. Well, around mile 14, both of my calves just knotted up. Again, very strange - I've never had this happen...looking down, you could see them contracted as if I were "flexing" my muscle. The worst part was when the right one got so bad that it was forcing my foot to point downward. I could hardly even pedal the bike for about a mile - I thought about hopping off and trying to stretch, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get going again. Of course, I'm also thinking about what the calves are gonna do when I start running? They relaxed enough I finished the bike out just fine, and came back into transition.

T2 - 1:50
Again, look at that speed!!! ha ha I stretched a little bit, put on my running shoes and took off...like a snail. :-)

RUN 2 - 5k - 33:17
I really just wanted to run the entire 2nd run leg. Very early into my run, Leslie came flying by! She looked so strong and like she was just having a blast. And, shortly after that, I saw Kent. He didn't look too chipper, though he *says* he gave me the thumbs up...I'm not buying it! And, just a bit later, here comes Allison. She looked like she was cookin' too. Wow - they're all like 20+ minutes ahead of me. That makes me feel really good too. ha ha
At this point, I'm hearing sloshing...what is that noise? Well, Dawn, it's your sopping wet clothing! I looked down and my shorts were just soaking wet and shiny - shoes were squeaking with all the water in them. Good times. I kept running. Sure, I thought about walking a couple times, but at least if I ran it out, I could say I accomplished that goal, right? I walked a couple steps at the water station at the turnaround, and that was only because there were several folks bunched up there. I grabbed some water and headed back toward the finish line, surprised my calves weren't giving me trouble.
There's one hill, once you make the turn back to the school - I know I walked up it last year, but not this time. I ran up it, and straight up to the turn into the school parking lot and back to the finish line. Usually Terry's there, cheering me in - I sure missed having him out there this year! We've done this race together for several years, so it just wasn't the same without him. (maybe next year, Terry!)

Total race time: 2:00:01.

I quickly changed out of my race clothes and put my stuff back in the car. Then headed back to the start/finish to watch the awards. I snaped a few shots of Leslie/Jeff, Allison/Kent...and we waited, and waited, and waited. Apparently there were two folks still out on the course. I think they were out there like an hour longer than everyone else - crazy! Perhaps they had some mechanical issues or something.



Finally they started with the awards. I really wasn't expecting one, but I was hanging out to watch Leslie and Allison get their awards. Kent was a little bitter about waiting for Allison to get her award, since he wasn't winning one. :-)
Leslie, Allison and I are all in the same age group. Well, Leslie won overall female!!!! Because she won overall, they pull her out of the age group awards. Well, Allison won first in our age group!!! Congrats to both of these ladies on their strong racing today!

This left me with 2nd place in the age group. Woohoo!