Duathlon Nationals

So, many of you have probably been wondering if I’m still alive (and maybe others haven’t).  I will be very brief so as to get caught up.

Duathlon Nationals was at the end of April.  The whole experience was great, well, except all of the driving, but I can’t complain.  So, I drove David Warden’s car down to Phoenix, where I picked him up from a business meeting.  I brought our bikes and gear down.  We also picked up Jesson Baumgartner, a med-school friend of David’s brother.  We drove down to Tuscon where the event would be held.

As usual, there was the checking in and final preparations for event.  Even up until the race start, I had no idea what to expect.  Jesson, for example ran cross country in college.  I was expecting some amazing runnings to come show me up.  I can’t say that there weren’t amazing runners there, I just haven’t really considered my self one.  I thought it would be neat to place in the top 10 in my age group, but at the same time had no idea what kind of racers would show up.

The gun shot and we were off!  I held back a little, knowing that there would be many to take off too fast.  However, after about 3/4 of a mile I found myself getting sucked in and pushing harder than maybe I should have.  At the end of the first 5k there is a long, hard hill.  I found that I was not worried about this, because of my regular hill-repeat sessions and stormed past several other athletes.  1st 5k = 18:47

The first half of the bike I felt like I was able to focus very well on my power and on my aerodynamic position.  The second lap was not as strong.  I still felt good, but I knew I had slowed over the course of the ride.  Only two people passed my on the bike (one of those being David Warden, who I had pulled away from on the run).  I was able to overtake several however.  35k bike = 54:47

The second run wasn’t as nice as the first was.  It hurt more.  I could feel a hamstring twinge that had hit me in a training session several weeks before.  I wanted to lay the hammer down and catch David, but it wasn’t happening.  The final hill this time around was not so forgiving as the first time around.  I struggled, but knew I had to push it to the end.  2nd 5k = 20:42.  Final time = 1:35:35

I was very happy to place 9th in my age group and 40th overall!!  This was great… until I compared it to my travel companions.  I had not caught David and he ended up placing 2nd in his age group and 15th overall.  Jesson thought he had won the whole thing, but turns out the previous year’s winner was in a different heat and beat him by 20 seconds (we think Jesson would have caught him had they been in the same heat).  Jesson had the fastest runs out of anyone.  His first 5k was 16:01 and his second was 16:36!  That is crazy!!!  It was his first duathlon.  He’s only been training for a few months.  I talked to him a little more about his background and turns out not only did he run cross country in college, he placed 3rd at the NCAA National Championship!  His 5k PR is 14:01!  yeah, this guy is going to go somewhere.

So, my placing qualified me to race at the World Championship in Gijon, Spain.  This would be absolutely awesome!  However, its not going to happen for several reasons.  The first is that we don’t have the money to get there.  Second is that the order of events would put the event on Sunday.  Finally, we have a little too much going on to support that.  My wife is due with our second child in July.  Some other time we’ll still make a trip to that area of Spain because my wife spent a year and a half in that area as a missionary for our church.  One day.