Location: Charlotte, NC
Date: February 28, 2009
Placing: 3rd Overall
Race Photos
Results: fsseries.com

Fifty degrees, steady rain. I am soooo glad it was a race day. Seriously. Think about it...if it wasn't a race day what do you think the odds are that I would have gotten off the sofa to work out? Yeah, I would've done something but it wouldn't have compared to a race. Like many early season events, I was anxious and tentative just to get a gauge on my training and fitness. Although looking out the hotel window on race morning made me a litle less anxious.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, all 3 of my sports seemed to be fairly strong - certainly compared to last year when I battled a bit with some undiagnosed asthma. With the asthma identified and under control my training times are already close to what they were two years ago. But the last 2 weeks took a little downturn between rest time, skiing in Vermont (and let me just say that the snow was the most spectacular that we've skiied in) and a project deadline at work. No worries - it's only February. Most importantly, I went into this event without having 5 extra minutes this week to actually prepare. I hadn't had time to dust off the race bike or even figure out what I was going to wear. So I just threw everything I could think of into the back of my Rav4 after work on Friday and drove up to Charlotte. I hadn't even had 10 minutes to shave the past week and I was sporting my mountain-man look.

I've been racing for a LOT of years. I don't do morning drives unless I absolutely, positively have to. If I could, I would pay extra money to wake up next to the start line. Maybe they should start a race from a hotel parking lot? That would be awesome. The only downside for this trip was that my team photographer, travel agent, manager and support crew could not make the trip (those would all be my wife, Janis).

The race itself was a duathlon - 4-mile run, 32-mile ride, 4-mile run; my first multisport race of the year and my first race as a member of the GoTriSports triathlon team. Teammate Chris Olson was slated to join me at this event. Chris is a phenomenal traithlete on our team this year and although we both were just looking to test our fitness at this event, I think we still wanted to have a good team showing as well. Chris had done this event last year and went off course twice on the bike segment. He had advised me to try and familiarize myself with the bike course since it had a lot of turns in 32 miles but the best I could do was try to memorize the map and the turns from my hotel room just before going to sleep. This was the thing I was most nervous about. At most races, the promoters say "it's the athlete's responsibility to know the course" but I take issue with this as many times we don't have a chance to preview the course. Plus, is it really that hard to put someone on a corner and everytime they see someone point and yell "go that way!"? As usual, I digress...

Race morning was everything the weathermen had promised. The only good thing about it was that in 2007 I had done 2 major races in the exact same conditions so I pretty much knew what to wear to avoid a near miss with hypothermia. Several athletes in those other races were not so prepared. I also don't usually get to the race site really early. I did that when I first started racing because you are so nervous about what you need to do before the race that it seems like it will take 3 or 4 hours. In reality, if you are prepared and you have a regimen, it takes very little time. But as I mentioned, I did not have a lot of time for preperation and I kept feeling as though I had a lot to do, so I arrived at the race site 2 hours before the start and I think I was the 2nd competitor there. I grabbed my registration, put some extra lube on my bike chain for the rainy conditions and set up my transition area. I was smart enough to grab a couple of extra kitchen trash bags from home and I used one to stick my towel and riding shoes in. This worked amazingly well and only took an extra second or two to grab my dry shoes from the bag during the race. I finished getting ready so quickly that I ended up sitting in my car for nearly an hour anyway. Oh well.

So, the rain on the bike course sounds fun, right? Well it turns out that the run was on hard-packed dirt and gravel roads 'laced' with red clay. Chris and I ran one of the 2-mile laps as a warm up and when we were done, we already looked like we had been trying to catch a pig in a mud pit. We quickly learned to avoid any red dirt which was basically the the equivalent of ice. I also opted to wear a little heavier shoe which was probably a wise decision as I could ocassionally feel rocks under my feet as I ran. As we lined up to start, I seemed to be wearing a bit more than a lot of people - especially gloves - but I knew what cold hands meant from past experience (more on that later). I was happy to hear them announce that they had police officers directing at every turn this year both for safety as well as keeping people on course (keep this tidbit in mind as well).

The start gun went off and away we ran. It was good to have a teammate in the mix not only becuase we were teammates but also because I was pretty aware of the other Chris' ability and that would give me one more gauge on today. We took off next to each other down the start hill behind the two leaders. We ran two 'loops' of a two-mile course. It wasn't really a loop, but an out-and-back route that resembled a giant letter 'E' and it doubled back on itself the entire way which really made for some fun times - trying to dodge the red clay AND the oncoming traffic. I managed to stay just behind the leaders in third place and Chris fell just a few seconds back in fourth. Of course, the good part about this type of course layout is that you always know where you are in relation to everyone else. After only a mile, my body was acting as if I had over extended myself and believe it or not the thought crossed my mind "holy cow, am I gonna be able to finish this race?" I don't know why I was surprised - going out hard is how I do all my races; I simply trust in my endurance. There was one turn in particular where your mind made a left...but your body would keep going straight. It was the human version of auto racing's 'drifting'.

As I watched the two leaders get further and further from myself and the field I was passed by two runners with just about a half-mile to go and I stayed with them to the transition. The three of us exited on our bikes almost side by side. Now, do you remember how they told me about all the police marshalling the coorners? Well, did they think to put one in the parking lot to direct us out? Any guesses? Of course not. The three of us rode straight down a hill that simply ended into a dead-end parking lot. I quickly turned back on an available dirt road and used some of my years of bike handling skills to navigate the muddy road, leave my companions and return to the course just in time to see Chris cruise by. I thought to myself this wasn't too bad - I knew Chris was a strong rider and now I could focus on him. I just hoped the REST of the course was marked...

The first 4 miles of the ride, I seemed to gain on Chris on each uphill and he seemed to gain some back on the downhills. The course was surprisingly demanding and there was so much up and down that it was hard to tell if I was catching Chris or if he was pulling away. He was about a quarter-mile ahead of me when we entered a small town and took a couple of turns. After that, he seemingly disappeared. I kept thinking I would see him the next time the road opened up. Or even better yet, that I would see the leaders. But nothing. I ocassionally questioned whether I was off course or if any of the 3 riders ahead of me were off course. Could he have just stepped it up a notch? No matter - I trudged on through the rain. As I approached every police car, I searched the ground for a painted arrow and always yelled "Which way?!" to the officer. Sure enough, this made it easy to stay on course. If you are unfamiliar with a course, I highly recommend simply yelling this question either to the police or the volunteer. A lot of times, these people just stand there or are there to watch for traffic and rarely ever point you in the right direction...so just ask instead of guessing. As it turned out, I never saw another rider on the course after Chris 'disappeared'.

As I came slamming into the transition area, one of the race volunteers yelled that the two guys ahead of me were not too far. Two guys? Hmmmm...I guess I would find out soon enough. And now the reason I wore gloves: if your hands are too cold, you'll never get your helmet unbuckled. How do I know this? Ask me sometime about my adventure as 'helmet boy'. My transition was fairly quick and off I ran. After a few strides it was apparent that I had left my feet in transition becuase all I could feel was my leg striking the ground. My feet were completely numb. Just a couple hundred yards into the second run - on different parts of the course - I saw the two original leaders...but no sign of Chris. I hoped he hadn't crashed. I was only about a minute behind 2nd place but did not feel very strong and summized that I could blow up trying to catch 2nd so I set it on cruise control and told myself I would push it if it looked anyone might catch me. Turns out that the closest person behind me was Chris. As we passed each other for the first time going opposite directions, I shrugged at him and he sorta just grinned. Well, at least he was in one piece and we were both still top 5.

As I came up to the finish line, Chris' wife Laura yelled - "you poor guys must be freezing". Believe me - I was NOT freezing. I wasn't even cool for that matter. I comfortably crossed the line in 3rd and turned around to wait for Chris to cross the line next for 4th. During our cooldown, Chris confessed that for the 2nd year in a row, he missed a turn. Apparently, one police officer was in his car when Chris went by but had emerged from his vehicle before I came by. I'm guessing that watching Chris go the wrong direction might be what prompted him to get out of his car. So we both went a bit off course today. I joked with Chris that we took turns trying to give away 3rd place. We also talked about how we both love our Rudy aero helmets; when I first got mine, I thought the plastic shield would be annoying but I was way wrong. I pull my face shield down as soon as I get on the bike and it's amazing how I don't even notice it's there. And to top it off - when most glasses would fog up in weather like this - the sheild stays clear as a bell. It was probably my favorite piece of equipment for this race. That and my poor Brooks ST3 running shoes...which will never be white again ;-)

In spite of the weather, the venue (the US National Whitewater Center) was awesome and the race promoter did a great job - providing food (lots of it) as well as coffee and hot chocolate. I can't be anything but happy with my performance at the end of February. I'm hoping this year that I can get my cycling back to it's level from a couple of years ago and it's looking hopeful.

Race Notes:
* The biggest surprise of the day for me was that even with all my focus n running right now, both runs felt quite uncomfortable whereas the moment I clipped into my pedals on the bike, I felt strong and comfortable.
* The winner put nearly 5 minutes on me between the two runs.
* My asthma and allergies never even showed up today. Lets hope that's a trend that continues.
* Bike split was 2nd fastest of the day - I'm hoping for a return to a trend of fast bike splits.
* Congrats to Chris O. I think it says a lot when both of us can go off course and still finish 3rd and 4th.
* Next up: Reedy River 10k.