Heritage Park Duathlon – I Did a Du

For those of you out there that don’t know what a duathon is, it’s a triathlon where the swim portion is substituted by another run portion.  Yes, I could have done it as a tri, but if you were me would you have swam in a 56 degree lake that’s known in the tri community as “Goose Poop Lake”.  I think not.

As I walked my bike into a foggy Heritage Park this past Sunday, I was a wee bit nervous.  I was a fish out of water – I was among a bunch of studs and studettes. As I racked my bike and prepared my transition area, I spied a few Mdot tattoos and saw bikes that probably cost more than my truck.  Holy crap…what had I gotten myself into?  Then among the fog, I saw a few people just like me:  no $1200 disc wheels on their bikes, no fancy tri suits, just ordinary Joe’s and Jane’s getting themselves ready for a race.  I felt better.

At about 6:30, Christy, Rian and Natalie showed up with lattes in their hands.  I asked Rian to take a look at my transition area. He smiled and said “Yup, you got it…looks good”.  Those words meant a lot to me.  Rian is not only a good friend of mine, but also my mentor…he’s not only done a bunch of sprint and Olympic distance tris before, he’s done the big daddy…an Ironman.  I guess he noticed that I was nervous, because the next words were great.  “Feeling good?  You’ll do fine. Just have fun”

At about 7, I said bye to them and headed of to the run start at the dam.  I waited for a few mins, looking down at the first wave of swimmers getting ready in the water and before I knew it, I heard the starting gun go off.  I started running.  I very deliberately kept my pace well below my 5k race pace and enjoyed the moment.  I was having fun! Before I knew it, two miles were up and I entered the transition area to hop on the bike. 

My transition took a lot longer than I expected as I almost took off without my cleats on.  Um…if that wasn’t a rookie move!  As I headed out of T1, I was feeling great – I was in my element. I love the bike. As I biked up the first few hills outside of the park, I was hauling and having a great time.  As I entered the park again, I took a sip of water and looked down at my bike computer…my heart rate was 163…I was barely pushing myself.  I was warned over and over again not to push myself on the bike for fear of killing my final run. Before I knew it, the bike was done and I was into T2.

T2 went really well and I was off on the run. My legs felt a tad wobbly, but I soon settled into my pace. The 5k course was deceptively hilly, but nothing like the hills that Eladio makes us run up.  Before I knew it, I was heading across the dam and to the finish.  When I crossed the finish line I saw my wife Christy, Rian and Natalie. Rianman shook my hand, congratulated me and said “Feeling good?  Did you enjoy it?”  Yup…I had a blast.  I’m hooked!  Next up: Shawnee Mission.