Went out to Rocky Hill for yet another weekend of racing and adventure. Won the cyclocross race on Saturday while racing my hardtail mountain bike. Went into town to grab a bite to eat and try to catch the OU-Tx Tech game.  Got back in time to get some free beer and listen to a neat little cover band that was cranking out some good country and classic rock tunes. Hit the hay (sleeping bag) for a good night’s sleep.

Morning comes and it’s time to start my first ever duathlon. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this added element of running, especially with a 5k trail run-12 mile mountain bike-5k trail run format, and considering I’m much stronger at biking, but I was ready to give it all I had. The first 5k went well. I think I managed a top 10 run somehow, then it was on to the fun part.  With all the issues I had with bike malfunctions this year, I decided to run the bike with beefy parts-tires, gears, chain, suspension seatpost, handlebars and the like. It was a solid ride, but I definitely noticed the extra weight and rolling resistance from the tires. It was my goal to not leave much for the last run. Biking is my strength and I had to use that to my advantage. Fortunately, that went according to plan.  I had a smoking fast ride and was able to make up time to a few of the runners that had a quicker run than I did. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite leave enough for the last 5k run and got a killer stitch in my right rib cage on the way up Fat Chuch’s.  I told my diaphram it could not have picked a worse time to do such a thing to me and to suck it up and keep going, but the pain was nearly enough to collapse me. So i took some time at the top to recover, while a those darn runners passed me right back up. I slowly got going again still fighting the pain and was able to limit the damage to only being passed by 3 people for a a decent 7 out of 80 finish. It hurt knowing I could’ve been 4th and in the money, but I was pleased with the effort and result.  Now, If I can actually start to incorporate some more running and brick workouts into my regiment I might have something going for me. Thanks for reading.