Shakespeare's MaxTrax Duathlon

OK this was the first "serious" multi-sport event I have participated in since 2004 and boy was I in for a shocker. As the title says this was a Duathlon, a run/bike/run format and not the swim/bike/run that I have been training for and that I have been participating in off and on since 1998 when a friend of mine convinced me to do a triathlon. My thinking going into this race was this should be pretty easy since it concentrates on my two strongest events, biking and running. This was anything but easy though.

I initially thought I would be able to do this race (2.5 mile run/15 mile bike/ 2.5 mile run) somewhere between 1hr30min and 1hr45min, thinking that I would actually be closer to the 1hr45. I had some outside thoughts that I might even be competitive in my age group. Well I actually forgot or underestimated two things here 1. How fast the athletes are who compete in multisport events and 2. How fast I would be. The guy who finished first overall was finishing as I was putting the bike away and getting ready for the second run. To make matters worse he was older than I was, so much for being competitive in my age group. On the good side though I did finish at 1hr31min24secs, much better than I thought I would. My time was good enough for 58th out of 116 men and 70th out of 162 total for the race. That's a solid top 50% and I'll take that any day after not racing seriously since 2000. There are some serious studs/studettes out there and if I want to beat them or be competitive I'm just going to have to work harder.

This was a good race and I may try to do it again next year depending on where the Army sends us next. It was a little interesting at the start when we started in a mass group on a road in the park ran across the grass and onto your typical paved park trail. It was a free for all as people sprinted to get in front before the choke point spread us out, I actually ran the first mile in 6:44 and can't remember the last time I ran one that fast. The bike was a good rolling hills route. I had a little trouble since the start was on a fast downhill and then there was a hard right turn and then up a hill. I took the turn too wide both laps and had difficulties shifting from my big ring to my small ring for the hill, something else to work on. The finish was up hill, which I didn't care much for, especially since I had trouble hitting my stride on the second run. I am used to running further after the bike portion so I really don't get into the groove after the bike until about mile 3

That's me with the Oakley's and the black stocking hat getting ready for the mass startTransition 1, Almost forgot the bike helmet.

That's me coasting in and getting ready to dismount the bike for Transition 2. Macen had Shantel a little distracted so she almost missed me.

That's me running out the gate after Transition 2. The girl in front of me and I played leapfrog throughout the whole bike ride. I beat her into the transition area but she's beating me out. Chalk up getting faster in transition to something else I need to work on.Making my move to go around around her. Unfortunately it only lasted until the turn around on the run. She finished 1 sec in front of me. I gotta get faster to keep the girls from beating me! :) Check out the full body spandex. Sexy!! Just think I've lost 35 pounds since this time last year.The uphill sprint to the finish. I'd also spent a lot of time leapfrogging the older guy in the day glo green shirt on the bike, but I held him off in the end. I just couldn't catch the girl.

One final note there were a couple of girls that I went to high school with who did this race. I hadn't seen either one of them in 17 years (since I missed my 10 year reunion due to the Army) and I did get a little chance to chat with both them before the race. I recognized both of them right away but I don't think they realized who I was until I told them my name.

Next up is the FT Leavenworth CGSC sprint triathlon on 2 May. This is the one that Mariah is going to do with me so look for the update on how that one goes.

FN LN Age DIV Overall DivPl SexPl Run1 T1 Bike T2 Run2 Time
James Scrogin 34 M3034 70 6/11 58/116 18:53 1:31 49:29 1:04 20:27 1:31:24