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Barkin’ Dog Duathlon It’s May already. Why is it cold and rainy? Oh that’s right. It’s Colorado. It was in the 40s and raining on the way to Cherry Creek res. Made me really glad to be racing, but race ! would. There was coffee in my blood. ! have been tapering since Wednesday night. A little over-trained going into Tuesday’s run workout. Couldn’t get the heart rate up. Wednesday at the TT ! was really slow in spite of the best conditions so far this year. So Thursday and Friday ! slept late and napped. We shall see if it was enough. ! was late getting there. ! got a decent spot in transition. Right next to a couple puddles. The rain stopped. It warmed a bit to nearly 50*. On the start line ! told Jocelyn to kill. ! had 21 minutes until my wave started. ! saw her come by transition ½ way through the 1st run chasing some guy who wasn’t her husband. The 1st of the Elites started the bike nearly a minute before my wave started the 1st run. Darin had calculated that that was the amount of head start they needed to have a chance against me. Off we went. Half a mile in Big Al came flying by me. ! elbowed my way past the 2 guys in front of me and went after him. Al slowed down 10 yards ahead of me and held the gap for a little bit. Then it started expanding. There was a short section where we were running against the earlier runners. ! saw Scott and Seth there. They had a 7 minute head start on me. Even though ! was only a mile back they pretended not to be scared. ! was running steady. Into T1, ! pulled off one shoe and stepped into the puddle ! had forgotten about. Whee. ! was still a bit confused, but warmed up as ! mounted my steed for the long ride. The first bit was a climb and ! have no power. ! have a really big weight to power ratio. Around the bend onto the descent and then onto the main road. It was still wet so ! didn’t take the corner too fast. On the flats ! was hauling ^$$. ! was 4 miles out when ! saw Jocelyn on her way back in. she was in 10th place, 1st girl. The next girl was at least half a mile back. ! got into a battle with a dude on a Litespeed with Nimbles. For some reason ! can’t quite fathom he was able to pass me on the climb out of the park and up to the dam road. Back and forth we went. ! saw Scott and Seth again riding together chatting. The Nimble guy came around another fast guy just before ! did. That guy was having none of it and attacked. We hit the turn-around and Nimble guy got by me again as we accelerated. Then the other guy came by. ! passed them both and they both went by me again. Down the hill. Flying once again. ! didn’t try to outrun them at that speed since it would take a huge amount of energy to boost my pace from 35 to 40mph. ! tucked in and soft-pedaled. ! would go for it when we got on the flats again or on the climb. Or maybe not. Another long downhill into the wind. It was tough going. Just a bit more to T2. . The Nimble guy racked his bike near me. He knows who ! am. ! have no clue, as usual, who he is. Stupendous. Another run. Just what ! wanted. The route was similar to the 1st run. Pretty flat with some gradual hills on occasion. ! passed Mr. Nimble just out of T2 and left him to the vultures. Those bike guys can’t run for nothin’ and ! know it. Now there were guys still in front of me. It was time to hunt. ! am a savage predator. ! looked 3 guys ahead of me and went after him. As ! got closer it looked like Spiderman from boulder tri club. Those dorks. ! had to catch him. It was a slower, weaker doppelganger. Oh well. On to the next victim. One guy got past me. A few more floated down the overall rankings. There was a guy right behind me as we approached last year’s finish line. Still 200 meters to go and he had drifted by me earlier. ! knew he could go so ! raised the pace. ! wanted to open a gap stealthily before the final kick. He wasn’t contesting it. What is wrong with some people? ! sprinted in anyway. 1:38:17. 18th in my age group and 98th overall. Out of 410 (not 99 as Jules suggested). RMTC represented hard today. 1st place in four (4) categories and Kathy Alfino got 2nd behind Sybil. Also Big Al, Steve Kovisto and Jocelyn was the fastest girl on the day. Slowest girl on the massage table though.
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