The Great Evansville Duathlon 09

Well after some obvious forgetful thinking (as in what the hell was I thinking) I talked Jenny into signing up for the Great Evansville Duathlon. We had done this race in 07. Remember this picture?

This is the classic "Can we go now?" moment. Jenny had gotten an award for 2nd place Athena and I got totally dominated by everyone else, and I was ready to go home. Jenny however, was not. I was happy for her, I just didn't show it in this picture.

Forward to 2009. The memory of 07 was erased except for the moment of that race where I was beaten down enough on the bike where I had to walk it. This bike course is pretty hard for a big guy. 2500 feet of hills in only 19 miles. 3 of them are pretty hard. 2 come after 90 degree turns so you start out with 0 momentum and are just forced to climb.

Well the weatherman around here has sucked. All of them can not be trusted right now.
We signed up early to save some $ but if it was going to rain then I was bailing. The bike course would not be good wet. 30 bucks is not worth getting hurt or wrecking my good bike. But as of 10PM Friday, no rain forecasted until after noon.

We got there with my brother in law Jeff and got everything ready to go and I was so glad I packed all my stuff because it was cold. 53 degrees and some wind too. I went with a tri suit, tights, arm warmers for the first run. We got our headsweats visors and race numbers and put our gear in transition.

Listened to the pre race instruction guy and went to the start. No chip timing here so the gun went off and everyone goes. No waves, just everyone at once. They took a picture for the website and it was on there when I went and checked the race results. I have on the orange and black and Jenny has pink sleeves in the back of the pack.


Woot Woot. NOT. I hate running sometimes. Even though my form is better and my endurance is better, it still takes a lot of conscious effort to get into a good rhythm where I feel like I am giving it but not going to die after a mile. Brenda Slatter from our SWAT group was doing the race too and she is a better runner than I. I got myself about 20 yards behind her and told myself I would try to stay there at her pace. I was able to do that. Pace was right around 10 min miles. Got into transition and of course there were 4 bikes left in there. Brenda got on hers and then there were 3. Guy was right behind me and he was getting on a mountain bike so he didn't have to put bike shoes on..he leaves and now there are 2 bikes. Mine and Jenny's. These are the times I wish I could run 7 min miles. But I can't so I deal with it. I decided to put on my new yellow bike vest because I was cold. Of course the zipper comes apart because I didn't have it lined up right. Oh joy. I fix that, get the helmet and shoes on and take off. Still only took me about a minute, but the Garmin auto paused so I bet I was in transition closer to 3 minutes. Oh joy for that too.

On the bike I was able to catch a few people and pass them but not as many as I would have liked. The hills reduce you to being in your easiest gear and standing up. I seriously think if you could hop off your bike quick, take your shoes off and carry your bike, you could run up the hills faster than biking them. That thought entered my head several times. The bike was hard but I didn't walk any hills which was one of my goals. I saw Jenny right after the turn around and she looked very cool on her pink bike with pink race helmet and pink sleeves on. I tried to say something but I bet it came out all jumbled because I was sucking wind big time.
I noticed on my way back I started to feel stronger. I don't know if wind direction was a key or if I started to really get warmed up but the last hill was easier and I seemed to be in a bigger gear keeping a good cadence. I put some space between the people and I passed and myself.

Rolled into transition and there were some guys already done. This event draws out some seriously good athletes. One thing I have always thought was great about the multisport community is how these guys don't ever let you feel like you suck. They were high fiving me and giving me encouragement as I changed out my shoes and took off. Seriously cool guys.

Goal on the last run was to not let people I passed on the bike catch me. FAIL. A few of them did and a few of them didn't. Tawnya Hagen (whom we know through SWAT) caught me on the run. She's a much better runner than I so I didn't feel bad. I tried to keep her in my sights but she blasted away from me. I think she finished 2 minutes ahead of me. I know I didn't run as fast on the second run, but I did run the whole way and I kept around 11 min miles which I didn't think I would be able to.

I came chugging in and my sister in law took a seriously good picture of me where I don't look like a small beef cow in spandex. Well maybe I still do.


I was done. 2:21 on the garmin which was 4 minutes faster than 07. They had me at 2:24 which is possible because I think my garmin was on auto pause and in transition it would have stopped which makes sense. That puts me a full minute faster than 07. If the goal is to be better than I guess I succeeded. I think my runs were a bit slower than 07 and the bike was a bit faster. They don't chip time anymore so it's hard to say. I watched Kitty, Brenda and Jenny finish and then had some gatorade and some other stuff.

We hung around for awards (because Jenny probably was getting one and I wasn't). But I got to thinking...there were not many "husky" guys here. Maybe I have a shot. Jenny got 2nd place Athena and what do you know...I got first place Clydesdale. I think I was the only guy there over 220. But that's not my fault and I'm not going to have any shame from feeling good. I got a hand made one of a kind plate and it made the leg pain go away for a little while.


This race tears me apart. It's cheap, it's pretty fun (the run course is not well marked and never has been and if there is no one in front of you it's easy to get lost), but the bike course can just pound your confidence down to the dirt. I had so much sweat pouring off my face climbing the hills it was like my bike was leaking oil and I was leaving a trail on the pavement. There was a time when I seriously thought about getting off my bike to see if the brake was rubbing but I knew it wasn't. The course just does not allow you to get any momentum going and it makes you dig DEEP for the mental toughness to keep pedaling. Jenny says we won't do this event ever again. I'm on the fence.

It's hard not to want to go back when you know you have a chance to score RACE HARDWARE (even if you are the only guy in your division)

And as soon as we got home it poured rain.