It was a blustery May morning in Hurricane, Utah (anyone else see the irony here? OK, yes, enough...), with several hundred athletes anxiously awaiting an announcement concerning the start of the St. George Triathlon. Would we be swimming, or would we be suffering a duathlon? The second question was still a bit dicey because all athletes suffer if they're performing as hard as they can. The race director officially cancelled the swim because the "kayakers couldn't hold a line". What he failed to tell us was that these kayakers hadn't even stepped in the water, but they felt it was too dangerous anyway. Good call, I suppose - there's probably beginner swimmers who are at greater risk than we realize if they get in trouble in rough, cold water.
So all the hype and anticipation leading up to the St. George triathlon on May 9th turned out to be hype for a revamped Duathlon - a 5k run, 12.25 bike, and 2nd 5k run. The athletes were promptly herded to the boat ramp for the start of each run wave. Note to self: Don't EVER try to run competetively, on sand, ever again. Did I say ever? Yes, OK good! About a mile into my first 5k, I had what felt like a cutting pain start on my left kneecap. The pain wasn't so bad that I couldn't run, but it was obnoxious. I ran with a friend of mine, and we kept an 8:45-ish pace, which for running on sand was probably a safe bet.
Heading out of transition quickly (and I did have fast transitions this time around) on the bike - little did I know that there would be more suffering. About mile 4, my front tire goes flat 90%. DAMNIT. Ok, no problem, I'll climb to the top of this big hill here and swap it out as fast as humanly possible. 6 minutes later, I had a replacement tube in and inflated and I was off. Ok, I'm thinking I can get some time back if I push a little - cruise past the turnaround at mile 6, and back toward the downhill section. Road, meet flat tire #2. DAMNIT again. Except this time, I think the words that came out of my mouth were enough to make a sailor blush. "Should I quit?", I thought to myself. "Hell no, why is that even an option. I'm going to run with this damn bike if I have to. There's no quitting". Swapped out that flat for the original flat tube, inflate it as much as possible, 6 or so minutes later I was off again. Luckily this time the pressure held enough for me to finish the 12.25 miles in a scorching 53 minutes and change. Ahwell, at least I didn't have to carry the bike back!
Run #2 was, to be completely honest, easier than I thought. That also probably contributed to it taking over 29 minutes, but with the amount of emotional energy I had spent inflating 2 tubes in the middle of a race, I didn't care. And more importantly - most 34 year-olds can't run a sub-30 minute 5k anyway, so there. The knee flared up again (had forgotten entirely about it while riding the bike), but the pain wasn't enough to stop running.
This time the fam was near the finish line to cheer me on to the end. Hooray for pictures! Overall I had a good time - a few things out of my control, and a few things in my control, things that I can learn from for next time. Total time was recorded at ~1:53, but I figure the bike stops cost me at least 12-13 minutes. Oh and as it turns out - my knee pain is caused most likely by my patellar tendon - the group of tendons in the front of the knee and under the kneecap. It's not something requiring surgery, but I'll definately need to keep an eye on it.
Couple pics on Zazoosh, I have more that I'll load later.
http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/193031483
http://www.zazoosh.com/photos/193101565
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