Race Recap: Schaumburg Duathlon

Hi guys!  Between wrapping up a wonderful vacation in Florida, getting a yucky summer cold, and trying to get back into the marathon training routine, blogging fell right off the table for awhile there!  This recap is a little late, but better late than never!

One of my goals for 2013 was to finish my first duathlon, and on July 7th I did!  I'm going to tell you upfront, this was NOT my favorite race.  In fact, I was pretty much just praying for it to end the entire time.  This is mostly due to the fact that I had some sort of yucky cold and sinus thing going on, and all I wanted was to still be in my bed.  Still, I powered through and finished the race! Let's start at the beginning...

I convinced one of my best friends who was visiting from grad school to do the tri--he barely trained and finished lightyears before I did... :)

Most of the athletes were participating in the triathlon race simultaneously going on, so when I lined up for the start of the run (a very casual mid street start I might add!), I quickly realized just how tiny this race was.  Have you ever felt like you had a very real possibility of coming in last in a race?  Yeah, that was how I felt during this race--at least the first run leg!  Seriously, when the race started literally EVERYONE took off at crazy speeds--I honestly kept looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't last!  I wasn't even going that slow, sinuses aside!  Oh well--the perils of a tiny race!  I finished the first 5K run in 30:52, and my T1 time was 1:08.

The bike leg was really where the race started to suck.  I had just gotten home from vacation in Florida a couple days before and hadn't ridden more than 5 miles on my bike since before the trip.  I knew going in that the bike was going to be a rough time, and I was right.  Being such a small race meant that I was totally by myself for portions of the race, wondering if I was in last...this was one of those rough rides when you find yourself giving yourself pep talks...out loud...and not caring if other people can hear you.  I know, I am pathetic.  I'd see the 7 mile mark and say, "Okay, 7 miles, 5 more, you can do it.  Keep pedling."  I'm going to blame the sinus congestion for clouding my rational thought!!

Painful as it was, I survived the 12.8 mile bike with a crazy slow time of 52:47, and raced through T2 in 1 minute flat.  The second 5K run I actually felt a little better (finally warmed up maybe?), and finished in 31:36 with a good sprint to the finish.  

My final time for the duathlon was 1:57:17, and while I didn't really enjoy the race, I'm happy that I gave it my all even though I felt like just staying home and taking a DNS.  I think I prefer triathlons to duathlons, but I'm happy that I tried something new with this race!

Have you ever done a race while sick?  I actually set both my 5K and half-marathon PRs with colds, but I think the sinus congestion plus the awful humidity just combined to make this race especially painful!!