Mt Rainier Duathlon-April 26th 2015

This course was one that I had won the short distance race at two years ago, by default. In this year, 2015, my goal was to run fast but not out of control and stay within myself until the last couple miles of the last run. The first run was a a 5.2 mile run that had a significant hill in it. I paced well from the start to finish of the run with only a small amount of sadness as I saw the leaders pull away. I finished the run in 9th place and just in front of my coach, Daryl Smith, which was awesome to see how far I have come on my run.https://www.strava.com/activities/293188342/embed/d39ff313139a6dd8632266f33d0be7850a79d64a
Transition went smooth but a little slow and within a few seconds I was on the bike and trying to not put the power down. I always have a habit of powering out of transition and end up gassing myself. It was a two lap course with a significant hill in the middle of the loop. I love hills and they are usually where I make up the most ground. The race plan was to hold back on the first loop and power through on the second lap going for negative splits. I had a little too much fun flying down the backside of the hill and in the process passed 8th-5th place all at the same time while trying not to get a drafting penalty. I hit the second loop hard and got 30 seconds off so mission accomplished! https://www.strava.com/activities/293188366/embed/4c69e1f282e192321d7a1702118d32e0957f4d45
Transition was much better out of the bike and I found my legs after the bike quite quickly and within the first mile was motoring along. It was a little over 3.7 miles to the finish and I was starting to lose form and push hard. I tried to maintain form but in the last mile felt like I was flopping all over the place. I never saw third, second and first place on the run and when I saw the finishing time I realized why. They were flying up there. I was a full four minutes behind 3rd and ten minutes behind 2nd and 1st! Crazy fast guys. I went through the tape feeling very good about my race with my most of my family and coach cheering me on. The weather was great and the air was filled with success, an age group win and inching ever closer to the podium while beating some pretty fast guys and gals myself. Upward and onward. https://www.strava.com/activities/293188332/embed/5ab6c2d842fb9b1c58bd3a27b32c0735f1dee16a