This past weekend was the 2nd annual RJ Corman Duathlon & 5k. I was competing in the Duathlon as I knew I had a much better chance of winning that race than the open 5k which usually has some ex-collegiate runners show up and go pretty fast. I woke up to 45ish degree weather and some wind and clouds. Nothing crazy, but a little warmer than it was last year. Well, by the time I made it to the race sight at around 7 am, the temperature had dropped a few degrees and the wind was picking up. By the time we started at 8:30, it was about 41 degrees and pretty windy. Before the race, I made sure to get in a good warmup to get my body ready to go. I ran the 5k loop that Mr. Corman has on his property to warmup (which was also the 5k loop we were racing on). I set up my transition and waited until the start.
At 8:30, the gun went off (or I guess it was actually a train horn). I knew Jeff Buhr was racing which came in 3rd place last year, and I also knew Mike Hermanson would be racing which he focuses more on Ironman distance racing. I wasn't sure what kind of shape he was in and whether running or cycling was his strength, but I made sure to keep an eye on him (and he is racing at Kona on Saturday so I figured he was in pretty good shape). Mike immediately took off and I just made sure to keep him close. I ran behind him for the first mile or so and then opened up a small gap on him once we hit the first hill. It stayed about the same until we hit T1. I had a fast transition and was out on the bike. I managed to put more time on him in T1 than I did in the first 5k and I really pushed the pace for the first 5 miles or so of the bike to make sure I had opened up a good gap. I fought the cold, windy weather on the bike and then came into T2 with a nice lead on 2nd place. I've had a little foot pain recently and sometimes it hurts much worse than others. My first step off of the bike, was not a pain free step, ha. I limped into T2, struggled to get my shoes on since my hands were numb, and then took off for the 2nd 5k. It didn't help my foot that the first 100 - 150 meters were downhill, so my foot was taking quite a beating. I set a good pace for that 2nd 5k and just held it there. At about the 2nd kilometer, I saw I had 1.5 - 2 minutes on 2nd place which was nice considering the pain in my foot. I held it together and crossed the finish line in 1st for the 2nd year in a row. Mike had a fantastic 2nd 5k and made up about 1:15 on me.
After the race, I cooled down, stretched my foot, and put on some warm clothes as I was freezing. Mr. Corman had some fantastic food for lunch and then he always has a good time passing out the cash prizes to the overall winners.
Thanks to everyone who helped out with the race, and thanks to Mr. Corman for opening up his private property to a bunch of crazy runners/duathletes who wanted to compete on a cold, windy Saturday morning.
Rev 3 S. Carolina this coming weekend and then I'm done for the season.
T-Bird
