Hey guys,

I did my first race of the season yesterday, Brian's Beachside Boogie (http://www.race-productions.com) at CT's Hammonassette State Park. Although it was short, it was also awesome, and I've been looking forward to writing about it for most of the day now.

The race itself was an off-road duathlon; seems like those are popular this time of year. This one was a 2-mile run, 10-mile bike, 2-mile run, mostly on grass or sandy trails. Fat tires were required, though in fairness you only really needed them in a select few spots. Hammonassette is a beachside park, and yesterday was windy (maybe 10-20 mph) with temps that started in the 50s and ended in the 60s. I could have done with a little less wind, but otherwise I thought conditions were pretty good.

I was happy with my performance overall, especially considering that I didn't rest at all for the race. But I am no runner, and this being my first duathlon, that was brought home to me repeatedly. My first 2 miles was about 15:30, where I wanted to be but well back in the pack. Honestly, I was really surprised by how fast folks started. Considering that I passed literally 30 people in the first two miles of the bike, I think a lot of the rabbits probably should have held something back early on. At any rate, my bike was 41 minutes--which I think was OKAY considering I was on my mountain bike and on grass or sand for most of the race. Still, I was jealous of the guys who'd bolted aerobars onto their mountain bikes. Good idea! Those would have been really nice to have in the wind. My last two miles were 16:02; as I said, I'm no runner, but at least my splits were even. I've been doing a lot of aerobic work and a lot of squats, and I felt both kicking in during the race.

I finished in 1:13:09, 53rd/153 overall and 8/21 in my age group (Male 35-39). Not bad for me, especially considering that I didn't have the swim to give me any kind of early boost. Still, the best thing about this race was FINALLY being outside racing. HOORAY SPRING!