The night before.... up too late..... need to sleep.... gonna fall asleep on the bike if I don't go to sleep. 5a.m. rolls around and unlike most race mornings I'm woken up by the sound of Ben Folds playing out of my alarm clock. Race morning food is traditional consisting of wheat toast with peanut butter, a bagel, and some juice. Start loading the car and I actually grab my wetsuit off its hanger. Arrive at the transition area and get one of the first spots, get marked and of course, size up my competition. This is my first Duathlon and it is a lot shorter than races I am used too. (Sprint distance 5k/17k/5k) At first glance I am getting worried that I didn't pay attention to the details and this is going to be an off-road race. The first 5 people I see walking bikes to the transition area are all mountain bikes, this makes me very nervous. This was a total coincidence, and it ended up being the fastest road bike course I've ever done, but that will be discussed later.
The start time ended up being an hour later than I thought, which wasn't a bad thing. The rules were very interesting and I was able to explore a lot of the bike course which was a huge advantage in the race.
Lining up at the stop line I start looking around me and notice a team from the University of Iowa and they all look like serious runners. Now that the race is over I know they are members of the track and field team at the University. My strategy on this race is very simple, take the first run very easy, blow my legs up on the bike, and just survive the last run. This race is so short that I leave the Garmin 305 at home. I don't want to know my HR or my distance on this race; it would only scare me and want me to back off. I figure no matter how bad of shape I get in I should be able to just muscle my way through this short of a race.

The gun fires and the runners take off like a bullet; I suddenly realize that I am seriously outmatched in a race like this. The turnaround I match up that the leaders are about 2 minutes ahead of me and gaining major ground. I resist the urge to speed up and stick to my plan. Before I reach the transition area I see the leaders (all but one members of the UofIowa team) already moving down the bike course. I fly through the transition area and pass 6 people in the transition alone. Then we start the bike, this is Kevin's time to shine. I mount the bike perfectly, clip right in and fall right into rhythm. Take a gel right away so I don't have to worry about it later. I did my best to count the people still in front of me and I THOUGHT there were about 16 people still in front of me. Within the first 3 miles of the bike I've passed 10 and can see 4 in front of me. Next 2 miles, I've passed those 4 and 1 more. I figure the leader is still in front of me. I click my computer and see I'm averaging above 26mph (told you this course was fast, all flat wind at back). I'm doing everything I can to catch the leader, I'm taking huge risks on turns, I know in my mind I'm just off my max HR and every time I look down I'm around 30mph. How am I not catching this guy? I look over my shoulder and there is no one behind me, this is a 17k bike, how did he get this big of a lead? I see the sign saying I have 0.5 miles to go and I start unhooking my shoes so I can leave them on the bike (first time trying this in a race and it worked beautifully). Jumped off the bike and hit the ground running, threw the bike on my shoulder, just flat out determined to catch this guy, I don't care how much my legs and lungs hurt, I don't care if I win, I just want to catch him. I had counted the Iowa jerseys and I knew they were still behind me. As I'm leaving the transition area and people are cheering I hear one guy yell something like "Keep it up! They are way behind you!" OMG I miss counted, I'm in first! First time ever, I'm leading a race and have been for the last 4 miles and didn't even realize it. Just out of sheer excitement I throw my hands in the air, and I hear a couple people laugh. As I'm leaving the last transition I see the second place racer just getting in the transition area. Oh no, he's one of the runners that exploded at the start. I start into the run and ouch, too hard on the bike. Keep telling myself that this was the plan; just don't stop muscle through it. I'm sure you guys are going to yell at me but I'm hurting so bad that I lengthen my stride and lower my cadence. =) Make the turn around and there are at least 5 of them gunning for me, wow they gained a lot on 1.5 miles, at least 2 minutes.(should let you know how slow I am at running). 1 mile left, look over my shoulder and here they come, great no way I can keep up with them. Manage to almost run over an aid station clerk, if she reads this, sorry I got you so wet. Finish line in sight, shoulder check again, wow he's right there and he's a lot better than me. Legs hurt so bad, screw it, could be my only shot at a win ever, run, close your eyes, lower your head and run. I break into a full sprint, I can hear his steps behind me and he follows my sprint. Yep, he's a faster sprinter than me. I manage to cross the line just ahead. My FIRST win ever. Still can't believe it, the guy who was right behind me comes over to me and we talk for a bit, he says he can't believe I was able to sprint at the end, I told him he scared the hell out of me at that turn around. He says it was his highest placing race ever and we were both just so giddy to have done so well. Awards time, I actually get to stand up when they call my name. Since the race was for charity they gave nice certificates and top three positions get a box of hammer gels, which was pretty fantastic. Gotta thank all my Trifuel people for all the training help over the last few years. The official chip times haven't been posted online yet, but I was just under the 1 hour mark.

Next day, fairly certain I had an injury from the race. Guess that's what I get for pushing so hard. My left knee just kills when there is any weight put on it. Hopefully it gets better before my next race in 3 weeks.
Thanks for reading the report and let me know what you think!!