Texas Motor Speedway Duathlon - In the Books!

It was a great day to be up early at the Texas Motor Speedway. Mike Kerber came over at 5:45 (AM!), we loaded up the bikes and drove to the just north of Fort Worth. The temperature was 62 degrees but it was a little windy - which factored big time into how the race played out.

Race Report:

The first run leg was 2 times around a 1 mile loop inside the TMS. It's a big place - and with a 15-25 mile an hour wind at our backs on the backstretch, the middle half of each loop was FAST. I was running at a 7:30 minute/mile pace (at times I have a tough time doing that on the bike). On the front leg, however, it was different story - more like a 9:30 pace. So on the first run, I averaged 8:15 and was feeling good into transition and getting on the bike.

The bike was supposed to be 15 miles and ended up being 16 miles - 3 loops around the outside of the complex. And it seemed like we were with the wind only about 1/3 of the time - how does THAT happen? I got up to 29.5 mph with the wind at my back, averaging about 14 mph into the wind, for an average of 18.5 mph for the bike.

But I guess I must have pushed a little too hard on the bike 'cause the second run leg of two 1 mile loops was significantly slower - I averaged 9:21, over a minute slower than the first run leg. My coach had targeted me at 8:30 the first run leg and 8:15 the second, so I ended up a little over 2 minutes slower than anticipated - 1:30 for the whole race, including transitions. A good start to the first multisport event of the year.

I had a good time, Mike did great and now we'll look forward to the next event - the Dallas Rock N Roll Half Marathon on March 27.

By then my sister Julie will be through with her chemo and hopefully will be able to come cheer us on at the finish line.

We've done great so far with our fundraising - over $5800 so far with no publicity beyond Facebook and  a few emails to friends and family. The NOCC is planning to help spread the word through their chapters nationwide and we will are now working on getting corporate sponsorships - with any luck, my racing singlets and triathlon suits will make me look like a NASCAR driver.

You can donate to the NOCC HERE

You can find out about Ovarian Cancer Signs & Symptoms HERE

Thanks for your support - The positive responses and encouragement keep my legs moving on those tough stretches in a race and keep Julie going through those tough patches during her fight with cancer.

Here's a picture of me and Mike Kerber at the end of the TMS Duathlon: