Just Du It

During the month of October, while the leaves started changing colors and the temperature started to get colder, I decided that I wasn't done with multi-sports for the year. I was already signed up as a relay for the Wrentham Duathlon with my brother, but I also wanted to warm up for that one and race in one as an individual entry.

Scituate Duathlon 
Run 2-miles: 16:20
Transition 1: 1:06
Bike 11-miles: 35:01
Transition 2: 1:34
Run 2.8-miles: 25:36
Total: 1:19:34

Up to this point, I had competed in four triathlons, so I was familiar with multi-sports, but I had yet to compete in the run-bike-run of a duathlon. Not to mention I hadn't trained much since Nationals at the end of August. Scituate was a beautiful area, the race location was directly on the ocean. On top of being out of shape, there was a storm that was coming in that created huge waves that barreled over the sides of bridges/streets that we had to run on. It was very cold, but very rewarding. It was a great experience, and for those of you that don't like to swim but would like to participate in a fun race, a duathlon is perfect for you. Most multi-sport races have lots of beginners who are just looking for a rush of adrenaline and to put a notch on their belt. I highly recommend trying a duathlon at some point in your life.

Wrentham Halloween Duathlon

Run 3-miles: 23:07

Transition 1: 0:39

Bike 11-miles: 33:47

Transition 2: 0:45

Run 2-miles: 15:08

Total: 1:13:29

Now this race was a lot of fun. My brother, Kevin, has been interested in the races I've been doing, and up to this point he has run a 5k and a 5-miler road race with me. We decided to double-team this duathlon, and we joined as a relay team; he did the running, me the biking. It was a great way to end the season. I had asked a few friends to come along and make their own relay team, so it was just a really fun race overall. Kevin, who is 11 years old, did a phenomenal job running as was able to come in shortly behind my friend. The fun part of this race was that it was the Halloween Duathlon, so there was a lot of people dressed up in Halloween costumes. The best one of the day was definitely the gingerbread man:

After the race was over, we mingled with our family (my Mom, Dad, Aunt, and Nana) and waited around for the awards. Up until this point, I had never come close to placing, but we thought we did fairly well this time around. We ended up getting 2nd place in the all-male relay division! The excitement on my brothers face was priceless, and I was very excited as well. I had my best bike split of the year, and my brother was hooked on duathlons. He now wants to do this race by himself next April.

It was so awesome having our families there for support. My family has been to every single one of my races, and I know a lot of my success has been because they have been there. I just want to let everyone know how important support is for someone you love. Knowing that I have the support from the people I love to train and race gives me the motivation to continue when things are hard and when I'm hurting all over. So remember, if you love someone, to give them as much support as you would love to get back from them.