Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur, I heard the day of atonement. I need to do that & rest because I had been sick all week since last Sunday night.

Saturday agenda-5k

The United states air force marathon took place in Ohio, but why do that when there were 3 to choose from locally-1 in Dade, 1 in Broward, 1 in Palm beach; I chose the former for the following reasons:

a. sick all week & was forced to curtail training
b. proximity
c. inaugural

Plus, having skipped the local race on independence day cost me a lot of money so I thought I couldn't go wrong; I couldn't have been further from the truth.
Dade= united way 5k, Broward=cell-ebration 5k, Palm beach=firefighter 5k. Check this out:

Mine drew 268 finishers, Broward, only 55
Top winner 16:50, Broward-18:55
Top master 18:41, 4 oa while Broward-25:20, 10 oa
Top woman broke 19 while Broward-23:51 3rd overall here was low 17 while Broward over 21! My time today was good enough for 2nd overall over there in Broward; what a shame!
Today was like dejavu of last weekend but all on 1 day. Sickle cell (Broward race) & firefighter (Palm beach race) 5k's. Kinda like a shift up north in counties.

Choosing events is like rolling the dice, sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. Hind sight is 20/20 so I have to deal with my decision. In fact, I actually need to praise the Lord because I still haven't fully recovered from illness & still made the top ten with a low 19! I got past a STOL teammate who actually led for nearly 2 miles. This qualified me to win my age group. Post race was very basic. Awards here were medals for anyone not overall.

Sunday agenda-the finale!

There was a marathon (fox cities) in Wisconsin & a rec bike ride in Clermont but there was no way I could miss the trilogy bonus round. It is the series finale and at stake-my age group and relay division inaugural duathlon titles! This truly would be a bonus round for me as I added a tri international relay to the plate. Having not fully recovered from illness, this would be an extreme challenge. I thank the Lord for deferring that somewhat & allowing me compete at nearly 90 %, still a viable threat. Multirace offered both sprint & Olympic distances for both the duathlon & triathlon. So much went down that it is best I surmise the events separately even though it was basically strung through.

Duathlon (individual)

I pre-registered for all 4 races of the inaugural sprint duathlon series and this bonus round was the finale. I was injured in #2, posting my worst bike & run times. Unfortunately, that bike time counted toward the relay as well, jeopardizing my chances of getting the elite runner to agree to a series. Since God is good, he did continue & I will expound on that next. Returning to the solo, I now need a good performance this day to drop that bad one. I ran conservatively (14 oa) to reserve strength for a decent ride. I had to fight the wind going to the bridge, it subsides temporarily, then reversed while headed due west. Once I turned around, I had to fight an even stronger head wind going back east. I was lucky to break a half hour & make the dirty dozen. After that, the 5k. I am still disappointed running over 21 minutes but remarkably, that made the dirty dozen. The transitions were slower as expected because I have to pass off a chip to my teammate. The combined times propelled me into the top ten; excluding relays, top 8. Also, my highest podium placement with 3rd overall master. I have officially won my age group for the inaugural du! Of note, also within the top ten highest points of the series winners.

Duathlon (relay)

Many wonder why I would be crazy enough to 'du' as an individual & a team. This was not my original intention but came out of chance. Running races were hard to find during the summer which is why I do multisports so Spencer West (an elite runner & runner's depot teammate) asked me about races he could possibly do between seasons, since he's heard about the number of events I do each year (100+). Naturally, as an experienced team captain, I suggested he run on a relay. We won despite my struggles aforementioned so I told him I'd understand if he didn't want to do any more with me. He was gracious & said 'non sense' and agreed to make history by signing on for the remainder races; I felt like Pat Riley when he got back Wade and signed up LeBron & Bosch. We never looked back since and are now the very first relay team to win the inaugural du series, plus on top of that, 4th overall highest points of the series winners. If we decide to the defend this title, in order to improve on that dismal T1 time that shows, I will have to commit. Regarding this race, he posted the fastest run splits of any athlete, including the overall winner! My ride was within the dirty dozen. We placed 4th overall thanks to him.

Triathlon (relay)

Many wonder why I would be crazy enough to enter into a triathlon relay after 'du'ing both as an individual & a team. This also was not my original intention but came out of chance. A triathlete sought me for the run, & at first, I said no because I already committed to a relay. As an experienced team captain, I have to be aware of possibilities, timing & positioning. Another sprint was impossible but the new distance of international was added; inaugural for the trilogy. After some calculations and realization that more history could be made (the first team to enter this distance & my first involvement at this distance at a trilogy), I reconsidered & had to convince them I could do it (succeeded in the past). By the grace of God, as Hanibel of the A-team would say, 'I love it when a plan comes together'. I made it back after completing the 2 categories with ample time to get the chip from Andre's son. I had an average run but it was good enough for us to win, making more history. The swimmer (Andre's brother) was the fastest of all finishers, including the overall winner! The cyclist matched my time but for double the distance; awesome. We got an inaugural commemorative finisher's medal in addition to the category win.

What a great weekend. This was my first time being involved in 3 distinct events at the same venue, more history! On top of that, 1st time making the podium 3 times at the same event on the same day (history)! Praise the Lord!