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2008 Phoenix Duathlon - Bennett Mcallister |
What hath Tony wrought?
After hearing about the joys of triathlons from Coach Tony for so long,
my 22 year old middle son, Justin, and I decided to race relay in our
first event, the Desert Classic Duathlon in Phoenix, a USAT sanctioned
event. We drove 726 miles in the car to run 6.2 miles and ride 21.1
miles. Along the way, we took a measure of ourselves and learned a
little of what this sport is about.
Saturday morning’s drive was full of promise with the brilliant yellow and purple desert flowers in bloom. The normally brown and tan arid features of the rocky Sonoran mountains were tinged with green after the recent rains. We passed a company convoy of fourteen Make-IT-Work Mini Coopers and took that as a motto for Phoenix...until we got there and the entire four lane 101 freeway was closed and we were rerouted through the middle of suburban sprawl for miles.
Having lost an hour due to the time change and more time schlepping around the detour, we found the packet pickup spot about an hour before it closed. Everyone checking in was checking everyone out. “These people are FIT!”, I thought to myself as I stood taller, sucking in my tummy and throwing out my chest.
Our hotel was nice and near the approach to the McDowell Mountain Park where the duathlon would take place. I took an eighteen mile spin to loosen up my legs then we went to have a pasta dinner to fuel up for the race. Somewhere, I had read that beer was good for recovery, so we decided to begin recovery a day early. Sleep came easily, but I woke at 4 am and stayed awake imagining what the day would bring. Little did I know what was in store...
At 5:45 am, we headed up the mountain as the transition would open at 6 am and we wanted to be early. The race had about 400 entrants and started at 8 am with the first of eight waves. We were in the last wave of “over 40 women and relays”. I thought it was pretty cool because that meant everyone would be in front of us and we could only be passing people, not getting passed, but he was horrified as he could see himself getting smoked by women old enough to be his mother-no small fear for a young man who was MVP of his high school football team.
The skies were cloudy and it was cool-perfect for hammering. Justin started well and finished the first 3.5 mile singletrack trail run in decent time. I took the chip, strapped it on and took off...until the velcro loosened at the first turn. I stopped, refastened the strap and zoomed off up the first hill.
Note to those who slum with Shimano: the Shimano FlightDeck computer has a counter that is designed to count laps, but I used it to count the people I passed. The only trouble with the feature is one cannot un-count. So, when three ladies older than I passed me on the final 3 mile hillclimb, I just had to catch them.
I forgot, however, to ask my left calf which protested it’s exclusion from the decision to chase with a fine cramp-my first ever. Having parked my heart rate in the low, mid 160s for the whole race thus far (theoretic max at my age is 167), I faded it back to the 140s while keeping my quarries in sight until my calf agreed to cooperate. Knowing there was not much road left to catch them, I stood and sprinted over the hill and slammed down the last mile to the transition, just passing the last one at the last turn. Success! In total, I passed 55 riders and didn’t get passed. Whew!...and OUCH!! Justin took the chip and ran off for the final 2.7 mile trail run up and around the hills.
We finished mid/lower pack for the relay teams and learned that it is possible for personal joys to overcome pain and shared effort to trump insecurity. We’ll be doing this again. Thanks Coach Tony!
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