http://www.lakesareasports.com/newsarticle.php?yid=1112&nid=55845
David Jensen, whom I met in Jamestown just a week ago invited us to his hometown for the annual Average Joe Sprint Triathlon. My sister and I drove down there a day before the race and stayed at his house. I have to tell you, if someone is crazy about bikes than he will sure fit in that. His basement was full of bike parts and fully assembled bikes hanging from the wall..
The race was a short, 1/3 mile swim followed by a 20k bike ride and a 4 mile (6.4km) run.
Dave told me that a year ago the water level was so low that he literally ran along the swimmers and actually beat them out of the water. That was sure something I would have LOVED to see! With this in mind and the fact that water levels were not a much higher this time either we lined up for the start.
Dave's brother, Nate was next to me. As we took off I ran a bit until I felt it was deep enough to swim then dove in.. Nate, on the other hand ran along me.. For a good 100 yards at least. I was literally laughing under water every time I looked to my left and saw him hopping in the water.. Then even him had to swim as the water got, finally, deep enough to stop this madness..I exited the water in 3rd or 4th place just in front of Dave and Nate and after a quick transition I was on the bike looking for my race pace.. It didn't take long though for Dave to catch me as he 1., knew the course, 2., is a stronger biker than I am.
I tried to focus on keeping a solid but steady distance behind him so I don't piss him off and make him ride even faster.. It sort of worked as we averaged around 25mph only(?!) and I got off the bike within 20 seconds to him. The run was as I expected. I quickly found my running legs and was running at a good pace chasing after Dave.. When I caught up to him he was joking around how he is holding back until he gets over that monster hill (the entire course was flat as the lake). When I pulled away from him I started feeling even better and I had to slow myself on purpose to save some energy for my afternoon race.. I averaged 3:35 min/km (5:44min/miles) pace on the run and felt great!
Results: Average Joe Triathlon
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| Finishing the Average Joe Sprint Triathlon in first and course record time! |
In the afternoon, after visiting with Dave's family I was off to another race! It was a 5 mile race on an out and back course. Back in the days the race was won by under 25 minutes. This year I didn't need to run that fast.. Shortly after the start a group of four emerged and took the lead. I was holding back as I had no idea how much energy I had left after the triathlon in the morning. After about a mile and a half I took the lead and surged the pace. With the surge I was able to shake off everyone but one runner. We ran together, side by side, for another mile. At around mile 3, after the turn around, I put in another surge that finally distanced me well enough from him and I just turned on the cruise control. I could never let the pace though as the second place was also maintaining his own pace. I was getting really tired by the end but managed to come in first with a clear 40 second ahead of the second. As the first mile was only about 5:53 pace and the 2 mile around 11:30, I finished the run with 3, 5:20-30 pace miles to finish with the time of 27:40. Definitely not my fastest run but it was enough to pull off the win. The post race party included beer from a keg, and hamburgers. I'm not sure whose idea was to serve alcohol and food but it sure made my day! Driving back home, however, was one of my worst nightmares. We didn't get back to Bismarck until about 2am in the morning and had to stop in Jamestown because I was unable to keep my eyes open. I should have stayed another night in Minnesota and leave in the morning. Live to learn..
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| 2012 Otter Tail Lake Chase 8k |
Article to the race: 2012 Otter Tail Lake Chase 8k
On a side note, my knee is holding up. Ready for more stress? More workouts? Perhaps..
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