Doing Peanut Butter

(the picture is bad these shoes were light blue, and socks were white)



Its May and time to start racing.

I have done some training this winter, nothing like years past, in fact I feel like a slacker a lot of the time compared to what I'm used to. But with May here the races are starting and its time to see what the indoor training and winter full of fun has left me. I had signed up for the TriZou Tri at the Univ. of Missouri (formally Race For Sight). I have done this race a bunch of times, in all kinds of formats, venues and weather conditions, and love it. It is always competitive and a great way to start the season. However, this is roughly a 6 hr drive that I was looking at doing solo, and wasn't loving the idea of that for a sprint tri. Adam is off on the islands racing St Croix (yooo Mahn!), and I am just getting waaaaaay to practical these days. I still wanted to race and was searching for some 5ks or 10ks and found the Peanut Butter Duathlon. Hmmm. Yumm. and sounds intriguing, best yet only 1 hr from home. The distances were roughly the same minus the swim, add a run and lots of fun!

The race was held at Rock Cut State Park in Rockford and was a 2 mile trail run, 14 mile bike and 2 mile trail run and was to benefit the Rockford area food pantry. With all the rain we've had daily, I knew it would be an interesting day. The sun finally came out and the day was beautiful. Perfect for racing. The race was small and VERY local/laid back, but I was just out for a good workout and and to test out my fitness and my NEW BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scott Plasma....red and black. I feel so lucky. Thank you Adam thank you Rich and Anthony!!!!

I'm not much of a duathlete, and have only done 1 or 2 so it felt like a strange start but was glad not to be jumping in freezing cold water. After a good warm up, finally I was off and running. The run was on grassy trails.The first mile was relatively dry with a nice uphill. I was running strong but felt a bit sluggish, maybe it was the grass, but was surprised to see mile 1 at 6:22! The second mile was basically all through mud, and wet swamp that soaked your socks and splashed mud everywhere. My shoe just about came off at one point. I was laughing because this was truly fun. I felt like I was running through peanut butter! 2 miles of fun and I was caked in mud from shoes to shorts! Transition...oh yea a good time to practice. I haven't done this since last September, but I breezed through and was off on my new ride. The bike course is hilly and curvy, lots of potholes. It was fun doing loops around the park. I guess this is where they have Rockman Tri and much of the run is where we were riding. Ouch, it looks like a tough run for a 1/2 IM! The bike felt awesome. The position great, just a few tweaks to make. Another fast transition and 2 more miles of peanut butter. I had been leading for the women the whole time, but still didn't want to let up. The second run felt good. I was pretty much by myself in the woods I could see a guy in front I was trying to catch. I trying to go fast through mud is tough. The effort is there but you go now where. A little backwards, a little sideways, but this was really fun. In the end I finished first female, 13th overall. I even won some cash!!! What a nice surprise. What is it about local small races. Great prizes, and low entry fees (only 40$ for this) and an hour drive. Congrats also to Scott Iott, fellow Trainingbible athlete who won for the men.
For a small local race this was very well organized and a good start to the season.

Here's to race season.