In order to get a national ranking for duathlons one needs to finish at least three races. Since I had only completed two duathlons I decided to add on a third to get the ranking. The race I chose was the Columbus Day Duathlon consisting of a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. My goal was to beat my previous time on this course of 59 minutes.

As is usual for races my wife and I got up far too early and headed out with our 3 month old Jonathan. We arrived with plenty of time and my wife woke up Jonathan while I got my stuff ready in the transition area. Soon enough I lined up for the start and the race began. The run followed the shoreline of White Rock lake in Dallas meaning that it was very flat except for a small rise. I hit the turnaround in 6:40 a little fast for me. I kept the tempo up for the rest of the run and hit the transition area in 13:38.

The first transition went by quickly and I was out on my bike hunting down all the faster runners. By the 8 mile mark I had passed a tonne of people and could see a small pack pretty far ahead. As I returned through the park back to the transition area I lost sight of them in the curves but a glance behind me showed that there was no one close behind either. I then cruised into the transition area, finishing the 10 mile bike in 25:44.

There were hardly any bikes in the transition area and I knew that I had done pretty good. As I headed for the exit I heard the announcer say something about how the crowd was watching the 'elite' athletes that were now heading out on the run ahead of the main pack just nearing the transition. I looked around and realized that he was including me in that group! A first for me, being called an elite triathlete but it sure sounded cool. It also meant that I was indeed near the front of the race. This was also a cool feeling. (in fact I was in 8th place at the time) So I headed out on the run getting ready to hold off the speedy runners I had passed on the bike.

The run actually was going well to the turnaround as only 3 people passed me. As I started for home though I could see a lot of people closing in on me. I tried to speed things up. Even with my increased speed I could hear footsteps slowly gaining ground on me. I was determined not to let the person pass by. As the person caught up to me I saw that it was the lead woman. I wasn't sure if she slowed down when she caught up to me or if I sped up but I was somehow able to keep up with her for the next half mile. With one long curve left to the finish I told her "Let's Go" she replied "No, go ahead" I picked things up and chugged on towards the finish. I could hear footsteps behind me as another runner began to catch up but with a final burst of speed I crossed the finish line ahead of him with a final run time of 15:01 and an overall time of 56:13.

I was very pleased with my effort and had beat my previous time by 3 and half minutes. We hung around until the awards ceremony where I found out that I was second in my age group and 11th overall. Thus ending my season with a 5th place in my final triathlon and a 2nd in my final duathlon.