The Devil Beat Me.

I must be getting old. In the past I was able to promote and race my own events. My body this morning feels like I did an Ironman triathlon. Every muscle is achy and my joints are sore. I have blisters on my feet and hands. All this from a little off-road duathlon called The Devil's Revenge. I guess with loading/unloading all the supplies and equipment, setting up the transition area, marking and clearing the course, organizing the event and then actually racing then my body said ENOUGH.

Race morning did not come soon enough. I camped out at Clinton with Toby Long. It was a nice night for camping, but with all the howling wind and noise I did not get a minute of sleep. I kept hearing this high pitched sound and finally figured out it was the tape that was making it. Every time the wind picked up it would start sounding like a siren. Finally after a couple hours I got up and tore down 1/2 the course just to make the noise stop. The only good thing about the evening was I was kept warm by my electric blanket and heater. That extra $3.00 for a electric hookup was worth it.

After 4 more hours of course work and setup it was time for the race to start. My legs were already dead before the event even started. In the back of my mind I was thinking not to race as the 10:00am start time approached, but the competitive spirit in me made me put my running shoes on and toe the line anyway. It was a very slow run start for me I was way outside the top 50, maybe event top 75, as we hit the first part of the 3.75 mile run. I started to slowly pick off other runners on the technical parts of the run. I can only run so fast and I basically keep the same pace no matter how rocky/rooty it is. It was a fun run course. Even though my legs were very tired and I was towards the back of the pack I did have fun. I was even happier as we approached the end of the run. Time for the bike.

The first two miles of the bike I must have passed 20 riders. At that point I started to labor a little and the effects of the weekend really caught up with me. The rest of the 1st lap of the bike course I slowly passed other riders including my teammate Gerard who was on a relay team. He rode well and kept me in site until the steep rocky climb out of the single track. Once on the double track road leading to the "Green Monster Mile" climb I started to feel a little better and opened her up some. By the time I came around to complete the first lap, I was in full race mode and started to close the gap on a lot of riders suffering all the while. I worked my way up to 2nd in the 40 - 49 age-group, but ran out of time to chase down the lead. My 1:34 finish time got me 5th overall. At the finish I was very happy to be done. Only I was not done. Still several more hours of hard work. By the time we got everything loaded up I was completely exhausted. I almost fell asleep while driving on the way home. The Devil Revenge had gotten the best of me for sure.

Overall I think the event went well. Especially considering the limited time I can devote to the event. At times we (we as in I) were a bit unorganized. I even forgot to pack my pre-race announcement and had to wing it. If it were not for good friends like Gerard Arantowicz, Tige Lamb, Mark Studnicki, Heather Jordan, Rich Anderson and the Cow Town Cycling Team, the Devil's Revenge would not have taken place.