March 11, 2008
Spring Around the Corner?

I spent last weekend pouring over my duathlon & triathlon racing possibilities for the upcoming season. For those unfamilar with the sports a duathlon is an athletic event (not to be confused with biathlon) that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format bearing some resemblance to triathlons.

I first got hooked on the sports when I lived in Texas during the late '80s. I was getting bored with simply running and wanted to do some other disciplines that would be a little easier on the old joints. Before I knew it, I was training 3 to 5 hours each day and racing every weekend, sometimes twice a weekend. It was fun as hell and I was in the best shape of my life. In my first big triathlon, held in Waco, I went up against a young punk by the name of Lance Armstrong. Perhaps you've heard of him? He was all of 16 or so and he dominated the field.

Here is a photo of myself and Frank Shorter taken after a Dallas duathlon circa 1988. Shorter won the gold medal in the marathon race at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

I wasn't too bad either, winning the state Texas triathlon championship in 1988. Now-a-days, I'm just happy to participate.

The racing season is a bit shorter in Minnesota. Stupid snow. But I have signed up for my first duathlon for 2008. It will be the Winter Begone! duathlon on April 27. It will probably be a chilly event but maybe the weather will cooperate for us.

I elected to compete in the Short Course, which will be a 2 mi. run, 12 mi. bike, 2 mi. run. No need to tear/pull/rip any muscles out of the shoot.

I also received a very nice note from the race director:

"Hi Brian,

I just wanted to take a minute to welcome you to our newest multi-sport event in Minnesota. Thanks for coming down to the Rochester area to have a fun day with us. I don't know about you, but I am ready to get my bike out on the open road and off of my Kinetic trainer. I see you have done plenty duathlons in your time, so I know you know what to expect. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Anyway, take care for now, Brian.

Kona or Bust!"

Bill Nevala
Event Executive Director
USAT Certified Race Director
Winter Begone! Duathlon

Should be fun. Besides a long-sleeved t-shirt, I hear tell one also gets a commemorative pint glass. Maybe I can rig up a helmet cam and take some live action video from the race!

Posted by briankeithmaas@msn.com at March 11, 2008 01:07 AM
Comments

That sounds like a lot of fun! I've never biked in a race before, but I've run too many 5ks to count. In Anoka, MN (Halloween capital of the world!) there's a 5k the last Saturday of every October called the Grey Ghost. I've got a whole pile of long sleeved shirts and commemerative glasses from that one.

Posted by: Peter at March 11, 2008 10:01 AM

Peter, are you using a Nike-iPod combo yet? If not, break down and purchase so you can join in on the various Nike challeneges and such that I've got running (see right nav bar).

Posted by: Brian Maas at March 11, 2008 11:02 AM

Maybe with the economic stimulus package I'll be getting in May. Depends on how the wife's vehicle is running when the check comes!

Posted by: Peter at March 11, 2008 05:03 PM

Hey Brian, glad to see you still keep up with the running. I will be back into training now that the weather has warmed up again and hope to run my second marathon later this year. (TCM in October). I ran my first marathon (TCM) on my 44th birthday in '05. Weather was a bit warm but I finished. I run a 10 min/mile pace and would have a few miles up except the Nike+ receiver crapped out and the new one won't sync up to my Nike+ account yet. Still not sure how to fix it but the miles will start to roll up soon.

If you ever find a running event (5k, 10k) worth running at this summer let me know. Not much into cycling but will probably incorporate more cross training in this year on the old 10 speed.

Regards, Bill

Posted by: Bill P at March 11, 2008 08:25 PM
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