My plan was to try to stay at 7:30 for the first run, average 22 on the bike, then see what was left in the tank. My friend wanted to stay with his nemesis, a guy I'll call Old Guy (OG), at least on the run. OG is in my friend's age group, one level above mine, and is a good athlete, pretty much wins his AG every time, but he's a little too cocky for his own good. Lately he's lost a little steam, my friend's been able to stay close, I've even beat him on the bike a time or two.

Gun goes off and we stick with OG for the first mile a (relatively)smoking 7:02. After that I back off a little, as does my friend, but I never fall more than 25 yards behind OG. Comfortable hard pace for me, could have gone faster if it was ONLY a 5k run. As it was, it's pretty much a 5K PR for me.

Everyone thought it was rather short, Garmin had it at 2.96 rather than 3.1, still a 7:16 pace

Nothing. Went well, probably exactly the limit of where I could have run it (aka, a perfect pace).

Good transition, everything went as planned. Passed OG, who doesn't do the shoes-on-the bike thing.

Nothing

Got on the main road, passed three or four of those sissy runners, settled into pace of 21, 22, 23 mph. Comfortable effort, sfeels like there's a light breezy headwind, so looking forward to the turnaround where it becomes a tailwind.

About 4 miles in, OG passes me, I drop out his draft zone and follow about ten lengths or so behind him. Turns out he's not going much faster than I was, so I let him pace me for a while. Again, still a comfortable pace.

Couple miles later we go up an incline, a small climb up a little bridge, but I close the gap on OG and have to back off to stay out of his draft zone. Don't feel like making the effort to pass him, just to rile him and have him pass me back. Down the incline we're both over 30 mph, then settle down in the 23-24 range. A little while further I get that sinking feeling that something's not right, realize the rear wheel has flatted.

Get off the side in the grass, quickly get wheel and tire off quickly. Do a fast pass inside the tire to see if I can find the source of the flat, don't find anything, so install the new tube and inflate with CO2. Put tire back on the bike, ready to go, only lost 3-4 minutes, only had a half-dozen people pass me. About a quarter-mile down the road, I hear pssssssss and the tire goes flat again. That's it, I'm toast, no more tubes, no more CO2, no more fight in the dog. Cross the road, walk for about ten minutes until some nice guy gives me a ride in his truck back to the casino.

1. Not flat
2. Take time to better check the tire for source of puncture.

After the guy drops me and the bike off, I walk the short distance to transition. Immediately see Jeremy, he flatted about aa mile in, no tube or pump. We commiserate and curse our luck, watch the rest of the race.

OG finishes about 2 minutes in front of the guy that wins my age group. Really think I could have stayed with him on the bike, if I could have managed an 8-minute run pace on the second run, I would have won my age group. If I would have finished, I would have been second as there were only two of us. Oh well! I really was curious as to what I could have done on that second run...


Lack of air in tube.


This is a well-run race, but really isn't the best venue. Riding on the shoulder of a busy road has too many hazards, the shoulder is full of trash and broken glass. Several people got flats besides Jeremy and me. In addition, a cyclist was hit by a car (went over the hood but was OK, managed to finish) and a lady was brushed by the mirror of another car on the run.