Duke Half 2008 Recap

It certainly was effin' hot out there. Hope you're all better.

I feel bad for some of those volunteers out there. Some poor girl essentially alone directing people off 42. Another poor kid, all by himself, warning riders about the railroad tracks.

I can't believe how hard the aid station volunteers were working. Very impressed.

I said 'thank you' to every volunteer i saw because i know it was miserable for them, too. Setup did a great job making sure there was enough water and i soooooo appreciated the iced towels at the run aid stations. The Duke 1/2 run is always such a monster!

I agree about the volunteers, but Setup or someone has to do something about the freagin' rocks on the run.  Or maybe I should wear my hikin' boots next time.  The run is now named "The Beast" in my book.  Any PR's out there?

Yeah, that gravel is brutal on the feet. I don't wear my racing flats for this race, but even in my trainers, it's tough. I train on a similar gravelly trail, which coincidentally is located in Duke Forest.

I got a PR. I cut 12 minutes off my time from last year. All gained on the bike because I'm much stronger on hills and I have a real tri bike this year. My run split was worse than last year, because the heat slowed me down, plus I spent a ton of time at aid stations. I sometimes had to wait in line for water, but I didn't mind too much because I knew everyone needed water and was just glad they didn't run out.

My swim and bike were right on target (bike was actually better than I expected!). My run was about 18 minutes slower than I had hoped for.

Swim: 39:40, 4 AG
T1: 1:49
Bike: 2:55:53, 3 AG
T2: 2:52
Run: 2:33:03, 4 AG
Overall 6:13:16, 4th AG out of 10 (9 who finished).