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Since I am technically a physician, I feel ethically obligated to start this blog with a disclaimer: if you are sick, you should not race.  That being said, my specialty is psychiatry, so I'm obviously crazy.  After discovering the pro race at Galveston 5150 had been cut, I canceled my flight to Texas and decided to look for a local alternative instead.  A good friend, Jef Mallett had told me about the Come Clean Duathlon so, despite the fact that it is a duathlon, I decided to sign up.  I registered on Tuesday night.  On Thursday morning I woke up with a sore throat.  Seriously?  How many times do I have to get sick this year?!  

Back to Thursday... I was hoping it would pass, so I did my bike workout in the morning.  That was when I knew it wouldn't pass.  My HR was too high for the watts I was putting out, a sure sign that I was sick.  I skipped my run workout after work, hoping I would recover by Sunday.  Friday morning I felt worse, so I skipped my swim workout, hoping I would recover by Sunday.  Saturday morning came around and I still felt crummy and slept for 11 hours, so I again skipped my workouts, hoping I would recover by Sunday.  Then it was Sunday morning.  My throat was better, but now I was coughing.  Great, coughing combined with asthma always makes for a great race!  But my gear was packed, my bike was ready, my entry fee paid, so I figured I would give it a go.  I arrived early so I could set up my transition area and then headed back to my car do a breathing treatment.  After my breathing treatment I tried a warm up run and after a few minutes I felt like I was floating.  Probably not a good sign, so I stopped, decided to save it for the run.  My parents decided to surprise me by showing up to cheer me on and it was awesome to have their support!

I lined up with a fellow Playmakers runner, Chris Vincent, and decided I would try to stay with her for the first 5k.  The horn blew and everyone took off!  I knew the first mile would be fast, so I did my best to stick with Chris and Ron Alleman.  I soon got that floating feeling again, but I kept my mind focused on form and cadence, which seemed to help ground me.  Before we hit the first mile I started to pull away.  Don't ask me why, I was sick, I obviously was not making good choices!  But I kept pushing my pace and at the turn around I saw I had a slight lead on the other women.  I ran into transition, grabbed my bike off the rack and started to run, then realized I was still wearing my flats, so I yanked them off and tossed them back to my transition spot.  Okay, now off to bike!

The bike course was a challenge.  I had been hoping to hold close to 24 mph, but quickly discovered that would not be happening.  I had no idea how close the other women were, so I kept pushing as hard as I could.  Whenever I'm sick, I tend to be able to continue biking strong even though running is a struggle.  So I pushed on the bike.  I had to focus on staying calm, otherwise I would start struggling to breath.  Over and over I would tell myself "See, you're just spinning here, just keep spinning, just keep spinning," like some demented bike-obsessed version of Dory from Finding Nemo.  I later found out that everyone had struggled with the bike course due to the roughness of the road and the cold weather, but alone on my stretch of road, it was a struggle to stay confident.  

I rounded the last corner and yanked off my bike shoes.  I stumbled through my dismount, but managed to stay on my feet.  I wasn't sure how the run was going to go, but I wanted to try anyway.  It was going to be a tough run, but I began counting my cadence in my head "One, two, three, one, two, three," to keep me moving.  I kept telling myself to make it to the turn around.  After running over the bridges, I rounded a corner and there was the turn around.  I had no idea where the other women were, but I would finally find out.  I checked my watch at the turn around and kept counting in my head, scanning faces.  I saw Elaine, gave her a thumbs up and glanced at my watch.  Okay, I had a lead, but I didn't know if it would be enough.  I kept counting "One, two, three, one, two, three.”  As I neared the finish line, I saw my parents and smiled, or tried to smile, it must have been a pretty poor attempt because my dad yelled at me to smile at the finish line.  I nodded, rounded the corner and mustered a better smile.  It was easier to smile with so many people cheering me to the finish! 

I have to say this duathlon went much better than my first attempt at a duathlon this year!  Maybe, in my wise old age, I have learned a little more about listening to my body and cutting workouts as soon as I felt sick likely saved my race.  But we shall see if this trend sticks around!  I was lacking my usual race partner, my incredible husband Todd Kennedy, who had to work.  Someone has to put food on our table and pay for our expensive habit!  But I had my other Todd, Todd Buckingham, who had an amazing race to take 1st overall!  Alec Womboldt also had a great race and finished 2nd overall.  Rounding out the podium was another MSU Tri Team member, Kyle Bostedt.  My good friend Jeff Mallett, who got me into this very fun mess in the first place, finished 1st in his age group.  Aaron Bales also finished 1st in his age group and Ron Alleman finished 2nd in his age group.  For the women, Elaine Sheikh from MSU had a strong race for 2nd overall and my friend Chris Vincent rounded out the podium at 3rd overall.  Lansing Tri Team member Kim Albin had a great race to finish 1st Masters.  From Oak Park YMCA Tri Team, Lynne Hart finished 2nd in her age group and Michelle Husted-Brittain finished 1st in her age group.  It was awesome to spend the morning with so many tri buddies!  In addition, I also have to say the race director and his team did an amazing job for a first year race.  They had very cool overall awards, giant cardboard checks, prize money for overall and masters, finisher medals and good food!  I would advise any multisport athlete to put this one on their calendar next year, great way to end the season in Michigan!

Alright, next I have to put in a little plug, so bear with me!  As many of you probably already know, I will be swimming the Straits of Mackinaw on Labor Day 2015 to celebrate the 58th anniversary of the Mackinaw Bridge.  One of the really cool and very important parts of being a member of Team Might Mac Swim, is that I am raising money for Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity.  To raise money, I am selling raffle tickets for $20.  The raffle will be held on Labor Day 2015 and the prizes include some awesome vacation getaways, cash prizes and the grand prize is a 2 year lease on a Lincoln MKC.  But, that is so far away!  So, in addition to being entered into the raffle on Labor Day, I am going to be holding my own raffles!  That's right, a raffle within a raffle!  Not sure what all the prizes will be, but I am planning to do the first one after selling 50 tickets.  So be on the lookout on Facebook to see what the prize will be!  You can click on the Mighty Mac Swim tab on my website for details on how to donate. 

Looking forward, way forward, my next race will be on October 26th in sunny Oceanside, California for the final race in the Life Time Triathlon series.  As the weather gets colder here in Michigan, I hope you all have some fun off season plans and happy training!