2009 East Beach 5K

Norfolk, VA 07/24/2009. This was actually an aquathon, with a 5K as a side event. Lisa competed in the aquathon, but since I'm a slow swimmer I just did the 5K.

The day was very hot, and very muggy. It kind of felt like you had to cut through the air to run. I didn't end up with my best time ever, but I did finish second in my age group with a time of 12:13. Lisa was the big winner with first in her age group in the aquathon.

For those that would like to know, an aquathon is a combined running and swimming event. A duathlon is a combined running and cycling event.

2009 X-Bar Shootout

Eldorado, TX 05/17/2009 Good old X-Bar. This year the very technical course added some rain on Saturday to add a little mud into the mix. Actually, because of the wet conditions they cut out a few miles of the course, and we ended up racing an approximate six mile short course.

I had a little problems in the beginning of the race with mud making some of the baby heads a little slick. I had a little crash on one of the downhills which put me behind a little. I eventually caught up to the rest of the pack, but couldn't hold on since I burnt to much energy try to catch back up. Though, other than the crash I had a relatively clean ride.

I ended up in eighth place and Ryan got second.

2009 Single Track Stampede

Dripping Springs, TX 04/05/2009 This was a very fun race that was just a short drive from San Antonio. What made this race so much fun was that my teammate, Ryan Campos, was out in front of most of the time. It gave me someone I knew to chase, and caused us to come up with the nickname of "Shake and Bake" for our duo.

Right after the start of the race was a big pile up because of all the over anxious noobs. After I cleared the crash, I caught back up with rest of the traffic, which included Shake. Shortly thereafter was a long climb. On the climb, Shake and Bake were derailed in a bad spot by a dude walking his bike up the hill, which directly led to us getting passed by a lot of people.

Once past the climb, the Cat 3 course was super fast and flat. Basically, it was kind of a boring course from here on out. I passed Shake about a quarter of a mile before the finish, and I ended up finishing 17th. Shake was 18th.

The Warda Race

Warda, TX 03/29/2009 This is a very special race for me since it marks the first anniversary of my first mountain bike race. Last year I finished 27Th out of 37. This year I was looking to make a big impact.

I had done so well this winter competing in duathlons, I thought I would try something different for my warm up this race. During the duathlons, I always felt very good on the bike after my runs, so I thought I would try doing a 20 minute warm up run for the race. It sure felt good to get my heart rate pumping.

Consequently, this will always be the race I remember for my legs feeling like they were on fire. Naturally, I have always felt pain in my legs from pushing myself to my limits, but this was unreal. Instead of backing off and spinning it out, I kept pushing. The pain lasted the entire first lap.

During the second lap, when my legs were finally warmed up, I had a great ride, reeling in all kinds of riders that were in front of me.

Never again will I run as a warm up for a bike race.