As I’m starting this blog a little late in the year, I thought I’d post a quick “catch up” post with my racing so far for 2014.  As I’ve described in a separate post, I like to do a ton of racing.  If anything, 2014 has a bit of a let down with a nagging case of plantar fasciitis– otherwise, I would have done a lot more!

1. Resolution 5-K (Seattle, WA on January 1).  Speedy little 5-K in 19:28.  Discovered later that the race was short by about 1/10 mile.   No idea how I did (common with tiny races in Magnuson Park).
2. Magnuson Series 10-K (Seattle, WA on February 15).  Not so speedy 10-K in 43:45.  Again, no idea how I placed.
3. King County Bar Association 5-K (Seattle, WA on March 8).  Very speedy 5-K in 19:30.  Again, I think that this race was short by a tiny distance.  You can tell it was tiny because I took the overall win.  Woo hoo!
4. Portland Spring Classic Duathlon (Portland, OR on March 29).  This is my favorite duathlon, even if the weather can be a little sketchy.  It’s also one of the nation’s biggest.  This year’s turnout (a little over 200) was small because the weather was rough.  Last year, it attracted over 500 competitors from up and down the west coast.  I won my AG and came in 11th overall!
5. Seattle Seahawks 12K Race (Seattle, WA on April 13).  This race was a blast.  Mildly hilly and hard.  Came in 61st overall (4,044 finishers) and 6th in my AG (out of 140).  Finished in 51:22 (6:43 pace).  I was happy with this result, particularly because I had only decided to run the race the day before.
6. Magnuson Series 10-K (Seattle, WA on April 19).  Ran something like 42 minutes and change– or about a 6:46 pace.  I think I got second or third overall, but it’s unclear.
7. Mount Rainier Duathlon (Enumclaw, WA on April 27).  This is always a cold and miserable race.  Last year (2013), it served as the USAT national championship for long-course duathlon– and, consequently,  I had the worst race ever.  This year, the weather was just as bad but my results were much better.  Out of 116 participants, 14 dropped out (mostly weather related).  Of the 102 finishers, I managed 19th place and second in my AG.
8. Blue Lake Sprint Duathlon (Portland, OR on June 7).  This was part one of a marathon weekend– a sprint duathlon on Saturday and an Olympic duathlon on Sunday.  This is another one of those great Portland races (I love Portland duathlons) and, while I really wanted to hit it hard, I had to hold something back for Sunday.  I also had a minor pull in my soleus earlier in the week, which I magically cured using my Compex (separate post coming later), which further had me holding back.  Somehow managed a win in my AG and fourth overall.
9. Blue Lake Olympic Duathlon (Portland, OR on June 8).  Part deux of my Portland Weekend Extravaganza.  This went surprisingly well except for the last run, where the wheels fell off the truck.  This is where I learned that back-to-back races have special nutritional needs; the race on Saturday left me with nothing in the tank.  Thankfully, I had a good first run and bike so I still salvaged second in my AG and sixth place overall.
10. MoveMore 5-K (Seattle, WA on June 29).  Ever since Mount Rainier, my plantar fasciitis had been bugging me.  By now, it was really bad.  I ran this race as a “C” race– finished in 21:04.  It was a tiny race so I think I got sixth place overall.
11. Hagg Lake Duathlon (Portland, OR on July 12).  This was my last tune-up race before Nationals.  While just about every other Portland duathlon is flat and allows me to use my aerodynamics, Hagg Lake is anything but flat.  In fact, there’s only about one mile that actually counts as flat.  Instead, it is one of the hilliest races I’ve ever done.  It’s not hilly in the sense that it has monstrous climbs– it’s hilly in the sense that it is constantly rolling up and down.  This is exactly the kind of race that favors a big rear cassette and a well-tuned front derailleur.  Unfortunately, I had neither one.  I rode this course with an 11-21 cassette (in case you’re not a gear head, this is one of those TINY rear cassettes that people like criterium riders use).  I also dropped my chain twice– one time forcing me to dismount and dislodge my chain which had gotten deeply stuck near my bottom bracket spindle and right chain stay.  It also featured ridiculous trail running (I suck at trail running).  Despite a horrible race, I managed third in my AG and 9th overall.  Thank goodness for small fields.
12. USAT Duathlon Nationals (St. Paul on July 19).  I talked briefly about this race and Seafair in my first blog post.
13. Seafair Duathlon (Seattle, WA on July 20).

So what’s still on the calendar?  I have the Washington State 40K Time Trial Championship coming up on August 10, the Black Diamond Duathlon on September 14, and possibly the Kirkland Duathlon on September 21.  In terms of training, I’m in a cycling focus right now until state TT’s.  After that, I think I’m going to go into a quick running build and find one or two running races.  Then, I might do a general build for hitting the two duathlons towards the end of the season.  If I’m really lucky, I’ll hit 20 races by December 31, but I’m not holding my breath.

In other news, I do have a Garmin Virb on order to help get some interesting race footage going on this site.