I felt like I ran well and was happy with my time. I was concerned that I may have gone out too fast and would pay for it later. Low humidity and cooler temps. were very nice.

Pack a back up HR monitor in my transition bag. Checked the battery status of my Forerunner off the charger to verify that it is fully charged. I would have also left my sunglasses in transition and saved them for the bike. The run route was in the shade for the most part. My glasses filled with sweat and clouded up during the run and remained cloudy during the bike, restricting my visibility. I left them in T2 for the second run.

I forgot to remove the cleat covers from my bike shoes before the race, so I lost some time pulling the covers off.

Remove cleat covers from bike shoes before the race starts or simply leave them at home on race day. Leave sunglasses in transition and save for the bike.

I pushed hard on the bike, giving it an all out effort from the start. Of the two hairpin 2 u-turns on the course, I was involved in an accident at the second u-turn. The competitor in front of me was not able to negotiate a full turn, lost momentum before he could clip out and fell over. I was committed to the turn when he went down and I ran over his bike. I went over my handlebars, landing on my right shoulder. The bike survived okay. The fall bent the right brake hood / gear shift assembly about 45 degrees from its upright position, I dropped a chain and ejected my water bottle. I scraped up my right shoulder from the impact, and got a strawberry on my right elbow and sprained my right ring finger. I lost about a minute getting back on the bike and on the course.

Allow more spacing between the rider in front of me and myself on tight u-turns. Consider clipping out the inside foot going into a hairpin U turn and clip back in coming out of the turn. Be extremely cautious in the future when approaching u-turns in races.

No issues that I recall in T2. I felt a little banged up from the bike accident and decided to come to unclip, stop and dismount at T2 rather than risk another mishap on a flying dismount. I also figured that my bike time wss going to be off since I was in an accident and lost some time there.

Stay on the bike for entire bike segment.

The second run was tough, especially having run the same course earlier and knowing where the tough segments were on the route. Climbing the hill on the return to the outlet mall parking lot was a killer. I'm very happy with my run time, one of my best run time averages since I have been doing multi-sport.

Verify that my Garmin Forerunner is fully charged to capture HR data for post-race analysis. Keep a backup watch in my transition bag.

I didn't do a warm down. After the finish, I went to the medical area to get treatment for a scrape on my right shoulder and elbow from the bike wreck. I hooked my insulin pump back up and checked blood sugar (162 mg/dl). I then joined a few fellow MTR members and shared race experiences.


Cloudy sunglasses with lens covered in sweat at the end of the first run and during the bike. Bike accident at the second hairpin u-turn. Having to take time to remove cleat covers on my bike shoes in T1.


This was my first duathlon and last multi-sport event of a short 09 tri season for me. Aside from my bike wreck, I'm happy with my overall performance. This was one of my better events dealing with diabetes. Blood sugar was 279 mg/dl at the start and a 162 mg/dl at the finish. I disconnected my insulin pump for the duration of my race and made a low insulin correction .5u when I restarted the pump after I finished. The weather was great with sunny skies and mild temperatures, course support and volunteers were strong and there was a good turnout for the race. I look forward to doing this event again and improving my time next year.