Yes I am a glutton for punishment .... the Dousman Duathlon report

Slept like crap but after waking up at 12:30 and downing a Tylenol, Advil, and naproxen cocktail, I got back to sleep until 0545 when Mike commanded me out of bed. I slipped on my cold weather gear, made up some oatmeal for the road, stuck a banana in my pocket and out the door we went.
After a little over an hour, we got to Dousman and got checked in. We set up transition and waited for our wave. We were originally going to just register on race day, but Friday they sent out an email saying we could register for the early bird price if we did it that day, saving us $70, so I did it, we were committed. It still meant we were in the final wave though. We were in wave 18 and 19 of 20, so we were waiting a while.
They finally called my wave -18 - then they called 19 and 20 to take off all together. Crap. No waves behind me. From the start of the first run I was DFL. Just by a few dozen yards, but last nonetheless. We went down a bike path for a while then veered out onto residential streets. before long I realized there was a scooter following me, the last runner. I think I had had just about enough of this shit for one weekend. It couldn't be called the Hearse like the sweeper van from yesterday, so I decided to call this dipstick the Grim Reaper. I was once again pissy about the escort. I kept waving him back, but he remained 10 feet or so behind me, nipping at my heels, revving up the scooter then letting out the throttle - VROOM putt putt putt VROOM putt putt putt. I got to the first course marshall I saw directing traffic and she was cheering "good job keep going" and I looked at her and growled "Tell this ass to get back and stay back. He needs to back off from me!" I think I shocked her a little but she held him up and told him to back off - thank you nice lady! Finished the first 2 mile run, garmin said 21:14.
Then it was T1 time and out the bike gate. I was the last bike in the racks. The.last.one. ..... Which I could hear the volunteers in the corral talking about. Loudly. "She's the last one in?" "Yep"..... Bummer.
Before long I was out on the bike course. It was windy and hillier than Mike led me to believe but I only swore under my breath at him a couple of times. He was far up ahead anyhow so he didn't hear me. I knew that I was the last bike, so I took kind of a sick pleasure in passing, oh, a couple hundred people or so. That was fun. My new pink IM Kona Elite helmet was sweet. Perhaps it would have been nice if I had remembered that last year when I was cold weather biking I had to wear a handkerchief under my helmet as a wind block. The new helmet has much bigger vent holes for better air movement which will be great on warm days. Since today was only about 45 degrees, with wind, and riding at 17-20 mph, I felt like I had the worlds worst ice cream headache/brain freeze for say 1:17:46, which incidentally is what the Garmin said was my bike time.
transitioned back out for T2. Took a little longer to get going since I knocked over a bike next to me putting on my shoes which i picked up. I was noticing there were still lots of empty bike slots near me, so was feeling pretty good about the bike.
The last run was what it was. Shuffled my way through it as best I could. managed to pass a couple people, not sure how. Saw Mike on the sideline and waved. Came through the chute and to the finish. There, done. Final Garmin Time: 2:01:40 altogether. Official result say 2:04:31.5
(690/797 overall 11/13 Athena )
Last year, the announcer was great. He announced every person through the chute with their name and city, Mike Reilly-style (the voice of Ironman). "Mike Wimmer of Janesville - you are about to cross the finish line of the 2006 Dousman DU-ath-a-lon!" It was cool. This year Mike Reilly sound-alike guy was not there and I missed him. Blah, bland finish. No hoopla. No fanfare.
I had fun. I was glad to be done. And now I am glad to be home lying on the couch, lounging and relaxing.
The ride home was interesting. We were trying to get back to watch my sister in a 5K in Riverside Park. we got off the Interstate at Johnson Creek and as we headed into Jefferson, the main streets were completely blocked off for some German fest parade. We did the re-route from hell and made it back just in time to see Michele finish. She can tell her own story though. Jake and I rang the cowbells and Jake ran his momma in.