this past saturday i was scheduled to participate in what was to be my last race of the year, the fall colours duathlon in cumberland, just east of ottawa. because of my injury, my season came to an end mid-august and this was the fourth race that i've had to watch from the sidelines. and just like all of those other missed races, this one was special. the first race i missed was the cobourg duathlon and i'd been looking forward to that because it was an international distance race (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run), a distance which i plan on focussing on next year. i was going to use my time from that race to track my improvement over the next year, comparing each future race of equal distance to this one. the next race i missed was wasaga beach, my favourite stop on the HSBC race calendar. 2009 would have been my third consecutive appearance in wasaga beach and it's a short, fast and fun little course at a great venue that i look forward to every year.
after that i missed the HSBC's lakeside II, their last race of the year. the lakeside venue is pretty amazing and i wanted to see how my time would have improved from the same race last year. i was also looking for a bit of personal redemption. in 2008, i arrived at lakeside II early in the morning only to realize that i'd forgotten to bring all of my food with me, which turned out to be a very painful mistake. about 10k into the 30k ride i was completely depleted (my only source of fuel were a couple of gel packs i was able to buy just before the race started) and i struggled the rest of the way through, crossing the line with a very disappointing 5th position, 6 minutes behind the winner.
but of all the races that i did last year that i was planning on returning to this year, the cumberland du was the most important. last year i competed in this race on a whim, only learning about it a week before it took place. every year i travel to ottawa to be with family for thanksgiving, and i figured that it would be a great way to spend a holiday weekend morning, wrapping up my racing year with lots of family members out to cheer me on. if you've ever been to ottawa in the fall then you know how incredibly beautiful it can be, and the cumberland race site is no exception. anyways, making this long story short, i won the race and walked away with my first ever duathlon victory. since then i'd been looking forward to returning to defend that victory. i'd even thought back in august that with two months of downtime my leg might be ok to go and that i might actually be able to race this weekend. but it was not to be and my leg has yet to heal. racing conditions were ideal again this year, and this past saturday morning - race morning - i woke up in ottawa to sunny bluebird skies and a fall palette of colours in the leaves.
crossing the line in 2008. my first ever duathlon victory.
judging only by time, if i'd been able to race again this year on the same course and finished with the exact same time as last year, i would have won this race by 5 minutes. patience, i keep telling myself. patience is key. with an MRI scheduled this week i'll finally learn the severity of my stress fracture and, hopefully, will sort out a recovery plan. being patient sucks.
