These days, I feel like I got so much going on that I really haven't had time to play poker... I think I'm averaging maybe 4-5 hrs per week... maybe a little more but really not that much more. As such, I'm struggling to come up with contents for this blog. Where has my time gone? Well, honestly, most of my time these days are spent working, vacationing/going out of town (I was in NY this past weekend), working out (my first triathlon is coming up in a month), etc... Very little poker and this kinda makes me sad because I want to play more... I just don't have the time.
But anyways, the main reason... errrr, the only reason I'm writing this post is to give props to LJ. Though we haven't talked in a while (since my company banned gchat), her text message in the middle of the night (LJ, midnight in Vegas = 3am EST) reminded me of WSOP and the fact that my nemesis as well as the only other blogger that I haven't met that I really would like to (wow, that was a long description of cmitch) are out there donking it up. Actually, that description of cmitch is not true. These two donks avoid blogger gatherings like the plague too.
But anyways, yeah, go give LJ some love since she just came in 10th in the WSOP Horse event. Fawkin aye. She was 9 people away from a god damn bracelet!!!! That woulda been so awesome but nonetheless, an awesome run. Maybe her new employment made her an even better poker player??? For those of you that don't know, she's director of marketing at CardRunners. So awesome. I love my company and my job but honestly, I'm wasting my life away. I'm in nowhereville VA and every time I go back to Tokyo or visit NY, I'm reminded of how much I miss the city life and how bored I am in suburbia. Don't get me wrong. Richmond is a very nice city... if you want a fuckin family. But for a single guy, it's boring as shit. I love my friends here and if I move, I will miss them a lot. But convenient, quiet, and good school district aren't exactly high on my priority list when those things come at the expense of entertainment. So, that's my long way of saying that I'm looking to get the fuck outta here. I might have an opportunity to move to NY within my company so worst case scenario, I'm moving to NY by Jan of 2010. Best case scenario? Finding something even before that and moving to Tokyo or NY. But either way, before I do anything, I know I have to go visit these two clowns as well.
GL to everyone in Vegas! And LJ, as I promised, I'll look up tickets for the weekend and if I find a decent flight, I'll go out there, even if it's just for the weekend. I mean it is the WSOP after all.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
OMG a blog post!
It's funny how what you intend to do and what actually happens are totally different. 3 weeks ago, when I was leaving for Japan, my thought was "phew, I'll finally be able to take a much needed break, relax, and maybe play some poker." Naturally, I figured I'd catch up on reading other blogs as well as post a few times while I was there. Instead, my 14 day stay in Japan was a complete blur. Some nights, literally.
There are so many things that I can recap. But even for me, mr my-life-is-an-open-book, I don't want to disclose all... plus it would just be a needlessly long blog post. So, I guess I will just summarize a few points...
- in a totally random coincidence, my boss from my old job (who is also my mentor and a friend) was in Japan and we spent a day together showing him around
- it is possible to never leave an apartment on the 9th floor and lose pieces of clothing... and I don't mean in a good way...
- when I first got home, my two best friends from high school kept trying to convince me to move back... by the time I was leaving, they said "maybe it's good that you don't actually live here... if you did, I would probably get divorced and F will never find a job."
- My two best friends from high school are also the best wingmen in the world. M & F, you guys are the shit!
- I will never ever lie about my age and where I live anymore. I am a 33 yr old in Richmond, VA... hopefully, that will change soon.
- I ate raw liver. That's right, raw liver. Sounds nasty, I know. But it's soooo much better than cooked liver.
- I ate whale, obv raw. Best sashimi I ever had. Yeah, I know, I know, I'm generally anti whale hunting. But it was sooooooo good. So Greenpeace, you can eff off. tyvm.
There are so many things that I can recap. But even for me, mr my-life-is-an-open-book, I don't want to disclose all... plus it would just be a needlessly long blog post. So, I guess I will just summarize a few points...
- in a totally random coincidence, my boss from my old job (who is also my mentor and a friend) was in Japan and we spent a day together showing him around
- it is possible to never leave an apartment on the 9th floor and lose pieces of clothing... and I don't mean in a good way...
- when I first got home, my two best friends from high school kept trying to convince me to move back... by the time I was leaving, they said "maybe it's good that you don't actually live here... if you did, I would probably get divorced and F will never find a job."
- My two best friends from high school are also the best wingmen in the world. M & F, you guys are the shit!
- I will never ever lie about my age and where I live anymore. I am a 33 yr old in Richmond, VA... hopefully, that will change soon.
- I ate raw liver. That's right, raw liver. Sounds nasty, I know. But it's soooo much better than cooked liver.
- I ate whale, obv raw. Best sashimi I ever had. Yeah, I know, I know, I'm generally anti whale hunting. But it was sooooooo good. So Greenpeace, you can eff off. tyvm.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Finishing up the KK hand
Great comments everyone so thank you for that. Hell, Jordan even went as far to do a whole post on it. The reason why I posted this in the first place was because I really wasn't sure what the best course of action was and what I ended up doing resulted in me doing the "right" thing money wise but I was certain that whatever analysis I did at that point would be almost impossible for it to not be results oriented so I decided to pose the question here.
As you loyal readers know, I've pretty much abandoned strategy/poker thought posts and even though part of it could be blamed on me doing other things and not having as much time or the desire to put the effort into blogging, part of me was that I no longer wanted to share my thoughts and hole cards publicly where I don't even change my screenname (even if I did, you can still google recessrampage and you will come here, I think) so I just thought it would be -EV. However, there's a good chance I'm gonna kill my RecessRampage account so I figured I don't really care anymore. But that's for a different post.
On the KK hand, here's the recap.
Full Tilt Poker Game #12167653280: Table Stonewater - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:19:34 ET - 2009/05/11
Seat 1: The Jeltz ($207.15)
Seat 2: ZMAE ($137.25)
Seat 3: eddymoosh ($87.15)
Seat 4: pmow2131 ($358.15)
Seat 5: AAces Again ($159.65)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($200)
Seat 7: prettydevil1 ($200)
Seat 8: zoitkiller ($298.80)
Seat 9: bombkiller ($273.75)
The Jeltz posts the small blind of $1
ZMAE posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kc Kh]
eddymoosh calls $2
pmow2131 folds
AAces Again folds
RecessRampage raises to $9
prettydevil1 has 15 seconds left to act
prettydevil1 folds
zoitkiller calls $9
bombkiller calls $9
The Jeltz folds
ZMAE calls $7
eddymoosh calls $7
I'm not gonna lie, when the two guys behind me called, I was hoping one of the blinds would try to squeeze. Instead, I am in a nightmare situation with KK seeing a flop 5 handed.
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 9d]
ZMAE has 15 seconds left to act
ZMAE checks
eddymoosh checks
RecessRampage ???
And this is where I left off. The flop is freakin horrible for KK in a 5 handed pot. With so many callers, the board is more likely to have hit someone. The question is how strong? There was the UTG limper who then called my raise after 3 other callers (including the blind). So I eliminate AA or QQ from UTG because he would have to repop and as a shorty, actually, I felt that it was more likely that he didn't have a pair at all because it would just seem so standard for the shorty to shove in that spot hoping for a race. The question was the BB. He could really have anything so at this point, I wasn't interested in narrowing down his hand range. The CO and the button's range was tricky but I felt that the button would have tried to squeeze if he had a hand like AK or AQ so he probably also had a moderate strength hand.
In other words, a lot of the preflop action lead me to believe that everyone had a moderate strength hand so I was about to bet for approximately $35 like a lot of people advocated. The problem was, if I get called from either the CO or Button, there's really no card I would like to see other than KK. So I felt like I was setting myself off to get bluffed off what could be the best hand. On the same token, I couldn't shove over the top if someone were to raise me so in the end, I decided that if I bet out here, I would be turning what could still be my best hand into a bluff. Rather, I want to see what develops. My thought was that if either the CO or Button bets and the two players in front of me folds, I was gonna call and then lead out on the blank turn. I felt that against the CO/Button's range that would bet the flop, I have a better chance of being ahead. Again, this could be a wrong train of thought but that's what I was thinking (honesty HAS TO count for something, right?). And this is also one of those spots where I would rather have QQ instead of KK so that I would also have a inside straight draw...
So anyways, this is what I did...
RecessRampage checks
zoitkiller has 15 seconds left to act
zoitkiller bets $36
bombkiller folds
ZMAE folds
eddymoosh raises to $78.15, and is all in
RecessRampage folds
RecessRampage adds $9
zoitkiller calls $42.15
eddymoosh shows [Ts Qd]
zoitkiller shows [Jd Jh]
*** TURN *** [Jc 8s 9d] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 8s 9d 5c] [2c]
eddymoosh shows a straight, Queen high
zoitkiller shows three of a kind, Jacks
eddymoosh wins the pot ($199.30) with a straight, Queen high
I was shocked to see the top set from the CO. I couldn't believe that he didn't repop me pre. And again, as I mentioned above, if no one came over the top, I would have called and when the 5 came, I probably would have bet into the guy so I would have lost more money in that scenario but I felt that he could easily do this with JT, T9, AJ which are all realistic holdings. Of course, 88 and 99 came into my head but you really can't always be afraid of sets. And being that my line would be really weird (call flop OOP and then bet into the guy on the turn), I think a lot of worse hands will still call.
Again, I really don't know what the best line to take in this situation. I agree with the thoughts of cbetting but I'm also wondering if varying the amount would be an option. Maybe instead of betting $35-40, what about betting about half pot? Maybe like $25ish? Despite all the comments though, I really hate betting out here because my hand can't stand up to a raise and most hands that I even beat are gonna raise me, including the ones that I am losing to. In other words, all sets, flopped straights, two pair, JT, 9T, 8T will probably all raise me... Betting out just seems a little spewy, even if that's the right answer.
Anyone have a more compelling argument here?
As you loyal readers know, I've pretty much abandoned strategy/poker thought posts and even though part of it could be blamed on me doing other things and not having as much time or the desire to put the effort into blogging, part of me was that I no longer wanted to share my thoughts and hole cards publicly where I don't even change my screenname (even if I did, you can still google recessrampage and you will come here, I think) so I just thought it would be -EV. However, there's a good chance I'm gonna kill my RecessRampage account so I figured I don't really care anymore. But that's for a different post.
On the KK hand, here's the recap.
Full Tilt Poker Game #12167653280: Table Stonewater - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:19:34 ET - 2009/05/11
Seat 1: The Jeltz ($207.15)
Seat 2: ZMAE ($137.25)
Seat 3: eddymoosh ($87.15)
Seat 4: pmow2131 ($358.15)
Seat 5: AAces Again ($159.65)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($200)
Seat 7: prettydevil1 ($200)
Seat 8: zoitkiller ($298.80)
Seat 9: bombkiller ($273.75)
The Jeltz posts the small blind of $1
ZMAE posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kc Kh]
eddymoosh calls $2
pmow2131 folds
AAces Again folds
RecessRampage raises to $9
prettydevil1 has 15 seconds left to act
prettydevil1 folds
zoitkiller calls $9
bombkiller calls $9
The Jeltz folds
ZMAE calls $7
eddymoosh calls $7
I'm not gonna lie, when the two guys behind me called, I was hoping one of the blinds would try to squeeze. Instead, I am in a nightmare situation with KK seeing a flop 5 handed.
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 9d]
ZMAE has 15 seconds left to act
ZMAE checks
eddymoosh checks
RecessRampage ???
And this is where I left off. The flop is freakin horrible for KK in a 5 handed pot. With so many callers, the board is more likely to have hit someone. The question is how strong? There was the UTG limper who then called my raise after 3 other callers (including the blind). So I eliminate AA or QQ from UTG because he would have to repop and as a shorty, actually, I felt that it was more likely that he didn't have a pair at all because it would just seem so standard for the shorty to shove in that spot hoping for a race. The question was the BB. He could really have anything so at this point, I wasn't interested in narrowing down his hand range. The CO and the button's range was tricky but I felt that the button would have tried to squeeze if he had a hand like AK or AQ so he probably also had a moderate strength hand.
In other words, a lot of the preflop action lead me to believe that everyone had a moderate strength hand so I was about to bet for approximately $35 like a lot of people advocated. The problem was, if I get called from either the CO or Button, there's really no card I would like to see other than KK. So I felt like I was setting myself off to get bluffed off what could be the best hand. On the same token, I couldn't shove over the top if someone were to raise me so in the end, I decided that if I bet out here, I would be turning what could still be my best hand into a bluff. Rather, I want to see what develops. My thought was that if either the CO or Button bets and the two players in front of me folds, I was gonna call and then lead out on the blank turn. I felt that against the CO/Button's range that would bet the flop, I have a better chance of being ahead. Again, this could be a wrong train of thought but that's what I was thinking (honesty HAS TO count for something, right?). And this is also one of those spots where I would rather have QQ instead of KK so that I would also have a inside straight draw...
So anyways, this is what I did...
RecessRampage checks
zoitkiller has 15 seconds left to act
zoitkiller bets $36
bombkiller folds
ZMAE folds
eddymoosh raises to $78.15, and is all in
RecessRampage folds
RecessRampage adds $9
zoitkiller calls $42.15
eddymoosh shows [Ts Qd]
zoitkiller shows [Jd Jh]
*** TURN *** [Jc 8s 9d] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 8s 9d 5c] [2c]
eddymoosh shows a straight, Queen high
zoitkiller shows three of a kind, Jacks
eddymoosh wins the pot ($199.30) with a straight, Queen high
I was shocked to see the top set from the CO. I couldn't believe that he didn't repop me pre. And again, as I mentioned above, if no one came over the top, I would have called and when the 5 came, I probably would have bet into the guy so I would have lost more money in that scenario but I felt that he could easily do this with JT, T9, AJ which are all realistic holdings. Of course, 88 and 99 came into my head but you really can't always be afraid of sets. And being that my line would be really weird (call flop OOP and then bet into the guy on the turn), I think a lot of worse hands will still call.
Again, I really don't know what the best line to take in this situation. I agree with the thoughts of cbetting but I'm also wondering if varying the amount would be an option. Maybe instead of betting $35-40, what about betting about half pot? Maybe like $25ish? Despite all the comments though, I really hate betting out here because my hand can't stand up to a raise and most hands that I even beat are gonna raise me, including the ones that I am losing to. In other words, all sets, flopped straights, two pair, JT, 9T, 8T will probably all raise me... Betting out just seems a little spewy, even if that's the right answer.
Anyone have a more compelling argument here?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Yet another Question for the KK hand
Great responses so far so I thank you all for that. I think most of you mentioned to cbet about $30-35 and a lot of people went as far (I think) to say "to find out where you are at." I've decided that I actually hate betting for information. But that's neither here nor there. My question is this.
Is your C-bet a bluff or a value bet?
In other words, if you bet and a guy in position calls you, now what? Do you fire another bullet on a blank turn? What cards are you afraid of seeing on the turn? Or, the shorter list might be, what cards do you want to see on the turn?
The reason I ask that is that I'm trying to ask myself this question more and more before I bet. Am I betting for value or am I bluffing? For those of you that say that you're betting for value, what would you do with the hand if you get raised on the flop? If you say fold, then you're effectively bluffing. I mean you might as well have 25o and it wouldn't make a difference, would it (at least if you look at the flop situation in a vacuum)?
If you say you're betting for value but if you get raised, then you realize that even though you thought you're betting for value, it turns out you might not have a good enough hand to withstand a raise... I can buy that argument too. But do you think an AJ would raise here or just call you?
Honestly, I guess my biggest concern is having two people behind me right? In other words, I want to know your thoughts more on what to do on the turn then if you cbet and just get called. Do you check/call turn? Then what do you do on the river? Hope for check/check?
Great comments so far... hopefully this will continue. I'll def post the hand but I'll wait till tomorrow to give some of the stragglers some time to catch up on my blog.
One quick pimpage - I gave Brue some shit about his offer to coach but I'll say this... if you guys like my hand history stuff, you should def be reading Brack/Brue's blog. Their recap of High Stakes poker has been very solid and entertaining at the same time. The HHs could be a bit dry sometimes but I think there's a lot of gold there and the stakes that Brue plays is def not indicative of his skill level (he's more of a .05/.10 fishie swimming in the 1-2nl waters :) )
Is your C-bet a bluff or a value bet?
In other words, if you bet and a guy in position calls you, now what? Do you fire another bullet on a blank turn? What cards are you afraid of seeing on the turn? Or, the shorter list might be, what cards do you want to see on the turn?
The reason I ask that is that I'm trying to ask myself this question more and more before I bet. Am I betting for value or am I bluffing? For those of you that say that you're betting for value, what would you do with the hand if you get raised on the flop? If you say fold, then you're effectively bluffing. I mean you might as well have 25o and it wouldn't make a difference, would it (at least if you look at the flop situation in a vacuum)?
If you say you're betting for value but if you get raised, then you realize that even though you thought you're betting for value, it turns out you might not have a good enough hand to withstand a raise... I can buy that argument too. But do you think an AJ would raise here or just call you?
Honestly, I guess my biggest concern is having two people behind me right? In other words, I want to know your thoughts more on what to do on the turn then if you cbet and just get called. Do you check/call turn? Then what do you do on the river? Hope for check/check?
Great comments so far... hopefully this will continue. I'll def post the hand but I'll wait till tomorrow to give some of the stragglers some time to catch up on my blog.
One quick pimpage - I gave Brue some shit about his offer to coach but I'll say this... if you guys like my hand history stuff, you should def be reading Brack/Brue's blog. Their recap of High Stakes poker has been very solid and entertaining at the same time. The HHs could be a bit dry sometimes but I think there's a lot of gold there and the stakes that Brue plays is def not indicative of his skill level (he's more of a .05/.10 fishie swimming in the 1-2nl waters :) )
Monday, May 11, 2009
OMG A poker post!
I'm not really sure what compelled me to post this... But as I was feeling lazy, I opted to skip my workout last night and instead 6 table on FTP and ran into this situation which I thought was kinda interesting.
1-2NL 9 players, I'm in MP
Edit: Cmitch, thanks, I'm an idiot
Seat 1: The Jeltz ($207.15)
Seat 2: ZMAE ($137.25)
Seat 3: eddymoosh ($87.15)
Seat 4: pmow2131 ($358.15)
Seat 5: AAces Again ($159.65)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($200)
Seat 7: prettydevil1 ($200)
Seat 8: zoitkiller ($298.80)
Seat 9: bombkiller ($273.75)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kc Kh]
eddymoosh calls $2
pmow2131 folds
AAces Again folds
RecessRampage raises to $9
prettydevil1 has 15 seconds left to act
prettydevil1 folds
zoitkiller calls $9
bombkiller calls $9
The Jeltz folds
ZMAE calls $7
eddymoosh calls $7
So I get dealt Bayne's favorite hand and then I'm mortified to see 4 callers. Pretty sure seeing a flop with 5 people holding KK is a shitty situation. I mean how often do you go into a flop wishing to hit a set with KK (except Bayne)??
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 9d] Pot size $45
ZMAE has 15 seconds left to act
ZMAE checks
eddymoosh checks
RecessRampage ???
So, here's the question. What would you do? In order to prevent anyone from being result oriented, I will post the results later. Being that I haven't posted anything poker related in a while, I might not get much response... or it might take a while for people to catch on/see it but nonetheless, let me know what you think. Do you throw out a standard cbet? If so, how much? Do you check here to see what the others would do? Any reasoning to your answer would be very helpful too.
1-2NL 9 players, I'm in MP
Edit: Cmitch, thanks, I'm an idiot
Seat 1: The Jeltz ($207.15)
Seat 2: ZMAE ($137.25)
Seat 3: eddymoosh ($87.15)
Seat 4: pmow2131 ($358.15)
Seat 5: AAces Again ($159.65)
Seat 6: RecessRampage ($200)
Seat 7: prettydevil1 ($200)
Seat 8: zoitkiller ($298.80)
Seat 9: bombkiller ($273.75)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Kc Kh]
eddymoosh calls $2
pmow2131 folds
AAces Again folds
RecessRampage raises to $9
prettydevil1 has 15 seconds left to act
prettydevil1 folds
zoitkiller calls $9
bombkiller calls $9
The Jeltz folds
ZMAE calls $7
eddymoosh calls $7
So I get dealt Bayne's favorite hand and then I'm mortified to see 4 callers. Pretty sure seeing a flop with 5 people holding KK is a shitty situation. I mean how often do you go into a flop wishing to hit a set with KK (except Bayne)??
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8s 9d] Pot size $45
ZMAE has 15 seconds left to act
ZMAE checks
eddymoosh checks
RecessRampage ???
So, here's the question. What would you do? In order to prevent anyone from being result oriented, I will post the results later. Being that I haven't posted anything poker related in a while, I might not get much response... or it might take a while for people to catch on/see it but nonetheless, let me know what you think. Do you throw out a standard cbet? If so, how much? Do you check here to see what the others would do? Any reasoning to your answer would be very helpful too.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Results are in!
I'm clearly doing this wrong... but if you click on the little strip below, you can see my result.
Overall, I came in 43rd out of the 60 men competing in the 30-34 age group. My bike portion, which was clearly the slowest (hey, I've only had my bike for a few days) was 52/60... still shocking that I wasn't like last or second to last. 43 out of 60 puts me in the "slower half" but I can't help being very proud of myself.
I mean these are the guys I'm "competing" against... all so scary looking.
Richmond Times Dispatch also has a cool slide show of the Duathlon Nationals.
Overall, I came in 43rd out of the 60 men competing in the 30-34 age group. My bike portion, which was clearly the slowest (hey, I've only had my bike for a few days) was 52/60... still shocking that I wasn't like last or second to last. 43 out of 60 puts me in the "slower half" but I can't help being very proud of myself.
I mean these are the guys I'm "competing" against... all so scary looking.
Richmond Times Dispatch also has a cool slide show of the Duathlon Nationals.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Phew!
The night before the race, as I'm getting ready, I keep thinking to myself if only I had two more weeks, I would definitely be more ready and in better shape. And the other thought was why the hell is our start time at 10:50am and why the hell does this have to be the first weekend where the temperature hits the mid 90s (when so far we haven't sniffed the mid 80s until this weekend). Hell, when I worked out outside on Wednesday, just 4 days prior to the race, it was in the 40s... So, I did the only thing I can do at that point which was to focus on keeping myself hydrated.
On the day of the race, I get out and there are tons of people... all looking like they are in kick ass shape. Seriously, I haven't seen a collection of athletic looking people like that since track meets in my college days. As my friend cleverly put it, "it is the national championship of duathlon." Good point. Why did I sign up for the championship event instead of the shorter version??? I mean I know that is what I do but man... why oh why.
Well, all said and done, I was able to complete the race. It was insane tough though. I was literally running on empty from about 16 mile mark of the bike. A funny thing did happen early though... 1.6 miles into the race (10k run), we come to the train tracks... and there is a train crossing... literally, we were stopped for 6-8 minutes (depending on when you got there) and the race officials had to come out to issue the official ruling (keep in mind that top 4 from each age group qualifies for the world championship in Sept so some of them were very fired up about this). I think the official ruling was that they are going to take 8 minutes off the race chip time. Well, getting that out of the way, the race continued.
By the time the 10k portion was done, I was actually feeling fatigued. This is not like the Monument 10k race where there are thousands of runners, some slow, some fast. All these guys were fast... hell, so were the girls. Well, another thing I learned was that I'm slow on my bike. Which makes sense since I just bought my bike few days ago... But that's where everyone broke away from me for sure... I mean I was kinda behind after the run but I imagine that I had to be the slowest guy in my age group on the bike. Around mile 8 into the 24 mile bike portion, my calves were starting to cramp up. And again, by mile 16, I was running on empty. I was just doing everything I can to keep pedaling but it was also not a flat course and my quads were burning as well.
The last 5k run portion is actually kind of a blur... I know that I was glad I was off the bike... just different muscle group I guess and it helped... a little. I was so happy to finish though since that was my goal. I don't know my official time yet (not posted on the website yet) but that's secondary, at least for this race. I'll just have a baseline of what to shoot for next time. And yes, even though I felt like death, there will be a next time. I haven't been this proud of myself in a long long time!!!
Oh and once you complete the race, they give you a "finisher's mug" and of course, Richmond Tri Club has a party with pizza from Papa Johns, burritos from Chipotle, and beers (Miller Lite and Yuengling). One free beer for race participants - man, Yuengling out of the finisher's mug tasted especially good!!!
Some picture dump:
Start Line
Different angles of the transition area - where you transition from run to bike and then from bike to run:
My bike racked up at the transition station:
And me kissing my finisher's mug!!!!
On the day of the race, I get out and there are tons of people... all looking like they are in kick ass shape. Seriously, I haven't seen a collection of athletic looking people like that since track meets in my college days. As my friend cleverly put it, "it is the national championship of duathlon." Good point. Why did I sign up for the championship event instead of the shorter version??? I mean I know that is what I do but man... why oh why.
Well, all said and done, I was able to complete the race. It was insane tough though. I was literally running on empty from about 16 mile mark of the bike. A funny thing did happen early though... 1.6 miles into the race (10k run), we come to the train tracks... and there is a train crossing... literally, we were stopped for 6-8 minutes (depending on when you got there) and the race officials had to come out to issue the official ruling (keep in mind that top 4 from each age group qualifies for the world championship in Sept so some of them were very fired up about this). I think the official ruling was that they are going to take 8 minutes off the race chip time. Well, getting that out of the way, the race continued.
By the time the 10k portion was done, I was actually feeling fatigued. This is not like the Monument 10k race where there are thousands of runners, some slow, some fast. All these guys were fast... hell, so were the girls. Well, another thing I learned was that I'm slow on my bike. Which makes sense since I just bought my bike few days ago... But that's where everyone broke away from me for sure... I mean I was kinda behind after the run but I imagine that I had to be the slowest guy in my age group on the bike. Around mile 8 into the 24 mile bike portion, my calves were starting to cramp up. And again, by mile 16, I was running on empty. I was just doing everything I can to keep pedaling but it was also not a flat course and my quads were burning as well.
The last 5k run portion is actually kind of a blur... I know that I was glad I was off the bike... just different muscle group I guess and it helped... a little. I was so happy to finish though since that was my goal. I don't know my official time yet (not posted on the website yet) but that's secondary, at least for this race. I'll just have a baseline of what to shoot for next time. And yes, even though I felt like death, there will be a next time. I haven't been this proud of myself in a long long time!!!
Oh and once you complete the race, they give you a "finisher's mug" and of course, Richmond Tri Club has a party with pizza from Papa Johns, burritos from Chipotle, and beers (Miller Lite and Yuengling). One free beer for race participants - man, Yuengling out of the finisher's mug tasted especially good!!!
Some picture dump:
Start Line
Different angles of the transition area - where you transition from run to bike and then from bike to run:
My bike racked up at the transition station:
And me kissing my finisher's mug!!!!
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