Beccah Wassner Reports on First Race of Season & Podium Finish!

The 2009 season got off to a great start: a podium finish at the Desert Duathlon, outside of Scottsdale, Arizona. I finished second in my first official duathlon. I'm not ready to become a duathlete, but a run-bike-run is definitely a good workout. This race is a particularly good workout because it is almost all hills--my kind of race! I'd recommend the Desert Du to anyone training near Arizona. The runs are short and are mostly on desert trails. Twisty, hilly singletrack, one misstep and you're face to face with a cactus (I found that out the hard way). Coming from the east coast, it was hard to believe that so many people were racing and in top shape in February.

I'm not exactly in top shape yet, but it felt good to push myself again after months of not racing. I lost the lead in the second half of the bike, but felt strong the whole way. Kim Loeffler, a long distance triathlete training for next month's Ironman China, won the race. We've been doing some training together over the last few weeks in Tucson.

It's back to hard training now, we're trying to make the most of our last days in the warm sunshine. Today we did a 5k swim, right into an hour run. After a short nap we went up Mt. Lemmon to mile 14. Now we get to relax by the pool!