Minneapolis Duathlon: Feeding my duathlon monkey

I am really getting to like these duathlon things.  The state of this like is seriously beginning to approach my love of bulleted lists.  You know it's freaking serious then.

Anyway, I just completed my third one, the Minneapolis Duathlon, touted as the "World's Largest Duathlon." I was convinced by a Ragnar buddy of mine who also is addicted to duathlons to do it, and I am totally glad I came up to experience the joy that is this fitness event.  In my usual futile attempt to keep the handful of readers I have, I will summarize this awesome experience into a small series of salient bullet points in a totally inappropriate PowerPoint-esque manner:

• It was hot.  Really hot.  We left at 4:30 A.M to drive to downtown Minneapolis, and we were rudely assaulted by the heat and humidity after we stepped outside the door.  But we weren't going to let that stop us-we had 3.1 miles and then 15.9 miles and then 3.1 miles of duathlon goodness awaiting us.
• After getting all our numbers affixed on ourselves and our bikes, we set up our transition areas and then headed off to a local coffee shop so I could grab a bagel.  We then expressed our displeasure at getting up so damn early:

• This really is a big duathlon.  It seemed that the runner-cyclists were springing forth from the very earth in the transition area and scattering bikes, sports drinks, bike shoes, and energy gels amongst the many rows of bike racks.

• The first run was hot.  Hot hot hot.  I broke down by the water station in mile 2 and walked through it. This run was also long-3.4 instead of 3.1, according to my Garmin.  But you did get to run through the downtown area and over the river; it was a nice course.
• I was extremely glad to get on the bike after that hot run.  There were some serious winds, however, coming in the very direction in which we started biking, so that made it a bit challenging.  On the turn-around, however, I took off and started flying in the last 7.5 miles or so.  Well, whenever people who were going slower than me weren't riding side-by-side and blocking the route.  
• The bike route had more people on bikes than I have ever experienced.  It was a little nerve-wracking for me to ride around so many people on bikes; at first, all I could do was start calculating the probabilities that I would smack into one of them and cause an accident.  After about mile 6 or so I calmed down and chose someone to "race" with.  I have a habit of picking a person at the start of races with whom I am privately competing.  I'll have you know that I won my little race during the bike ride, even if we kept passing each other over and over again in the last 7 miles.  I outpaced her on the last hill right before we got back to the transition area.  Ha!  Take that, person who didn't even know I totally took you down in my own private race with you!  Yeah!
• My transition time totally sucked the big one.  I had the hubbs switch out my clip pedals with my regular pedals for this race so I would have a better transition time (due to not changing shoes).  Little did I know that I would have to pee like nobody's business after my first run and would end up waiting in line for the port-a-john, making my total transition time 3:39.  All that planning just so my bladder could ruin it all. 
• And speaking of those pedals, I hate them.  Give me my clip pedals and bike shoes any day.  I could totally feel the inefficiency of those old clunky pedals--specifically, I felt it in my calves as they were starting to cramp by mile 13. The way my feet were working on the pedals felt very different to me, as if I had to work to keep my foot on the pedal.  Very unnatural and painful towards the end of the ride.
• The second run was called off due to the heat, so I got my finisher medal as soon as I hopped off my bike.  Disappointing, to say the least.  But at least I got in a nice run and a pretty awesome ride before getting my hopes dashed to the ground.  (OK, it wasn't that bad.  But I was sad that I didn't finish.)
• This race had some pretty sweet and copious swag: (plus $5 bike jerseys at the expo!)

And some pretty good company:

And that company includes the cat-dog Lily:

Like I said, I am really getting to like these duathlon things.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go find another one to satisfy the duathlon monkey that's now kicking and screaming on my back.