This past weekend, I skated the Long Beach Inline Marathon. The weather was great, and I think the event was well put together, and didn't have as much trouble with the cyclists (who started before the skaters) as the pro or other packs had. And if I were a bit stronger on the hills, I would have stayed with the lead or chase pack. The open winner finished in 1:24.
I finished the 26.2 miles in 1:35:01 (17mph avg), 2nd in my age division, and about 70th place overall in the open. The guy who finished 1st in my age division (turns out only 8 seconds ahead) had shared his water bottle with me, as I had no water at mile 19 and was starting to bonk. I figure that's fair, from a karmic perspective :)
More than a mile from the finish, I dropped the pack I was with and sprinted off. It was awesome to overhear someone say 'let him go' in reference to me, since they thought I'd started my kick early and that they could catch me. To be honest, I thought I'd started my kick early too, but I somehow sustained my sprint solo, and no one caught me! In fact, I caught and passed about 10 skaters over that last mile.
There are no major skating events until March - the Round Rock Road Rash Inline Marathon, just north of Austin.
For the next few months, I'll be skating, cycling and running 5ks. And this weekend, I'm going to be legging out 70 miles at the LAF Ride for the Roses.