Hughes' Views & News

Until yesterday, 2010 had been a disappointing year for me in terms of my multisport activities.

In mid-December I injured my right hamstring during a routine Wednesday night run, and because of that, I got a DNF in my first race of the year, the Carolina Godiva New Year’s Day Run. Had to drop out of that race in the middle because my hamstring was hurting like hell.

I was very surprised by this result!

Also because of that injury, I had to skip the first race of the FS Series/Inside Out Sports 4 City Duathlon Series, the Greenville Short Course Duathlon. I had done three races in that series in 2008 and 2009 and had planned to do the same thing in 2010.  Then the next race in the series, the Winston-Salem Short Course Duathlon, got canceled because of snow and ice.

So when I showed up yesterday for the Cary Long Course Duathlon, I did not have high expectations for my performance. Surely I have no chance of winning an age group award this time around, I thought. And surely  my finish time will be slower than last year, too.

I’m happy to report that I was wrong on both counts. I won 2nd place in the male 45-49 age group and I beat last year’s time by 21 seconds!