The Life and Times of Sam Luna

Photo by Aaron Palaian As usual Ben Proko puts on a really great race event at Magnolia Hill Ranch. This is my 3rd year to do a race here, and my second year to do the triathlon. This years course had a few changes from later year. A bit longer swim at around 500m, a 9 mile "gravel" bike course and then around a 3 mile run. I didn't have the chance to check out the course prior to race morning so I was sure to get there earlier and pre ride a few of the new sections. Transition was setup "open rack". You get to pick your spot, so I grabbed and end spot to make it easy in and out. First I headed out on the bike and noticed the sandy course, I got just comfortable enough to feel mentally prepped. Then I pre-rode the new 1st mile of the run course and was immediately bogged down with sticky sand that was DEEP. I turned around and headed over to the lake to give the bike a bath and clear off the caked on sand. Back in transition I double checked my set up, grabbed m

So last year I did this race as my first road duathlon back to racing.  I really enjoyed the location in Laporte near the water and it brings out a good local crowd. I did have a couple of goals in mind, be faster or even to last year, and hold onto the run at the end. I spent the last few months (10 months) working on my bike. I tried to maintain my run over the period, but it wasn't my focus.  My newbie "Masters" mistake was racing hard 2 weeks ago with a hard Brick right after. So it took a good 10-12 days to start to feel a bit recovered. It definitely took a bite out of my top end speed. The race was slightly modified this year with a 1 mile run to open; the same 12.5 mile bike follow by a 3.2 mile run to finish. The first run felt ok to get started; I just focused on not going to hard.  Once on the bike I felt in my groove, and then WHAM! I hit an expansion joint, heard a crack and felt my handle bars turn. My steering was off the rest of the race, so I had to just

  This is a HARRA staple race over the years. 4 runners, each run approx. 2 miles. I ran this back in 1998 in Sugar Land around Fluor Daniels, at Rice, Barker Cypress, the Bayou, Stude Park and now TC Jester Park. I run with the Al Lawrence Running club over the years (when I get the call for an extra runner).  This year I ran in the open category for the Mens team from ALRC. We finished 4th Overall. The course was just over 2 miles, about 2.2; and a simple loop. I was pretty consistent; running 5:53, 6:10.