First Time's a Charm

By Kim Brohm

Sitting at his computer on a regular Saturday afternoon, Daniel Rothschild searched for a song title that he had heard on 102.3 the Max earlier that week. While browsing the station's website he happened to stumble along an advertisement about a Kentuckiana HealthFitness sponsored duathlon to be held at Long Run Park the next morning. Without a second thought, Rothschild jumped in the car at 5:15 that evening and headed to Valu Market hoping to beat the late registration deadline of 6:00.

A recent graduate and runner at Manual High School , Rothschild took to the starting line along with 230 other runners that early Sunday morning on August 15. Not only did he compete in his first-ever duathlon, but he won the KHF Scheller's Fitness and Cycling Duathlon with a time of 47 minutes and 43 seconds.

"I hadn't run but maybe three or four times since June," said Rothschild. "I wondered if I could handle the four miles. But I felt good running and had a really good ride."

The race consisted of a 2-mile run, followed by a 10.5-mile bike and ended with another 2-mile run. Not the typical romp in the park or spur-of-the moment Sunday morning adventure. Yet somehow the event sparked the 18 year old's interest. Rothschild, who lettered in cross-country and track in high school, claims to not even particularly enjoy running.

"I got sick of running in high school. So I started biking instead. Sports were something I did on the side while school was my first priority," he said. "I don't think I'm a naturally talented runner. I just work at it."

Rothschild's commitment to working hard has opened many doors for the graduate. He was one of eight valedictorians at Manual and scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT exam. He is now in his first year at Stanford University where he plans to study biology and become a doctor like his father, Armand, and mother, Marylee.

That's not to say Rothschild was not successful during his four years in high school as a runner. He competed in the state cross country meet, which is a 5K, his last three years while the team placed tenth overall his senior year. During those years he ran a personal best time of 16 minutes and 58 seconds.

After playing baseball freshman year, Rothschild ran the 800M and the 4 x 800M in track for the next three years. He placed 8 th in the 800 at the state tournament his senior year in with a time of 1:58.

"Senior year my goal was to break two minutes. I ran exactly two minutes four times that year. It came down to my last race and it was all I could hope for. I was really excited to beat two minutes. It took three years to do it."

Rothschild would even use the bike as part of his training during the cross country and track seasons. On hard days, Rothschild would work out with the team doing repeats or up tempo runs. Then on the easy days in between, he would ride the bike on his own.

"I am an extremely low runner when it comes to miles. I would only run 20 miles a week. Other coaches may not have tolerated that but it's what worked for me. It kept me interested. I would consider myself a fragile runner because of my knees and joints."

After track, Rothschild began biking up to 150 to 200 miles a week. Even the day after the state track meet, Rothschild and his father road home 80 miles from Lexington just for fun. Since then he's even ridden in a few Southern Indiana time trials to challenge himself. Besides his experience as a runner and going on a few group rides at Cherokee Park , Rothschild held no previous experience competing in a duathlon before coming across the opportunity.

"I was a little worried that I was not going to be able to keep up the last two miles. But I rode my fastest time by about a minute. At one point I checked over my shoulder and didn't see anyone. I just finished the race and won by about two and a half minutes."

Rothschild says the duathlon is right up his alley. Not a good enough swimmer for a triathlon, he says it's a lot better than just running or riding. The biggest challenge for Rothschild was transitioning from the bike to the last run. Without any training, Rothschild had to deal with what he described as a "new type of fatigue" for the first time.

He does admit to training for the KORT challenge, the second of the three-event duathlon series, held at McNeely Lake on September 12. Rothschild won the 5K, 18.6-mile, 5K event by about four minutes with a time of 1:28.02.

"I've had a great time. I'm sad that I [didn't] get to do the next one, but the event has been fantastic and I'm looking forward to next year," he said.

Rothschild had to miss the third event because of school, but that's not to say he won't happen to find some other event or duathlon to try out in California . Besides biking he also enjoys playing golf, skiing and has recently gotten involved in racquetball. Right now his interest may focus on duathlons, but who knows what might pop up in the near future.

Maybe even while browsing the Internet.

Kim Brohm has a B.A. in English from Spalding University, where she was a three-sport athlete. Her e-mail address is kimbrohm@hotmail.com.