Postponed from last week due to the snow which means it suddenly fit into my schedule. I've been wanting to do this race for a couple of years so the timing was great. I pulled out the bike, which hadn't been touched in four months, and dug out my shoes, which also hadn't been touched in three weeks, and got ready for my first duathlon!
Realistically I had no idea what I was doing, but I figured that was part of the fun so just go with it. With an extra hour of sleep courtesy of daylight saving time I was ready to race even if it was only 24 degrees out. Really, 24? That's just freakin cold. I'm not a big fan of riding in the cold so I wasn't sure how that was going to go over.
I arrived at the venue, got my number and made my way to the transition area to rack my bike. Now it seems to me that triathletes spend a lot of time setting up and getting everything perfect, at least that's what I gather from all the race reports. So here I was expecting a big to-do and having to get all my gear and stuff just right. Really though, I hung my bike on the rail, put down a towel with my shoes and set my helmet and gloves on the bike. It took like ten seconds.
Race time! No gun, just a "Go!" and off we ran. I figured I would run a conservative 6:30 so I stuck to that and was surprised to see that the leaders weren't that far ahead. Cool. Three miles went by quick and I was doing ok, not great but ok. On to the bike! My first transition ever! This was going to be awesome. I ran int o the area, put down my running gloves, pulled off my shoes, put on my bike shoes, and finished with the helmet and bike gloves. Grabbed the bike and it was time to have fun!
Ow. Remember when I said that I hadn't biked in awhile? Yeah, it took a couple of miles for the crotch to get used to the saddle again. But I was passing people! Hooray for me! Then I got passed by other people. Boo. By mile 5 or so everyone was pretty set so no more passing around me. Everything was going good, I wasn't cold and I was moving along ok. Mile 6.5 my leg starting cramping, ouch. I kept going, it was either going to seize up or not. No time to worry about it. Eleven miles flew by and I began to wonder if I should become a bike racer instead of a runner, so much easier. No! Time for transition 2.
I got right up to the transition area and jumped off my bike and, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! Why won't my legs work right?! So I gingerly and slowly jogged my way back to my area. Did the reverse transition, running shoes back on, running gloves, etc. and ran (um, jogged) back onto the road. Two miles left to go so I dug deep and powered my way to a brisk 7:30 pace. Really, 7:30? Come on legs, quit complaining and move! Surprisingly they did. I managed to finish off the two miles with a 6:45 average. I can live with that. Crossed the finish line in 1:09:29 and I had official done my first duathlon! Yeah me! Oh, and I managed to get 3rd in my AG (Men 35-39). Sweet.
Run 1 (3 mile) - 19:21 Cat/Ov 3/15
T1 - 1:19
Bike (11 mile) - 34:12 3/24
T2 - 1:20
Run 2 (2 mile) - 13:15 2/14
Overall - 1:09:29 3/17
Hee hee, look at those transition times. Ouch.
Other notable racers in attendance: Tracey Jones, Melissa Bair (3rd AG), and Lisa Perna (2nd AG).
