My First Duathlon

Wow! What a fast, fun, exciting, emotional day! We woke at the crack of dawn (although we may have actually woke a bit earlier than that.) I showered, got dressed and waited till K arrived. When she arrived,was when my foggy"ish" feeling began to set in. I hate this fog, its almost like that outer body experience you get on your wedding day, like you are watching someone else do what you are actually doing. I'm pretty sure I was in this fog until I went to sleep that night! This IS what I do, when I'm experiencing something new for the first time. I would love to practice being there, being more present, the FIRST time I do something.

When I got there it was intimidating and exciting at the same time. We had to rack our bikes and set up our transition area. I loved setting up my transition area. I loved having to figure out what I was going to need and use and having to put it in a certain order so that you didn't have to fumble. I'm sure there are more techniques to doing this quicker that I will learn in time. There are some really great Tri blogs out there (see the side bar) that go into more detail with those types of techniques.

The run part was first. It was about a 2.50 run (remember I lost all info on my GARMIN ARG!) I ran this in 20:43.216. I was very pleased with this being it was less than 9 minute miles! That's a first!

Next was the first transition- aka- T1. I did this in 3:03.896. I have to tell you I giggled a lot during this one...I laugh when I'm nervous...and my "Sista" was making sure I didn't put my huge hat under my helmet...you will understand when you see a picture. I was pysched when leaving for this transition-here I was about to start my first bike portion of a race! Such an awesome feeling!

Next, bike. My most difficult part because it is so new to me. I loved it and found myself saying out loud "This is so f*ck*n awesome". I really enjoyed it and found it hysterical that they didn't close the race down to the many interesting people out that morning. My path was sometimes interrupted by horses, squirrels, tourists, dogs and at one point a hot dog cart! You definitely had to pay attention. I also read that the southern end of the loop is dubbed "horse shit alley" and I'm pretty sure I figured out why! It was so much fun that none of that even mattered..it just made it even more fun! Hardest part about the bike was that my toes were KILLING ME! They were so FROZEN it was like I had ice blocks in my shoes. Oh and my time was 54:25.856 for 12 miles. Thats an average of 4.32 miles. Not to shabby for my first time. (oh and if anyone has pointers on how to pull your drink out and ride at the same time- let me know! I had to pull over!)

Then came my next transition. T2. I did that in 1:52.969. Apparently, I can undress faster then get dressed!?! I actually realized I did this much quicker and stopped for a moment to check and make sure I was dressed correctly! One of the guys working in the transition areas yelled, "you're good- GO!" so I went.

The last part was the last run. This was hard. My legs didn't hurt as much as they usually do, I thank Sue for the cadence pointers, which I believe helped this. The hard part was I had a difficult time breathing, catching my breath after the bike and transition. I ran this in 19.36 (same distance as the first..around 2.50 miles).

Overall, I was really happy and proud of myself for succeding in this HUGE accomplishment for the first time. I have no regrets and look forward to my next one! I do wish that Scott and the kids could have came but it was way too cold to torture them at that hour. Next time I will make sure its warmer- for them and my toes sake!