Duathalon

On Sunday, I competed in my first Duathalon. This particular event was a 2 mile run, 8 mile bike, then a 1 mile run. Christin Stoner and I headed to Sedalia early on Sunday morning to compete. We got to the site with about 20 minutes to set our stuff up in the transition area, then warmed up and got in the back of the pack of runners.

Here we are before the race began...

...this is my bike in the transition area...
I did much better than I expected to do. I was just hoping to make it in under a total of 1hour 30 minutes. AND I DID!!! I ended up finishing in 1:10:37...with a minute and a half of that being transition time. The first 2 miles I ran in just under 20 minutes (I know...I am a slow slow runner), the bike I did in 38 minutes and the last mile I ran in just over 11 minutes. At mile 5 during the bike, there was a pretty significant hill to climb and literally, my computer on my bike said I was going about 1 mph. I thought to myself that "I can get off and push this thing faster than that!!!" But I knew that if I got off my bike, I WOULD NOT be able to get back on. So I just pushed through and ended up beating my personal best (for an 8 mi bike ride) of 40 minutes.

I was totally NOT prepared for how my legs would feel after the bike. They were like spaghetti...and it was all I could do to keep them moving to run that last mile!!!

Here I am coming to the finish line...

All in all it was a good experience. I definitely think that I will do another one...especially now that I know what to expect!!!