this is all about my first duathlon. if you have no interest in reading this, then i won't be offended. i won't even know! so thanks for stopping by and i'll write about non-jock-y stuff next time...
so. i did it. :)
time out. today had another amazing event going on in memory of a woman who used to live in MN with her beloved, and moved out to LA a few years ago. sadly, Liz Logelin passed away in March right after her daughter was born. Today was the first ever Liz Logelin Memorial 5K, held by her dh
Matt, and due to my previous plan to do the duathlon I stuck to that plan. but I thought of Matt & Liz & Maddie often on my ride....blessings, Matt, and hope your 5K went wonderfully!)
so....
the iron girl duathlon.
it's like a triathlon but without the swimming part.
as has been covered before, i don't know how to do this. yet. by next summer i plan to know.
today's duathlon was run 2 miles, bike 22, run 2.
and Iron Girl is for all women. 900+ of us. *including* Rena, my job swap anchor girl :) said a quick hello to her and to Diana Pierce, another KARE11 girl. and apparently this is the largest women's only duathlon in the nation....kinda cool.
anyway...(ADOS, right?)
woke up at 4:!5. didn't need the alarm as usual. woke up *earlier* than the 5 bells i had hoped for.
got myself ready, checked the news online, ate the proverbial pre-race banana, drank water, yada yada.
got to bloomington around 6:30am. i wasn't nervous per se, but i wasn't all calm either. just kinda 'what am i in for? how will this go?'
got my bike to the transition area. learned about drafting and other official terms and rules that i'd need to follow during the race.
felt like a total imposter...'why am i here? how did they let a novice like me in?'
but all went well.
Val found me right away. YAY! a familiar face! we were supposed to have 5 teamgirls of mine doing this event, but due to life's occurrences, only Val & I could do it.
she helped show me how to get my bike into the really crowded rack and then it was almost time for the start. (okay the below photo doesn't make it look that full, but believe me, they were! this was taken pretty early into pre-race set up...)
Aflac was the major sponsor, so instead of a horn for the start of each wave group there was a really loud AFLAC! duck sound. kinda different but fun...
First 2 miles were the warm up.....finished in about 20 min....
then, time to find the bike, put on the helmet, put on the gloves, figure out my new borrowed pedal basket clip things and off i go.
i didn't mean to, but i kinda left Val back during the bike part, but she had told me on the run part that i should just go....our bikes were pretty far apart in transition and she hasn't ridden lately at all, and i've done some training, albeit just some.
so i did the bike part (2 laps of 11 miles with some pretty good hills! my arss is still barkin at me!) solo and then got back to transition to take off the helmet, put on the visor and run my noodly legs for 2 more miles.
somehow i ran just shy of 9 minute miles for the last 2. how on earth i did that i don't know. i felt like i was s-l-o-g-g-i-n-g....like barely running.
then the finish line! HOO-RAY.
I got my medal, i got my Aflac duck sponge to soak off some of the salty skin i had goin, and waited at the finish to greet Val.
then it was time to eat!! good spread, found a few friends Val knew, and capped my first duathlon experience with another medal for my collection.
It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, beautiful course and something i really really want to do again....ANYBODY can do this. The last finisher came through with a time of 3:30, almost 90 min past when I finished. but she got a rousing ovation from all of us cheering her and her friend on and it was actully really emotional to welcome them to the finish line! hung out for a little while longer, took some snapshots, and then packed up to head home.
now it's time to n-a-p.
i earned it today. monday will be here before i know it and it's back to the rat race of library life (which is a-okay!)...peace, ~jd
