Father's Day Duathlon, Part 2

With the sound of the horn, I was off with the masses. I didn't want to push too hard since I wasn't sure of the running path and I didn't want to run out of gas getting on the bike, even though the race organizers cut the run in half to only 1.5 miles. Plus, it was raining steadily and I didn't want to slip anywhere. I knew I was pretty slow because I watched all of these other people pass by me. But I didn't care, I was in it to finish it, not to win it. Okay, the truth is, I felt a little competitive and it bothered me a bit that I was so slow. I felt better when I passed a couple of other people, but that feeling was short-lived. When I got to the transition area, my bike was one of the last ones on my rack. I was slow to transition because I was dehydrated and had to stop to drink water. When I finally got on the bike, it didn't feel all that bad. I was pedaling, but I wasn't going very fast. That's what happens when your bike is a heavy piece of junk. I plowed forward thinking, I hope I don't have to get off my bike and walk up the hill. In researching the course, I saw 10.7% and 13.3% grades, of which I wasn't sure I would be able to make it. I was also terrified of crippling myself on the -32% grade. While I never had to realize my worst fear of walking the bike and I didn't take a spill going down the hill (although I gripped the handles so tight that one of my knuckles split open and started bleeding), I had one of the slowest times on the 12 mile (2 loops of 6 miles) bike ride.  I used this 15-year old kid as my pacer, since I think his bike was worse than mine. When I returned back to the transition area, my legs felt like logs. They were so heavy. I could walk, but definitely not run. My friend told me not to try to run because apparently, a lot of people fall flat on their faces when their mind says run, but their legs don't respond. That kind of reminded me of my oldest daughter Emily. I always felt that she was trying to learn how to run before learning how to walk (she never crawled). The problem was,  she'd always fall, so she had this perpetual bruise on the left side of her forehead. I finally got out of the transition area and started to run gently  so I wouldn't fall over. I actually didn't run the final 3 miles as poorly as I thought because I was actually passing people. In fact, I passed the 15-year old kid who finished the bike ride a few minutes ahead of me. I felt bad for him because I saw him stop running and begin to walk, but then another person came by and was very encouraging and told him to keep trying. I would have done the same, if I could actually talk and run at the same time. At this point, I had to work hard just to control my breathing and not stop to walk too. Toward the end of the race, my co-worker who had signed up for the triathlon passed by me. I knew she must be doing well, since I started in Wave#1 out of 8, and she probably started in one of the final waves, which meant I had at least a 15 minute head start. As I approached the finish line, I looked all over the place for my family. They were supposed to come and cheer for me, even though the weather was miserable. But, I never saw them. As it turns out, they were blocked out of the visitors' parking lot and had to turn around and go home. Getting back to the finish line, people passed by me when they heard cheering from their family members. Since I was distracted looking for mine, I didn't finish as strong as I would have liked to, but nevertheless, I finished. My final time was 1 hour and 46 minutes. For me this was quite an accomplishment. In my head, I might be that fat and geeky teenager, but today, I was a champ for putting my mind to a physical challenge I would have never dreamed of ever completing. I met up with my co-worker who finished ahead of me, and we chatted for a bit and took some post race pics. As soon as she sends them to me, I will post them. I then packed up my bike on the Miata and went home. I got a warm greeting from my husband and kids, and then it was off to take a shower to get ready for my 5-year old nephew's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and then to take my parents and husband out for Father's Day.  No resting allowed!

Having completed the duathlon, I felt more confident that I would be able to handle RAGBRAI. As more training prior to RAGBRAI, my husband signed us up for a 53-mile bike ride (on a tandem) in Long Island. I'll write about that next when I have more time.