Duathlon

Well, Yesterday I successfully completed my first Duathlon. I did the "short" distance course which was 2 mile run, 13 mile bike, and a final 2 mile run. The first leg of the race went fine with a total time of 23.05 minutes (an 11:33 mile/min. pace). Then I hopped upon my bike and did the next 13 miles. This was tough as there were a lot of hills and the wind seemed unbearable at times. Since winter has lasted so long, I've had to do pretty much all of my training on a stationary bike. It's hard to train for hills and wind! My time for the bike portion was 1 hour and 1 minute. My friend Sue did the funniest thing when I was on my last few miles of the bike portion. She surprised me by driving next to me for awhile cheering me on. Then they slowed down their car and shouted, "Hey, look, you're so fast you just passed our car!" That had me smiling for the rest of the bike ride back. When I got off my bike and my quadriceps felt like dead weights. I managed to begin running the last 2 miles. I did walk a good portion of the last 2 with a time of 29.18 minutes. Never in my training have I done more than a 12 mile bike and a 2 mile run. So, I'm pretty thrilled just to finish it AND have a decent overall time of 1:56:50. The amusing thing is the only part of me that's sore today is my neck. Weird!

I can't thank my family enough for their support in my training and on race day. Knowing that you were there at the race, believing in me and cheering me on meant the world to me. One runner passed me by, but commented, "You've got quite the crowd back there today!" I'm taking off a few days and will recommence training for the triathlon on Wednesday.

Here are a bunch of photos that our good friend, Scott Elder took (if you recall, Scott is the same incredible photographer who took our Christmas photos).

This is my awesome friend/training partner-Jen Elder before the race began.


Here I am returning from my first 2 miles:


Here I am returning from my biking:


Nate with Elyana watching me go!


I'm taking off for my final run, explaining to Nate that my legs feel funny, and giving Mikayla a kiss!


Here's Mikayla cheering me on with a cow bell!


Coming in for the final finish!