Doing the Du

I finished my first duathlon today. I chose an all women's race (the largest women's only duathlon in the country!) with a 2 mile run, 22 mile bike ride, followed by another 2 mile run. Though I'd thought about it before, I signed up a little bit on a whim and by myself.

The nerves were a-bubblin' for a few days before the race and I was ready to just get started. I headed down to the race site this morning at 5:15, knowing there'd be long lines with the 1400+ women registered and the 6:30 check-in deadline.

I got all set up on my rack, chit chatted a little bit with a few girls around me, but mostly scoped out the in and out chutes (the transition area was huge and you have to know where to run in, run out, bike in, bike out, where you mount/dismount the bike etc), stood in bathroom lines, and tried to stay warm. 

The transition area closed at 7am, the first wave started at 7:30am, and my wave started at 7:55. We got the countdown to start and off we went. I wanted to be in the front of the wave so that I wouldn't have to zig zag around people to get into my pace. I didn't realize how fast I was going until I looked down at my watch and saw 7:12. Yeah, see, I don't run a 7:12/mile pace. So, I slowed down so that I could actually finish both miles and settled into my pace for the remainder of the run.
Run 1 (2 miles): 16:26
T1: 1:39

I headed into transition, changed shoes, switched my hat for my helmet and hopped on my bike. I'd ridden this bike route once, while checking out the course, and knew it was a pretty rolling course. I was feeling really good on the bike, but oh, was it crowded. The course consisted of an 11-mile loop that you do twice. So, that's a lotta ladies out there on the same course. Unfortunately, it got very congested in a few spots where I had to wait for people to move so that I could get around them. Loop 2 was significantly better as some of the riders then moved off the course. The ride felt really good and I was able to go as fast as I could (given the crowd-induced slow downs) the entire time and was happy that I never felt like I was just out of gas.
Bike (22.7 miles): 1:12:59
T2: 1:27

The legs pretty much felt like two spaghetti noodles coming off hard bike ride and my toes always fall asleep, so it takes some time getting used to running on noodle legs and sleeping toes...but it can be done. In fact, my toes were still asleep/numb when I finished the run. In spite of that, it felt really good, and knowing it was just two miles may have had something to do with that.
Run #2 (2 miles): 17:15
Finish Time: 1:49:46

I had a lot of fun doing this race. I like the run/bike/run format and a fall race sure was fun because the temps are so nice and the leaves are starting to change which makes for a beautiful race day for the participants and spectators.

Next time, though, I'm signing up with friends.

Thank goodness I had a cheering section show up.

My mom and dad, aunt, sister, one of her boys, J and the kids all came to watch.

They got to see me several times and I saw and heard them. So fun having spectators cheer!

Heading out on the run.

My little man.

And my little lady.

Meaty, Banany, Cousin M.

Heading out of transition on the bike leg (obviously).

Coming in off the bike leg...almost done!

I was on pure adrenaline here - there were hundreds of people lining the street cheering us on, including my family...such a fun way to come in.

Coming on the close of run #2!

The picture slightly out of order, but this was a quick shot I snapped with my phone during morning set up. It was cold, dark, and exciting.