Duathlon!

A couple of months ago I thought signing up for a duathlon was a good idea. I signed up for a nice, short one (2K run, 15K bike, 2K run) and thought really, how hard could it be? I can run a few miles without stopping and figured the bike portion will be a nice rest. Bwa ha ha ha ! I was so wrong. Mostly because I didn't train for the bike part. I am a fair weather biker and if it's windy or cold I'm not going out there. So I didn't. I got in about 15 miles of training and that was it. The only thing on my side was the division I signed up for–

Female – check!

Age 30-39 – check!

Short course – oh yeah!

Clydesdale/Athena – this is for men over 200lbs and women over 150lbs. I can't remember the last year I was under 150lb, so this was perfect.

Then I looked at last year's results and saw that for my specific category there was only ONE person. And then I checked the calendar and, lo and behold, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is the same morning and across town. Score!

Oh, the race? Kicked my ass. I run on asphalt in non-hilly Mountain Home. This was in the foothills of Boise not on asphalt. I bike nice and slow on level surfaces, towing my 3 year old from playground to playground. The bike course was initially uphill (I had to walk a little because I thought I was going to puke) and then hilly. And, wow, did you know that a 15 kilometer road race on a mountain bike is not the greatest idea?

For the Big Girl category (as I call it) turns out there were TWO of us this year, and a pathetic hour and twenty six minutes later victory was mine. I got a ribbon! And a gift certificate to the See Jane Run store in Boise. I had an acceptance speech all ready, but apparently they don't do that sort of thing?!?

I will never, ever win a race (by default) again, so let me have fun with this, ok?