Officially a duathlete!!!!!

Gary called me a duathlete yesterday morning but I told him not yet. Now I'm officially a duathlete-YAY!!! I had so much fun and I wasn't anywhere near last place (was expecting to be though). Official times have not been posted but I finished in the 1:20:40 range, I'm not sure if they cut the time off when I when by the timer or when they took the race number. Will post the time and placement when they post them.















Showing the love for my local bike shop!!











Bike transition area












The start











At the back of the pack ;-)










Looking serious afterwards










That's more indicative of how I was feeling!! Not sure what was going on in the other pic










My Marin afterwards with the race number still attached


As you can see from the pictures it was overcast with periods of rain this morning. Thankfully there was only a little bit of mist while I was running. A nice mix of people competing this morning, you had the professionals, the semi-pros, age-groupers, first-timers, high-end bikes, low-end bikes, and mountain bikes.


There was a guy before the race that was hollering "Hey Memphis, Shelby County", it turned out that he was yelling at James and me. He thought we were this couple he'd met in TN, said we looked just like them and he also thought my t-shirt was from a lbs in the Memphis area. He turned out to be super nice and was explaining the bike route to me and yelled out "Go Searcy" whenever he met me on the course this morning. Got to tell you, that is a boost when you have somebody yelling encouragement for you.


First portion was a 2.2 mile run. I started in the back but James said he thought I finished it in the top 25-30% of everybody. Since running is my strong point right now, my intention was to get the first run in as quick as possible without totally tiring my legs out.


Second part was a 10 mile bike ride. The course had been modified from a 12 mile route because of the flooding we've been having. We had 3 loops of the same route and it was done on the honor system of you counting your own laps. There was one short but very steep hill on the first part. I made it up on the bike on the first lap, but had to walk it up the next two laps. Bicycling is my weak link, esp. on the hills. I wasn't the only one walking it up so didn't feel too bad, I even beat a couple of guys by walking it up when they pedaled up.


A little later on the bike route there was a downhill portion that curved to the left. I had one of the leaders that was on his third lap wipeout in front of me in that curve. Wasn't sure of the protocol as everybody directly behind him kept going but I slowed and asked if he was ok. I rec'd a very curt "no" and no reply when I asked if he needed anything. It's not like I was in any danger of winning the race but I ended up losing 7-8 spots and a few minutes. I guess I shouldn't have checked on him because I got the very distinct impression that he didn't like a lowly age grouper asking if he was ok. Oh well, maybe he was just frustrated because of wiping out and I would've felt terrible if I hadn't checked on him.


Second and third laps were ok but I was beginning to slow on my third lap. Third time up the steep hill, I told the guy next to me that I was glad that was the last time. Ended up passing him just after that but he later passed me on the final run portion. One of the sharp turns was manned by a NLR police officer that was great about giving encouragement and when I was coming up to him on the last lap I was smiling at what him and the other volunteers were saying. I yelled back at them that I was glad it was the final time and he said it couldn't be that bad, I was still able to laugh. At that point it was either smile or cry though and I didn't want to be caught crying. I had two women pass me on the final 1/2 mile before the transition area and we ended up giving each other atta-girls while racking the bikes.


I was glad to get off the bicycle but my legs felt sooo rubbery. A quick sip of accelarade and I was running again. I had a quick conversation with one of the women that had passed me on the bike and another guy about duathlons. I explained that it was my first and she said that she had done the BDB du last year. Got into a rhythm finally and passed a few people and met the people that had passed me on the bike portion when I slowed down to check on the cyclist that had fell. I think they ended up being a mile ahead of me.


I had a great time and ended up doing much better than I expected. Can't wait for the next one, but I need to work on cycling up hills and do more bricks beforehand.


Oh, I mentioned the bicycle part was done on the honor system with counting your own laps. Evidently there were a couple of women that finished very close behind the lead guys and it was fairly obvious that they hadn't completed all three laps. James was videoing the leaders coming in and you can hear a couple of the race officials talking about it and then saying oh well, what can you do. I think they need to switch to chip timing next year or something that would keep better track of it.