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I won my division in my first race...
... ok, I was the only entrant, but a trophy is a trophy! :o
A friend and I tag-teamed on a charity 5K run / 14mi bike duathlon (the event was named a biathlon, but that's cross-country skiing + target-shooting to me, so I renamed it in my mind) put on by the Sierra Vista, AZ fire department to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Most participants did the event as individuals, but I'm not much of a runner and my friend isn't much of a cyclist so we figured we'd both have more fun this way. DBF came along for cheerleading / photog-ing.
Unfortunately, things got a bit mucked up with the official split-timing so they didn't report that for anyone. But, my friend finished her run in right around 34 mins, and I was off on the bike. The course started with a couple miles of gradual downhill, then a bit of a swell, then gradual uphill, then we u-turned and went back the same way. So I zipped through the first chunk (20-22mph--a pretty fast cruising pace for me), and was able to keep my legs moving pretty well through the climbing towards the home stretch. I was watching my speedometer, and I decided that any time I noticed myself dipping below 14mph, I would push myself back over it, and for the most part, I managed! I didn't get passed at all, and in fact I passed probably 10 people. Of course, I'm sure all of them had done the run, and I was fresh, so I didn't get too proud of myself. My upper body was too tense throughout--I think that was just "omg I've never been in a timed event before" nerves--so things started to cramp up a bit towards the end. But I made it just fine and felt really great afterwards.
Really my only complaint was the "stop and hand over your tag so we can write your time on it" folks were bit too close to the actual finish line. Of course I pushed through the finish, then suddenly someone was yelling at me to stop. BF and friend said they saw that several times... people hearing someone yell "STOP," panicking, and then locking up wheels. Fortunately, there were no real incidents.
I finished the ride in just about 50 minutes, and our team finish time was 1:24.24 (and we're both 24 years old!). They awarded prizes for the top 3 in each age / gender category, then the top 3 male, top 3 female, and top 3 co-ed teams. We were the only all-female team, so my friend and I each got a gold medal AND a trophy! I was kicking myself after we got home because I didn't make note of what our overall finish position was, but I think we were 40-something out of 67 entries.
We got into the Halloween spirit and wore matching black+orange striped knee socks. She wore a t-shirt she'd puff-painted a witch hat onto and embellished with a bedazzler, and I wore an orange cycling jersey that I sewed a felt jack-o-lantern face onto. There was only one other person dressed for Halloween, which was a little disappointing, but oh well.
Everyone who pre-registered got goodies including a water bottle and little gym duffel with the fire department's name on it, and some coupons etc. There were fruit and drinks at the end, and a raffle with a ton of prizes donated by local (and not-so-local, eg RoadID) businesses. It was a really lovely little event.
Anyway, here's a couple pictures of me riding! My boyfriend managed to snap one of me by the race clock EXACTLY at our official finish time... how cool! I'll probably post a picture of my friend and me in our coordinating outfits tomorrow but I want to check with her before I plaster her face on the internet. :o
