Well folks, I did my first multi sport event - the Green Bay Duathlon. It was a 3.1 mile run, 32.6 mile bike and 1.3 mile run.
I registered as an Athena (still not sure how I feel about that but it is what it is:) ). I was pretty much clueless about how this was supposed to go and I hadn't run in weeks. For those that remember, I have a bunion on the right foot and got custom orthotics which aren't helping. Plus my house is for sale so I've spent my time working on little projects and was getting over a flu bug. But enough with the excuses - I had a blast and beat my goal: to finish is less than 3 hours and not throw up!
It was 62 degrees and windy - 15-25 miles per hour. I did a combo of run/walking and finished last in my wave (6). Oh, there were 700 people signed up for this event. At least it was easy to find my bike:D T1 was 2:09.
Hit the bike course straight into the wind. Yeah gads! They called the terrain rolling hills but I would say it was flat. There were only a couple of rollers so I was happy with that. And sweet revenge on the bike - I passed a lot of people who blew past me on the run. I found it very interesting that except for the triathletes, most people were either strong runners or bikers and kind of stunk at the opposite sport. I even passed a tri guy from wave 1 all decked out and wondered why. Come to find out he was the oldest participant at 77 years young! I finished the bike in 1:56 - 16.87 ave which is a PB for me! One minute faster and I would have had my coveted 17. I biked for all I was worth and my lower back and hamstrings were killing me when I finished. My right foot was numb for over half of the ride. T2 was better at 1:40.
The final run was tough but I did it uneventfully in 11:18. I finished 7th out of 11 in the Athena division.
The organizers did a fantastic job! It was very well organized and marked, intersections manned by either local police or volunteers, people cheering throughout the whole race, free massages after, great food and even free beer and food at the end. My only disappointment was personal. My sister was watching my son while I raced and was supposed to be there before I hit T2 to cheer me on heading into the final run and at the finish. They got there late and I had already finished:( I did this with fellow TE'er from Milwaukee, SJCzar. Here's a couple of pictures (my son was being shy and hiding behind me in one picture). Maybe if I can learn to run I can move up to a tri someday:p Thanks for all your support!
