Good job for getting out there and going against the men. Yes many promoters will combined fields to fill them out. If you are new to racing do the absolute best you can, especially against all male fields. Only the strongest women can beat a men's field or even place. Usually these ladies are pro-1-2's themselves racing against lesser 3-4-5 men.

However, don't think a field of only cat 4 women will be easy. Just ask other ladies like Eden. Some of them have been racing for years and just don't have a need to cat up or are missing a few points a season to upgrade.

As far as pedels I recomend the Speedplays as well. They are very easy to get into, (no look entry)and out of when you want to or need to. Also they have greater pedel clearence which means you can lean the bike closer to the ground on corners without worrying about striking a pedal at 30mph and going to the ER because of it. Oh yeah, great float to if you are into that kind of thing. May take a while to get used to becuase they tend to have way more float then most pedels, even at the entry level.