Iron Girl Du-athlon

This past weekend my sister-in-law, Carey, and I took part in the RYKA Iron Girl Du-athlon in Bloomington. For those of you that do not know what a du-athlon is...well, it's a run-bike-run race. This race was a 2 mile run, 22 mile bike (which was all up hill), and a 2 mile run. I was excited for Carey to come down and spend the weekend with me and to compete in this race with me. We spent Saturday afternoon checking in at the race, went to church, stood in line at the Olive Garden for a little over an hour (but had some great converstation while waiting), and than eat some well needed carbs for the race. I am not sure if this has ever happened to some of you before, but as I laid in my bed and went over my list of things I needed to bring I had a epifany...."My shoes", I thought, "where are they?" So I got up out of bed and started to look for them and than I remembered- 'volleyball practcie'. Ya see, I am coaching the 8th grade team at my school and I forgot my tennis shoes there after practice on Friday. So, Carey and I got up out of bed and went to see if I could get into school...and of course, I couldn't. So....no tennis shoes for the race. Fortuntaly, I had a very old pair of nike shoes that I keep in the back seat of my car incase of emergency...(see picture). These shoes have not been worn for at least three years and they are about 1/2 size to small. My toes were looking forward to the experience (note- major sarcasism). So not only was I neverous about the race, but now I had to worry about doing the race in shoes that might cause me pain! Carey was a bit nervous as well; mostly about the biking and about the transitions. I told her she had nothing to worry about and that she would do just fine, and that she did. She tore out and did the first 2 miles in 15 minutes. WOW- what I wouldn't give to run a couple miles that fast. I started off a lot slower than that, a time that I am a bit ashamed to share with you all. (smiles). Once on the bike I felt comfortable and was looking forward to the 22 mile bike. The sun was out; still a bit chilly on the hands, but nothing major- and the scenery was good. I caught Carey at mile 9...she was looking good! But I didn't stick around long. I needed to get a solid 10-15 minutes ahead of her so she wouldn't pass me on the run. I finished the very hillly bike course in 1 hour 20 minutes and was ahead of Carey by about 20 minutes. And to make a long story short- I finished in 2:10:30 and Carey was only a couple mintues behind me finishing at 2:16:44. Even after the 22 mile bike she still ran the last 2 miles in 17 minutes- seriously, she is so fast! ....It was a good time. We both felt decent afterwards! Tired, but a good tired! My legs hurt a little that night while I was falling asleep, but nothing major. I highly enjoyed the race and my time with Carey. It was my last race for the year and I am excited to give my legs a break...but am already looking forward to next summer to see if I can impove on my times. Carey- Thanks for a great weekend! NO WORRIES>