I really wanted to do this race. But I haven't done much all summer. I am out of shape! Even training for this event was lack luster. My sister Heath signed up, but we didn't really stick to a good training schedule. I think we did one run/bike.
But 10/1/11 arrived and at 4:30 am I woke up and headed to Heath's. Noah checked my tires, helped us load up and we were on our way. After about 1 hour 20 minutes on the road we were in Jay, Oklahoma.
We were early and encountered a group of Runner's World Turtles! They were nice and friendly so we took our picture with them. We got all set up with our bikes, shoes, helmets, etc in the "transition area" and headed to the 5K start. It went great. Uneventful. I finished in 34:13. Heath hung with me, but was always a bit ahead...she finished in 34:11.
After the 5k we entered the 'transition' area and it took me all of 3 minutes to change shoes, get my camel back on and head out on the bike route. Heath took off pretty quick and I was on my own. Right off the bat I got off route, blowing by a police cruiser with out any direction. I quickly realized the error, turned around and was back on track. The first downhill was steep. It was thrilling and stressful. The route was all on roads and the traffic was not blocked. The intersections were blocked with police and volunteers tho. I did not make it up the first or second hill. They were too crazy steep. Later Heath told me she thought they were harder than Turkey Mountain hills. I was upset and wanted to turn around. It was too hard. But then I rounded a bend and saw at least 4 other folks walking their bikes. One older black lady called out to me..."Come on baby girl..." repeatedly. It helped. I got back on the bike at about mile 5 and cruised to the turn around at mile 7.
On the way back I approached things differently. I had learned that even riding your bike reeeeallly slow is preferable to walking a bike up hill. So on the way back I only walked once for a tiny bit. I focused on gaining speed prior to hills, kept one foot clipped out, and used my lowest (I guess it is called lowest) gear as the last resort. My time on the bike was 1:14:55. I was 8th out of 10 in my age group on the bike. Heath finished in 52:47 and was 3rd in her age group!
Finally, the last mile run. Another 2-3 minutes for changing shoes, camel back, etc. Heath was done already and cheered me on as I headed out. I ran the whole way. My legs felt weird. Really heavy and tired. Almost like mile 16-17 of a marathon but not really, it was different muscles hurting. I finally just decided it was different.
I crossed the finish at 2:05:42. Heath met me with water, she had completed in 1:39:37. We packed it in and headed home.
A great day, really, really great day!
Dual Congratuations to you both! Enjoyed reading about it, can't imagine doing it! Well, I can imagine but it's not pretty.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great time! Very sore today though! Thank you for your encouragement. I'd never have done something like this if not for you!
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