Amanda's Duathlon

So...it's official, I completed my first duathlon. I was even a part of the Tulsa Area Triathletes for the day:) Pretty fancy stuff for this small town girl. To be completely honest I was ready to turn around and go home, like a puppy with it's tail between it's legs, when I first arrived to the river on the morning of July 25th, 2010 in preparation for the big race. I looked around at all the seasoned athletes that surrounded me and thought I must have been terribly mistaken to think that I can do this. Good thing my mommy was there to keep my head up and reassure me that I was going to do just fine! The first 5k started promptly at 7:30 and I started off with a great pace, preparing my body for the 30k bike and 5k finishing run that were awaiting my arrival. As soon as I saw the transition area I took off in a full-fledged sprint, ever so eager to hop on my bike and take off, only to be sadly disappointed that I was to run right past the transition area for another miles worth of trail running. No biggie, I will just shake it off and keep on....

The 30k bike was much easier than I had expected. The route was flat and smooth and I was able to pump out a whopping 16mph pace, compared to the 11-13mph pace that I trained at. In no time at all I was back to the transition area parking my bike and preparing for the final 5k run.

At this point in the race I had started guzzling all the water that was offered to me. I was even taking time to stop running so that I could drink down all that was offered to me. FYI--this was a bad choice. I became so water logged that I felt nauseous. This in combination with the heat and my fatigue led me to walk some of the final 5k. Funny thing is that every time I would stop to take a walk break, someone would come by me and urge me to run on, and so I would. All in all though the race was unbelievable and I finished with an astonishing time of 2:15:54 . I will without a doubt do it again next year and my goal is to finish in under 2hrs!

I owe lots of thanks to my family for all of their unfaltering support(thanks Shannon for always being there to cheer me on, and for racing all over the place with the kids to catch a glimpse of me-love you baby;) (thanks to mom dad and Reny for enduring the trip down to see me), thanks to Tim at Fitness Together for all of his support and guidance and most of all thanks to God for allowing me the strength to compete:)