2014 Legacy Duathlon

Yesterday I participated in the Legacy Duathlon for the second year in a row. I was feeling a little sentimental about this race because this was were I got my start last year. Over this year I have grown to love the guys and girls on this team. They are good people. I love that none of us have to be elite athletes to be on this team. We all have jobs and families to take care of, but we do this for ourselves. Weekend Warriors is what Rolynn likes to call us. I like that.

 

I ended up being the only girl yesterday. At the last minute Rolynn and Timalee were having a hard time finding a sitter for their girls, so Timalee decided to stay out this race. So I had to hold my own with these awesome guys. Left to right: Me, Ryan Daley, Rolynn Snow, Jeff Lewis and Brett Gilmore (Manager).

 



Last year I did the short course (1.5 mile run, 11.2 mile bike, then 1.5 mile run again) and this year I was contemplating doing the long course instead (which is double the length of everything). When I was registering I really couldn't decide. Should I try the long one to see how I do? Or do the short one and beat my time from last year? Jesse ended up talking me into the short one. A great easy opening for the season. Everyone else (except Ryan) decided to do the short course as well.

They let the long course people go first followed by the short course. One person at a time, every 15 seconds. This picture of Rolynn and I was right before it was our turns to start the run. We were getting ourselves all pumped up.

 

 

 This is coming in after the first run. It was perfect weather and I was feeling good. The 1.5 miles took me about 11ish minutes.

 

Transitioned into my bike stuff fast and was on my way. Within the first mile I realize that my left shifters on my bike weren't shifting at all. So I could only be in the highest gear on the right side. When I would go down a hill I couldn't shift anymore to pedal faster. It made me really frustrated. I was pedaling as hard as I could to keep going. Sometimes to pedal seemed pointless because my wheels were going faster than I could pedal, but I didn't just want to coast. So I kept on pedaling. haha.

 

Got back from the bike and was feeling grateful at this point that I had decided to only do the short distance because of how my bike was acting. 22 miles would have been really sucky without a shifter working properly.

 

Second run I just wanted to push it as hard as I could to make up for the mishap on the bike.

I crossed the finish line with a time of 1 hour and 22 seconds. Shaved off 4 min minutes from my time last year. Granted last year was cold and windy and this year was clear and sunny, but I'll take it. I was happy to have a placed 3rd in the overall women short course category. 2nd in my age division. I found this quote online that is so fitting...

 

"Everyone is life is looking for a certain rush. Racing is where I get mine." -John Trautmann

 

I love it! I'm using that from now on. Racing is my rush!

I was so proud of my fellow teammates who too placed in their age divisions. Every single one of us that raced yesterday stood on the podium. It's good stuff. Rolynn took 3rd. Ryan took 3rd (long course) and Jeff took 2nd. Way to go team!

I know it's just a short course and nothing spectacular like an Iron Man or something. But I still had fun doing it. Isn't that what it's about? Having fun? A great way to start out the season.