and with that I completed my 1st Duathlon!

Saturday morning I woke up feeling good. My pre-race checklist was completed. I had trained. I was ready. The weather was muggy and a high chance of rain was looking likely. Over 400 anxious women were ready to put Rocketchix II 2013 in the books. It was overcast at the 7:15am start but the clouds stopped sprinkling as the race clock started. There were two events today. The 1st ever Duathlon for those non-swimmers (like myself) with a distance of 2mile run/12mile bike/2 mile run and a Triathlon of 350m swim/12 mile bike/2 mile run. I had done the Triathlon last year (my 1st & probably only) and I was so glad they added the Duathlon option this July since it was a race I had been wanting to try. We were off for our run and I held a steady pace not to exhaust myself early.

Heading to the 1st transition after my 1st run for the bike portion. (I am in the green top)

I was lucky that I scored a great spot in transition and checked where to run in and out before the race to try not to lose any time. The bike portion of this course was a bit unnerving at certain sections. I thought I was going to wipe out due to the uneven surface and rocks. I thought to myself how do the people with the skinny tires do this? I pushed on and tried to pass as many fat tire & skinny tire racers as possible since I wasn’t sure how my pace would be for the final run.

Heading out of transition for my final run

2 more miles to go. I got this! I was able to hold a steady pace and surprisingly my legs didn’t have the brick feeling that I felt during training. I think I was full of race excitement. I seemed to have a good lead as I finished with a time of 1hr:26min:01 sec.
I took my finisher pic even though I was a sweaty hot mess and later found my friend so we could go freshen up while we waited on our race results.
Success!!! I placed 1st in my age group & 3rd overall in the Fat Tire division.
My 12mi bike time was 47:55 with an average speed of 14.1mph. My average run pace was 9:06. I’ll take it!

With the Triathlon and now the Duathlon behind me I truly felt like a Rocketchix!

Pros and Cons about the race:
Well organized from packet pickup to the finish. However I was a little disappointed the race shirt only said Triathlon on it and not Duathlon. Had I not done the Triathlon last year (and the shirt was not dated) I probably would not wear it. I think this was because the Duathlon was an “added” option during race planning for the July race. One of the organizers mentioned to me they were “testing” the Duathlon to see if they will keep it for future races which they will due to the success of this one.
On the Race bling I hate to be negative and although the small Rocketchix pendant necklace is “cute” (they started this in 2013) I still wanted the “Finisher” medal. Also a towel for a Top3 prize just doesn’t cut it when you pay $60+ dollars to register. (personal opinion only)

Overall I had a wonderful experience and enjoyed being there with so many other strong, powerful women meeting their personal goals. I look forward to my next challenge the Muddy Water Paddle Battle Paddleboard Race next Saturday plus I have several races to sign up for as I get back to running.