our 1st place award!
Oakdale Duathlon 2005-05-14
Oakdale, MN 40F / 4C Precipitation
race website: http://www.vacationsports.com/oakdaledu.html
Total Time = 1h 33m 28s Age Group (Coed Team) Rank = 1/3
woke up around 6am. had some oatmeal & some coffee w/ teecino mixed in (high in potasium). girls woke up, had breakfast, and got dressed. loaded up bill’s bike. drove over to pick up the babysitter so that someone was with the girls during transitions.
once we were at the race, we checked in, set up bill’s bike in the transition, stood in line for the port-a-pots. i did a clif shot w/ caffeine since i was still REALLY tired from being up with fi the last two nights…did some light stretching, contemplated bringing my rain coat, and then walked up to the race start.
autumn running (black vest and tights)
1st run: 00:23:58 | 03 miles | 7m 59s min/mile
light drizzle and cold. as you can see from the photos, it was wet wet wet! it was also cold, which is why some of the photos were blurred…going from the warmth of a jacket pocket into the cold humid air was enough to make it fog. it was crazy starting in the head of the pack w/ the elites and the younger men (29 and under). i was only one of a handful of women who were either elites or in my class. no wonder i was doing sub 7 min miles the first mile!
t1: 01:13 since i was going faster than i expected, i was worried that bill wouldn’t be in transition when i got there. he wasn’t, either. lucky for us, the run course looped through the parking lot to the transition area, and i ran right past our car. i knocked on the window and kept going. the course looped to the end of the lot and then into transition, and by the time i got there, bill had managed to run over and get his helmet on. passed off the timing chip (which was on a velcro strap) and off he went. we were not super speedy about it, since we were just there to have fun…no expectations of winning.
blurry bill coming in from the ride
bike: 00:42:18 | 13 miles | 18.44 mile/hr
despite the cold, rain, wind, and some hills, bill kicked some butt! he came in with his wool jersey, green rivendell, and leather brooks saddle, right along tricked out triathlon bikes (nothing against tri bikes, bill just looked like someone out of a 40s tour de france compared to the other guys).
t2: 01:18 we really took our time here, since this was bill’s first race in years, we took time to congratulate each other on how we were doing so far, have a kiss, etc.
autumn heading to the finish (black spot near white tent. hee hee)
run2: 00:25:21 | 03 miles | 8m 27s min/mile
since it was really cold and rainy, i stayed in the car with the girls and mackenzie (our babysitter) during the bike. i had done a little stretching, but with the cold weather, my legs got pretty stiff pretty fast. it took the first mile of running before i felt like i was were i wanted to be pace wise.
fi, ella, and mackenzie
post race: a bit of stretching, some hot dogs (provided by the race director), waited around for the awards ceremony (because we had to!). we felt really good and were happy with how we did considering we were sick all week (all of us) and the last two nights i hardly slept more than 2 hours in a stretch without waking up with fiona, who was teething.
race results are not online yet. can’t wait to see where we were overall. we’ve had mixed luck with this race organizer, but this event was really fun. they did a great job, especially considering the weather was less than perfect. they also gave us an extra shirt for free to give to our babysitter, who was a trooper chasing the kids in the rain, camping out in the car and singing songs with the kids, etc.
we are pleased as punch to have come in first. not a very big field, i know, but it was still fun to bring home a 1st place trophy the very first time we’ve EVER raced together. bill has raced and i’ve raced, but in the nearly 8 years we’ve been together, this is the first time we’ve ever raced together.
now, off to a dinner out to celebrate!
more pictures here: http://www.fidean.net/pix/oakdaledu/oakdaledu.html
** quick edit by bill - note that autumn kicked butt too, i was going to be late for the transition, and almost missed her coming in to the finish because she was ahead of even her own pre-race estimates. It was a fun time, again, despite the crappy weather..
