By Andie Lesondak:
This past Saturday I raced my first Duathlon at Harris Lake County Park. The race was put on through Bushwack Adventure Racing, so there was also a 6 hr Adventure Race that took place after the Duathlon was finished. There were 30 racers in the Duathlon, which including myself, consisted of 4 solo women racers. It really was a fun race! And just as a precursor, this race was quite laid back, so no timing chips or bike racks in the transition area. Therefore, all of my times (as you read on) are approximated between their watch & my watch. The trail run was first, which was approximately 4.5-5 miles long. Since my knees & IT bands have been acting up with running again, my run training was minimal prior to the race. However, I managed to find my rhythm & even enjoy the run. (Trail running definitely takes me back to my roots.) Anywho, I ended up completing the run in about 41 minutes. Next, it was on to the mountain bike - ah, finally in my comfort zone. The ride was a 7 mile loop of a trail I know quite well. A guy passed me only a few miles into the ride. At first I was just going to hang back & do my own thing. But as I saw him start to ride off, for some reason I got it in my head that he passed me on a cheap bike. And then I thought, no way can I let this guy pass me on his cheap rig when I have my newly blinged-out Trek (thanks to my hubby, Herb, Jason & the guys at the Bike Doctor in Frederick, MD). So.. use the force I did.. and pedal faster I did! I managed to catch back up to him & stay on his wheel the rest of the way. As I pushed to keep up with him, he’d try to pull away, which only pushed me more. We seemed to just fly through the course. Before I knew it we were finished, and popping out of the woods towards the finish line. I decided to give it a final effort & started sprinting. To my amazement he started sprinting as well, but I managed to squeak by him at the end. I finished with an approximate bike time of 37:30-38 minutes, and an average speed of 11.3 mph. So, with my transition split, I ended up finishing the race in 1 hour & 20 mins, which put me in 1st Place for Solo Women, and in 4th place overall. WOHOO!! (On a side note, the very nice biker who’s wheel I tried to stay on, turned out to be riding a carbon, lefty, 29er Cannondale. Haha - not such a cheap rig after all.) The mind is a tricky thing, and really quite amazing how when you set the mind to it, you can do anything you want! A big thank you to the Bushwack crew for organizing & hosting such a fun event & thanks to the amazing & fun racers out on the course!! :)
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