Saturday, August 06, 2005

Race Day


This morning I did my first competitive event in Oregon: the All Womens Duathlon: 5K Run/12.5 mile Bike/5K Run.
I was happy to have my support crew (Paul) along for the race & the post-race party. He took some pics, cheered me on, & shared my pizza.

The experience was very different than any other race I've attended in Mississippi/Louisiana. First, the weather was awesome - I checked weather.com when we got home at noon, and the temp was still below 80, & humidity was @ 30%! Last night I froze a water bottle to use on the bike - the idea is that between the time you take the bottle out of the freezer at 6 am & the time you drink out of it at 9 am, it thaws. Not here though! It was still nearly completely frozen at 8 am. Good thing I brought a back-up!
Another thing was different was the way everybody interacted. I'm used to just doing my thing, maybe saying hello to a few people, and not really having too much conversation with other racers before, during, & after the race. Today I must have talked to over 10-15 other women before, during, and after the race. It was fun, and I'm still wondering what factor changed the way my race went. Hmmm....

Oh yeah, I think I got 5th or 6th place overall, and 3rd in my age group. The girl in blue in the "Finish Line" photo was in my age group - it was close! The results should be up (SOMEday) here.

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