Special K Duathlon - 16 April 2006 - 1:15:48

Quick refreshing shower @ 5:45am
Bananas on toast for breakie @ 6:00am
Dressed @ 6:15am
Last minute box recheck @ 6:17am
Packed the car @ 6:20am
Pickin up Karen @6:30am
Parked in town @ 7:00am
Dropped off my box by my bike in transition @ 7:10am
Head to the "finish line" ready for prerace briefing/warmup etc @ 7:20am

Was really well organised I thought. It was cold tho, a nice brisk wind had popped up and there was no way I was taking my sweat jacket off until I had to! The tops were extremely thin and it was stiff nipples galore for most of the competitors! NICE ONE! A tight top with flab rolls andddddddddd stiff nipples LOL

I met Sue! She looked great, fit, happy, healthy and ready to kick arse! I also caught up with one of the ladies from work, she didnt look so great, fit or healthy - suffering from an ankle injury and not enjoying the cool wind LOL ... Me? ... well now that I was here, I decided I was excited and looking forward to the race.

We got put into our wave colours (I was pink WOOHOO) and I chatted to a few of the other competitors ... all neat down to earth ladies. One girl I was chatting to had completed the triathlon earlier in the year also! We all then got marched over to the starting line and before I knew what was happening, we were getting our countdown and then we were off! WOOHOO Everyone tends to take off with a bit of a hiss and a roar and I jogged off the starting line also although I only ran for about 500mtrs and then I slowed and walked the rest of the way, of course coming back into transition I ran ... got to keep up appearances eh? *wink* The day was lovely, no rain! although the breeze didnt let up and going around oriental parade there was the occasional gust to keep those nipples in check. Lots of spectators yelling out ... "keep it up girls", "go ladies", "kick arse" etc etc which was really lovely. I got myself into quite a nice stride and the 3.5kms seem to fly buy. I saw Karen and Craig when I was running back into transition and I was looking forward to getting onto my bike and doing a new circuit. I found my bike real easy and on went the helmet, gloves on, quick slug of powerade and off I went.

When I got to the area where I was allowed to mount my bike I did a really impressive take off standing up, got up to speed real quick and I felt like I was really flying down the road. It was a primo ride around the bays, I seemed to pass heaps of other competitors and I looked at my bike computer and at one stage I was doing about 30kph which was pretty exciting. At the turning point the lady in front of me lost the reflector off her pedal and it hit me in the ankle, didnt hurt but we were both wondernig what the hell the noise was! LOL Thankfully no damage and off we went again. Coming back round the bays had some challenges, some of the corners met me head on with full force wind and I remember screaming PUSH PUSH PUSH as I rode past a couple of ladies LOL they laughed and screamed back "woohoo!" LOL was really good comraderie and bloody hard work on a couple of the bends. Back into oriental parade where it was a bit more sheltered and I was able to pick up some speed again. Man if I had a road bike I'd blitz it I'm sure! My knobbly tyres must slow me down surely. Not complaining tho!

As I pulled up to the transition area again I got off my bike and my arms didnt seem to work and for some reason I dropped my bike on the ground! :o Two guys came rushing over and helped me pick it up and send me on my way again - BLESS THEM! I'm not sure what happened there LOL hehe

As I ran down my bike rack aisle I couldnt find my spot! I was looking desperately for my box of bits and found it tucked under another bike ... someone had knicked my space! DILEMA! So I kinda pushed her bike over and hooked my bike up again, helmet off, quick slug of powerade and off I went again. Final leg! WOOHOO ... walked past heaps of women who had finished their race and were walking all over the place instead of sticking to the lanes so I had to dodge a bit of traffic which was a little frustrating and then past the finish line and out towards the events centre. I walked all the way, quick pace until I got to about 200mtres of the finish line and then I started jogging again. Came over the line and started clapping myself! LMAO! I didnt get emotional, I didnt break down, just a sense of yeahhhhhhhhhhhh baby I did it :) The lady who helped me take my transponder off said I made it look so easy! .... "you arent even puffing!" although I had sweat pouring off me! LOL Couldnt find Craig or Karen, although I knew they'd be pretty close by. Took a few minutes for them to show up, Craig had my sweat jacket so I was looking forward to put that on. Hugs and kisses all round and then we headed back to transition.

Home by 10:30am! Craig cooked a fantastic bbq brunch for me which went down a real treat!

Results were posted on the website pretty quick ... "Karen" ran a great race considering it was her first ever duathlon ... 1 hour, 15 minutes and 48 seconds ... NICE WORK CHICK! *giggle* - 749th out of 1230 competitors ... woohoo! I challenge the "real" Karen to do it next year and I challenge myself "the pretend Karen" to do it under the hour.

Thanks Karen for supporting yourself and you took some awesome pics for me which I've posted a few of and Craig my darlink thank you once again for your unconditional, dedicated early starts and unwavering support! You know I will always be happy to be your support crew if the madness of competitive racing ever makes you hit the road.