My friend Christina sent Shana and I an email one day, asking if we would be interested in doing the Disney Duathlon (run-bike-run). I was intrigued but was going to say no for a variety of reasons... the main one being not having the time to train. Between Truong working late hours, going out of town almost weekly, and a breast feeding baby who wakes up 2-3 times per night, I'd have to be insane to say yes. Add on that we'd only have 3 months to train before the race, I'd have to be clinically insane.
Then if you factor in the fact that I just squeezed out a baby 6 months ago (at the time I was debating the race), haven't seen a gym in over a year (if you don't count those 3 times I went before getting pregnant with Taede then it'd be -- holy cow... Davis! -- 7 years ago), was in the most out of shape I've ever been in... to say yes would go beyond clinically insane to just plain stupid.
Well, I said yes. Welcome to peer pressure.
However, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. For myself. I just had to figure out training times. In the end, I ran at night. Sometimes with Shana, most times solo as my window of opportunity was very narrow. Truong was able to come home early (6:30pm early) a few times and I took that time to squeeze in a bike ride in addition to a run. It wasn't the best training program, but with 2 kids, a baby, a hard working husband, and no babysitter, it was the best I could do.
I didn't tell a whole lot of people about this race as I didn't know how I'd do. My friend Crystal participates in these kinds of races regularly and she'd kick my ass any day of the week. And she's pregnant, for pity's sake. I set off with two main goals: (1) just finishing the race and (2) not throwing up while running through Disneyland. With my luck that photo would be plastered all over the newspaper.
I am happy to say that I finished AND I didn't throw up. The day started at 3:15am (race started at 6:00am, bikes needed to be in the transition area by 5:30am). If I had any doubts about the craziness of my decision, this put it all to rest. Shana and Patrick made the pick up rounds at 4:00am so that meant I had 45 minutes to get ready, get my stuff together, eat, and nurse Taede. Ironically enough, this was the first night that Taede gifted me with sleeping through the night. Meaning from the time I put him down at 7:00pm, he did not wake up once until I woke him to nurse at 3:30am. Talk about sending the poor kid mixed signals.
There were 554 participants in varying shapes, sizes and athletic ability. You can tell the real racers from their cool racing bikes and gear versus the hobbist with their one geared beach cruiser bikes and Cinderella costume. Yes, someone ran in a Cinderella costume (shortened of course) and I even saw an Alice in Wonderland.
We three did great despite some minor issues. My chain fell off going up a hill. Half way up, of course so that meant I had to finish the rest of the up hill with no momentum to carry me forward. Christina ate it at the dismount line and left a part of her elbow and knee at the Happiest Place on Earth. And Shana's bionic leg (she's got a metal plate from where she broke her ankle 2 years ago) was bothering her.
The 1.5 mile run went great. The first 5 mile lap was good (that's when my chain fell off). The second 5 mile lap, went a little slower but I still made decent time trying to catch up to Christina. I finally caught up as we entered the transition area and that's when she took a hit on the bike.
It was the 2 mile run after the bike ride that was a killer. Oh man. My legs were jello. The mind and upper body were willing but the two legs were not. However, Christina and I managed to drag ourselves across the finish with Christina a step ahead.
All in all it was fun and definitely something I would like to do again. Next time I'll be better prepared. Hopefully.
Here are
some pictures taken by our pep squad/photographer/coach Patrick.
