K so not my best moment last Saturday. Actually quite frustrating, to say the least. I decided to participate in the Legacy Duathlon in North Salt Lake. This was the distance, 5k run , 22.4 mile bike, 5k run again. I was a little apprehensive because I am not quite a sprint gal and to me this was an all out sprint, but coach AJ and I thought it would be a good opportunity to shake off the cobwebs, work on transitions and get a good brick workout in.
When I showed up Saturday morning, I was excited. I love to race, the atmosphere was cool, I had never done a Duathlon so I was intrigued and kind of stoked I didn't have to jump in cold water! The start was like a rolling start, so basically if you were a strong runner you would line up in the front and be sent off one by one in a staggered start sort of thing. The main reason for this is because the bike course was a narrow paved trail, so with the staggered start we wouldn't be so on top of each other. I saw my friend Sue( total badass status, she is an amazing triathlete), and we chatted a bit, she gave me some advice to be careful on the bike, and I headed up to the front to start the run. I have never done a 5k before ( yeah for real), so I didn't really know how to pace it, but fast. So I went out at a quick clip and ended up having a great run, 18:38 which was the run course record for women:) There were probably about 8 guys in front of me. I was pretty sure this would put me in first for the gals, so I was pumped, cruised through the transition, and was off on the bike.
The bike course was pretty fun at first kind of a windy, flat as can be with the wind at our backs. I had two guys pass me after about ten minutes and tried to stay with them but couldn't. They cruised off into the distance, so I was basically by myself except for the families and bikers that were not in the race.. I kept going and noticed the short distance turn around, keep clipping along and figured in just a bit I will see our turn around point. That never came. There was no arrows, no sign, no mile marker, no person waiving, nothing to indicate any turn. So I just kept heading straight. All of a sudden I start coming up to these gates about every half mile that I have to up clip, and weave in and out of. I am thinking ...this can't be right... but I didn't see a turn so I'll just keep heading straight. I got so sick of having to unclip that I decided to go through the next gate clipped in ,when hit my shoulder on it and went into a little ravine. Ugh!!!! Shortly after this the two guys that were in front if me were heading back and told me to turn around that we missed it . So that's what I did, I flipped
round and flew back as fast as I could , knowing that everyone would ready be running.. When I entered T2 I saw Jake and he asked if I got a flat. I gave him a quick play by play and headed out on the run. Time to make up something, although I knew I had lost about 10 minutes to this debacle. I ended up running a 19:04 5k for my second go around and placed third overall for the women. The race director greeted me at the end and apologized stating , offering me free race entry for the next year. I guess he heard about what had happened and explained it wasn't marked because the couldn't drive a car out there and that there was some new trail or something. I don't know.
It was a bummer but I still had a lot of fun, got some good and fast race pace training and practice with transitions. Next up I have St. George Ironman 70.3. Let's just hope I stay on course:)
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