MISSION : MICHIGAN

The Challenge : Waterloo Duathlon

The Distance : 2 mile run / 15 mile bike / 7 mile run

The Reward should I choose to accept it: A special lunch on the way home.

I drove to Michigan on Saturday evening. Everyone in my family was busy so I went by myself. After a good night's sleep , I got up early and headed toPortage Lake. It was a beautiful morning. The temperature was a cool 50. While waiting to start, I met an awesome group to talk to. All very positive. Two were spin teachers. Another doing her first duathlon.

Run #1-( 18:38= 9:19 pace) It started from the beach and went uphill on the grass. It was a tough start. Then across the parking lot , up another hill, and into the woods on a trail. I am not a fan of trail runs because I shuffle when I run. The course was very scenic. I know the run time is incorrect. I wasn't running that fast. The early runners results were running 4 minute miles. I know they weren't that faste either.

T1= 1:49 It would have been faster but almost started without my helment.

Bike - (57:34 = 16.7 mph ave) I felt good. The course was rolling hills. I lost my focus twice. Once when my evil garmin went wacky and I was messing with it to work. The second time when the spongey thing popped up and out of my aero-bottle into my face when I hit a bump. I am disappointed my time wasn't faster. When I came in , I heard my name called - the was Vickie my blogger friend cheering me on.

T2 = 1:43 Nothing exciting.

Run 2 - (1:09:17= 13:52 pace) . I totally agree with the time on this part. The run started uphill then turned on to a dirt country road for 3 miles. In the first mile, my stomach began rumbling. I lost time due to an emergency pit stop in the woods. It was hard to settle in to a pace after that. The last 2 mile were back into the wood on a trail that was mainly sand. I did trip on a tree root and almost fell down a steep hill. I tried to be careful. When I finished the awards had already began. I felt happy with my effort.

I grabbed a plate of food and hooked up again with Vickie. During th awards we chatted. It was so cool to finally meet her in person. I felt like I already knew her and she was so easy to talk with. Check out her blog as there are photos of us posted. I won 2nd in my age group (there were only 2) They ran out of trophies - look for it in the mail. Now it was time to pack it up and head for home and my reward.

The Reward = Frisch's Big Boy

We do not have these in Chicago and I love their Big Boy Sandwich! It wasn't on my diet for sure.

I hoped to break 2:30 and My time was 2:29.

Waddling after my Big Boy......................