Today was the last of three races in the Chilly Cheeks Duathlon series. When we arrived at Cherry Creek state Park the temp was about 25, but it quickly warmed up. By race time it was probably in the mid 30’s. We started in heats A-Z, I was in G. First off was a 10.8 mile bike ride, it was the same course as the other duathlons. I forgot to switch back to my clip-less pedals, so I was in my running shoes, with pedals with toe clips. Less than ideal, but worked just fine. Transition was interesting, you racked your bike and then had to run to the end of the transition area, tag a poster that said “Tag Me”, turn around, run back through transition and out the same way you biked in. I guess there was too much snow to have a normal transition, so that was what they came up with. The penalty for not tagging the sign was 30 minutes on your time! Eek.The start of the run was TOUGH, I felt like a brick. It’s a very strange feeling to get off the bike and try to make your legs run. It doesn’t quite work. So I trudged along, waiting for my legs to wake up. I downed a packet of HammerGel, and things started feeling better, I passed a few ladies, and then a few guys, and FINALLY my legs came back to me. Whew. Then I flew, I flew as fast as I could. The race officials had shortened the course to 2.5 mile run due to some crusty snow drifts that they didn’t want us running through. So I knew I could haul tail and I wouldn’t bonk, b/c the distance was short enough. So I went. We had a long stretch of snow, which was crusty enough that I was able to cruise through it. Then we hit the road for the last mile and I was able to let it all loose. The finish was on an uphill which made things less than spectacular, but it was still a great race and a really nice course.

The stats: Time 59:06...felt good to be under 1 hour! I won the fat tire division for the ladies. That made 3 fat tire wins in a row, so I “took” the whole series in that division! I was the 6th female, regardless of division (so in competition with the road bikers). I was the 6th fat tire overall (so including the men). They gave away series awards at the end and I scored a whole bottle of hammer gel, and big tub of HEED (high energy endurance drink by HammerGel) for my win in the 0-39 fat tire age group.

A special thanks to Troy and Annie for being my ever constant “cheerers” and “supporters”. Also a big thanks to Racing Underground Events and Timing. They did an absolutely wonderful job at putting this very successful series together. These events run like clockwork, but with a very relaxed, easy going feel to them. They think of everything, and have become familiar faces. Awesome job to them!