Palouse River Duathlon

Last year I competed in the Palouse River Duathlon 11 weeks pregnant with sweet Nora. She was my running partner and biking buddy and I was so proud of myself for getting through the race. This year, however, it was quite freeing to run "alone" and let someone else take care of the baby for a few hours. (Plus, I think Nora is quite a bit cuter outside the womb, don't you?)

I was also thrilled to be participating with my awesome sisters-in-law, Angela and Lyndsey. Angela has done this race before and is an old pro, but this was Lyndsey's first time. She agreed that the hills are crazy-tough! (We live on the Palouse, we don't joke about the hills.) Having these two for extra encouragement was sure awesome.

For a Saturday morning in June, it was COLD! (Don't we all look frozen? Why I didn't grab a long-sleeved shirt, I don't know.) I think it was a whopping 42 degrees at the beginning of the race and it rained off and on the entire time. After the first running leg, I didn't feel shivering-cold anymore, but was never very comfortable.

I spent more time this year working on biking up steep gravel hills than I did working on running, so imagine my surprise when I discovered my running time was considerably faster than last year's, and my biking time was about the same. Overall, I was 5 minutes faster than last year. Let's see if I can improve another 5 minutes next year. 

 

Sometime during the biking leg of the race I got splashed with grease or oil or something and had a very attractive black streak on the right side of my neck and jawline. It makes me look tough, doesn't it? I'm sure all the other competitors were sooooo intimidated : )

Lana was my enthusiastic cheerleader and met me with hugs at the end of the race. Nora was hungry and met me with cries for food. Both were appreciated.