The Great Evansville Duathlon: Not DNF, not DFL

First things first, thanks big bunches to my sons Nick and Lucas who came and took pictures of us and cheered us on. Even though they took pictures of my butt bent over tying my shoe in transition. Even though they refused to give me a cowbell fix. Especially because they got their cracks out the sack at 5:30 and didn't whine about it much. Also big thanks to my sister and nephew for cheering me on and taking some pictures that I hope are of something besides my butt.

Secondly, for my mother who will ask (and anyone else who was wondering):

DNF: did not finish

DFL: Dead Flipping Last (or insert your F word of choice)

We were up early today (5 bells) getting ready for a 7 am race. the sky was iffy and Mike watched the Weather Channel for like an hour, wringing his hands about the rain. I said nothing but apparently he thought I gave him "a look." He then says "Well, I know you would have no problem running in a tornado, but that's not fun for me." After that, I WAS good and ready to run in the rain even though I hadn't been really feeling it yet.
Got in the car and arrived at the park by 6:20. There was lightning to our north and we basically drove into the darkest area in sight. We got unpacked and set up in transition and waited under the pavilion while it started raining. By the way, all the racers and spectators fit under the pavilion awning, all 52 or so of us. It was a small group. Pretty much everyone but us looked like hardcore elite triathlon folks. I prepared myself to be dead last and race against myself. The transition area was kind of funny - there was maybe 10 bike racks and was roughly the size of my master bedroom, especially compared to my only other experience in Appleton.

We took off as a group in a light rain. I opted to keep my water resistant high-vis jacket on to keep as dry as possible. Before long everyone was out in front of me. And by everyone, I mean EVERY ONE . ..... . DFL. Not too far ahead of me was a girl about my size, running a little faster than me. I decided she was my goal pace to beat. I followed her pretty close for a while, then she was out of sight. The run was flat and pretty easy and the rain stopped about midway through. I got to transition and changed out quickly. I was the only bike left. Bummer.

Taking off on the bike, there was a girl who came back because she forgot her helmet. Sweet - I was ahead of her, one down. The ride was as I expected from the pre-ride. The road was wet so I was extra cautious, especially because I had never ridden on the new tires so was unsure if handling would change. The downhills were all very technical with hairpin turns at the bottom of downhills, so I didn't make up a lot of time on them. I was able to pass 6 people, surprisingly most of them on the uphills. I had been able to plan for my hills wisely, unlike a few people apparently.

The only unexpected part of the ride was when we got to Magnolia Bluff Park. We had only ridden in and turned around in the first parking lot. The route went farther in, or rather up. And up. And around. And up some more. It was tougher than the other two big hills combined. Super bummer but I lived through it.

The ride back was smooth sailing. I got back to transition and changed out quickly. I was no longer the only person there and there were people behind me. One guy was in the process of turning in his chip - he quit before running the last leg, not sure why.

I saw my sister and her kids as I ran out of the park and yelled "I'm not last!!!" in case she didn't know it. I took off on my last run ahead of my goal pace girl. About 1 1/2 miles in she came up beside me, said hi, and got ahead of me. CRAP! I passed her at the water stop and she passed me right back. I stayed on her heels until the last half mile. Not sure why, but she slowed down to a power walk and I was able to gain a pretty significant amount of distance on her. As I neared the park and the ultimate finish, I kept looking over my shoulder for her - not sure why because I had no gas left in the tank to race her if she was there.

As I got to the finish, Lucas came over and ran me in the last 50 yards or so. That was cool, but sadly there was no cowbell. Oh well. Michele and the gang were there for the last run and everyone was waiting at the finish. Jeff was bruised and bloody. He had a wipeout at a corner and has a mean road rash on his arm and leg and he hit his head so hard it broke his helmet - OUCH! He put a hole in his Balegas too, big bummer there. Still, he beat me to the finish by 34 minutes despite being a battered bloody mess. Now that's tough - mental and physical. I am super impressed with that. Mike did a great job too. I know this was not his favorite race adn he stuck it out and did really, really great. I'll let him tell his own story.

I got an awards certificate for 3rd in my age group. It's more impressive if you don't know that there were only 3 people IN my age group, but it's not like anybody was really buying my "I'm a ball of racing fire" stories anyhow. They did not list us as Athenas or Clydes, but since there were no registered Athenas, I will also credit myself with a first place Athena award. Hey, if I keep rationalizing this thing, I may ending up winning the whole darn race................ :-)

I had fun, it stopped raining for most of the race, and my kids got to see me work hard at something. Good day for me overall. And yes I did beat my pace goal girl. Yeah me.

My Garmin data can be seen here.

Final results from onlineresults.com:

date: Jun 2nd, 2007
location: Evansville, WI
Summary
number of finishers:52
number of females:14
number of males:38
average time:02:07:47

Jenny Wimmer
bib number: 30
age: 37
gender: F
location: Janesville, WI
overall place: 47 out of 52
division place: 3 out of 3
gender place: 10 out of 14
time: 2:32:07
run 1: 35:35
trans 1: 1:32
bike: 1:15:16
trans 2: 1:28
run 2: 38:17