Can't have a more Texas-y race name than the Howdy Du :) This was the second duathlon in the Central Texas Du series, and it took place way up north of Austin in Georgetown. It was in a really nice new park, called Berry Springs. Lots of big shady trees, and a couple noisy donkeys for local color.
Since the race was so far north, and started at 7:15, we had to be up at 5 to get there. Eeek. Suellen was quite the trooper, and went with me to cheer and help out in the Austin Duathletes tent during the race.
The weather actually cooperated pretty well- it was humid, but only in the low 70's by the time we got to the park. After getting parked and set up in transition, we said hi to lots of folks we knew who were volunteering or cheering - Tim & Carri, Shorey, Michelle, Brianna, Tim H, and a bunch of others. It was neat to also see several other women who did the first race of the series- you get to know some new faces when you're all at a race together each month.
This race was a standard run/bike/run, no wacky double like the Dad's Du. It was a little shorter, 3 mile run, 17 mile bike, 3 mile run. The run was on every kind of surface possible, through the park- paved walkway, gravel, wooden boardwalk, grass, wood chip, and dirt. It made for an interesting run! The bike was out through the countryside, with a stretch along I-35 on the frontage road. Suellen and I had driven the bike course the day before, and it didn't look too hard, but looks were definitely deceiving!
They were going to start the race in two waves, and I figured they would do men first then women. But then they announced it would be men & women under 39 first, then 40+ in the second wave. Ick, that makes it really hard to race. Since most of the fast women would get a 3 minute head start on us more mature folks, it would be very hard to know where you were in the overall standings. I just had to stick to my race plan and run my own race.
I did a warmup run with Shorey, we did one loop of the run course (1.5 miles around). Even with the varying terrain it was a nice run, with a good amount of shade. After the warmup we got back to the start and wished each other good luck (Shorey was going in the first wave).
3 minutes after the first wave, our wave was off. I settled into a comfortable 7:15 pace. I wasn't even going to look at mile splits, instead just gauging my pace with my Garmin for the whole 3 miles. As usual, a couple women took off at a blazing pace. It's still hard to be patient and hold back, but I knew it would help in the end. So I tried to enjoy the run, drink plenty of water, and keep steady. Around the first loop I saw Suellen and the rest of the Austin Duathlete folks, and gave them a wave. The second loop went by quickly, and I headed into transition to get on the bike. My first run as 21:35, a 7:12 pace, a little quicker than I expected but I felt good.
No incidents in transition this time, and after maneuvering through a crowd of people at the bike start I got on the bike. We had a short climb out of the park, then some nice smooth roads along the tollway and I-35. The bike course was two loops of 8.5 miles, and I told myself to hold back a bit until the second loop. I did pick it up on that smooth stretch though :) Once we turned away from the interstate the road got bumpy and the hills started. I thought to myself "this didn't look so hilly in the car!". It never does :)
I was passing quite a few people, and averaging a good 20.5 mph by the end of the first loop. I'd passed Meg, who I trained with for Boston last year, and figured she was pretty close to the front of the first wave of women, since she's a really fast runner. So I knew I'd made up a lot of the 3 minute headstart from the first wave by then.
As we started the second loop, we had the climb out of the park again, and back onto the smooth roads. This is where I really wanted to start pushing, and I hammered pretty hard until we got back on the bumpy road. With about two miles to go, I passed Mandy, the woman who was leading the earlier wave. I knew she was faster than me on the run, so I really wanted to get as big a lead as I could (even though I knew I was 3 minutes ahead at the time). I hammered all the way to the park, and jumped off my bike (no crazy shoeless dismount this time!). My bike time was the fastest of all the women by over a minute, with about a 21.5 mph average!
Just one run to go, and if I could hold my lead I thought I'd be first woman. But with the two waves it was hard to tell. I wanted to try to hit the same 7:15 pace goal I had on the first run, and started out a little slow. But here came Mandy, passing me and cruising along. I knew I had to stay within 3 minutes of her. So I just tried to keep her in sight as long as I could.
The first loop was done, and now down to the last mile and a half. With cheers from Suellen, Panther and the rest of the crew, I dug deep and began to pick up the pace. Luckily a few guys running a bit faster pace than me came by, and I latched on to them a while. I could still see Mandy in the distance, so I figured she couldn't be more than a minute or two ahead.
Coming in to the last quarter mile we ran back onto a paved path, which felt great after the random gravel, wood chips, and grass. I kept pushing, and with a tenth of a mile to go, just when I saw the Austin Duathletes tent, I kicked with everything I had. I'd had a really good second run, 30 seconds faster than the first, a 7:02 pace. My final time was 1:31:18. Now the question was, did I stay close enough to the first wave women to be ahead? I checked the results and found I'd only lost about a minute and a half to Mandy on the second run, so I'd managed to hold her off and finish first overall woman!
After the race we hung around and cheered the other racers in, had some breakfast tacos, and just enjoyed the shady park. It was a very nice way to spend a morning.
Here are Shorey & I in our matching Austin Duathletes tops, before the race:
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