Ladies Du - Fayetteville

Good Morning! The race started at 8am and check in was at 6:45am so we were up bright and early. Dad drove us there and Justin, Jake and the kids met up later. I saw them as I was coming in from the first run portion. 

Giving out the instructions and telling us where to enter and exit

All the ladies! 

Probably my fave picture. Look at me..all happy and excited. Now look at Mom. Beast mode.

Taking off!

I was so happy I finished under 1 hr 30 min! That was my goal. 

This was literally a dream come true for me. A dream I thought would forever be just that. A dream. Coming up on the one year mark where my life changed. 

This Ladies Duathlon was a 2 mile run/11 mile bike/2 mile run around Lake Fayetteville

We trained hard for this and knew what was in store. I think a lot of ladies went into this not realizing how tough it would be. The hills alone were insane. We reached bike speeds of 18-19 miles an hour but had to be aware of all the turns too. Mom came in 18th place in the bike portion and there were about 150 women competing. She is a little speedster! I came in 31st but really was only like a minute or two behind her. There were a lot of girls in front of me there at the end. Excuses..she kicks my butt on the bike. 

Running the first 2 miles was a breeze...I say that very lightly because it actually wasn't. Running 2 miles is not easy especially on the trails. The hill at the end was such a dirty bitch. And we faced it twice! But it was a breeze compared to running the last 2 miles, after an 11 mile bike. The last 2 miles were hard and although I knew my body was tough enough to get through it my mind was the part I had to control. Mind over matter. I've learned how much control you have to have over your mind. No sane person just keeps running when they are tired and sore. When your body is telling you to STOP, you have to tell your mind to keep going. In all things this is such a valuable lesson. I've sure learned a lot about myself this past year. What I'm actually capable of. It's an amazing feeling to feel strong and capable. Confident. All very new feelings for me. But it's great and I'm proud of us. This was the first ever Ladies Du and since they had such a great turn out I am sure they will do it again next year. 

Results: 

Lori - 51st place out of 159

1st Run - 21:12

T1 - 1:02

Bike - 39:29

T2 - 1:14

2nd Run - 24:22

Total - 1 hr 27 min 21 sec

Jessica - 49th out of 159

1st Run - 20:45

T1 - 1:26

Bike - 40:52

T2 - 0:55

2nd Run - 22:33

Total - 1 hr 26 min 31 sec

We can improve our run times for sure but not sure how we're gonna go faster on the bike. I felt like I was flying but I guess there's some room. We'll be back! 

Ladies du what ladies gotta du!