Second race on Ex-Girlfriend

Second race on Ex-Girlfriend was the Eads Bridge Dualathon. The event was a 1.5 mile run across the Eads Bridge, then 10 miles bike, mostly along N Broadway, then 1.5 miles run back across the Eads Bridge.

I was mostly excited to run across the Eads Bridge, and the city had blocked the whole thing off just for us!

I wore bib #227, and I placed 4th in my age group and 15th or 16th overall female.

I wasn't too prepared for it, in that I didn't do anything special, just my normal workout routine. The morning was chilly and rainy. When we started the run at 9am, the clouds looked like they might start to clear, but instead it started to rain. I felt really good starting out. Just kept calm and stuck with my own pace. I did the first 1.5 miles in 13:22, which was just under a 9 minute mile pace. Rather slow, but the Eads Bridge is actually quiet an incline heading back to the Missouri side from the Illinois side.

It rained the whole time on the bike, which didn't bother me too much, but I was on my skinny racing bike tires. I averaged 16.9 miles per hour on the bike, which I was surpirsed I was that slow when I checked the results. I pedal on the levee in a 42 mile loop in two hours. I'm chalking it up to the rain. I'm glad I wore my windbreaker and racing gloves. I stayed warm and dry under my outer layer. My split on the bike was 35:26.

The final 1.5 miles run was challenging. Going from pedaling to running is such a change of motion and muscles utilized and is very weird. Also, the bike transition area was down on the waterfront, so we also had to run UPHILL to get to the bridge, then run UPHILL once we got to the turnaround in Illinois. I actually walked up the first hill. At first I was running, taking small steps, but I felt like I wasn't making much progress for how tired I was, so I walked. Long strides and caught my breath. Maybe for about 60-90 seconds. When I got the bridge and the terrain was more level, I started to run again, but I was very tired! My second run split was 15:21, which added to my transition times puts my total time at 1;05:53.

Going in, I wanted to have fun and enjoy the race. Goal was to not puke, wreck, or pass out. And goal was achieved!

I did gain some more insight into things I need to do differently. I know that I didn't drink enough water. It makes me feel sick when its sloshing around. Plus, since it wasn't too hot outside and was actually raining on this particular day, I didn't hydrate well.

I also only raced for just over 60 minutes, so I didn't take any bars because those are hard to digest and are more for longer races. I didn't take any GU or quick sugar supplements, which I'm sure would have been helpful. I did start to bonk the final bonk, and definitely did not have a strong kick at the end.

All in all, though, a positive experience. Like I said, I was looking to enjoy myself and was excited to run across the Eads Bridge.