I Duathlon Cross La Roda de Andalucía

Today was La Roda's and my first duathlon! :) A duathlon is bike and running. This one started with a 5k run, then 20k on the bike, and ended with 2.5k running. Pretty complete, eh? I wasn't really too nervous for it until last night when my friend Nuria told me she'd be talking to one of the organizers and he told her about the killer hill on the course--"what!?!"

The cycling club in La Roda is called "La Vinkecuesta" which, roughly translated means, "Damn!WhatAHill". Apparently, the bike route included their namesake. It was quite a hill, let me tell you. After a long gradual upgrade the course just shot upwards. Those of you who came to my wedding can think of the walk up to the ermita; Portolans, think behind the high school; and the rest of you just think STEEP! If I remember right, they told me that the steepest part was one kilometer... it felt like at least two, to me! I rode a little ways up, but when I saw how long it was and saw that everyone was walking their bikes up it I decided to get off and walk, too.

Luckily, the hill was shaded because it was in the 90's yesterday! (...does October mean anything to anyone???) It was brutally hot when we started the race at 11am and only got hotter as the day went on. I thought Fall was here...looks like we'll have to wait a bit more for real autumn weather.

...But back to the race: I ran the first 5k in 22:55...not bad since I really wasn't going all out considering what I had still ahead of me. Then it was off on the bike. I had ridden most of the course before on my explorations through the olive groves, but I'd never been up that crazy hill, which turned out to be beautiful. Undoubtedly, I could have enjoyed the scenery much more if my tongue hadn't been dragging on the ground, but all the same the little pine forest was a welcome break from the sea of olives that surround us.

The best part of the race was getting to the top of the hill, by far--what goes up... It was all downhill to La Roda. I sped back to town, dropped my bike and realized that my legs were much more tired than I thought they were! Those last 2.5k were killer. I think I was jogging, but it was all I could do not to fall on my face my legs were so wobbly! I guess after about 500 meters or so I looked more like an athlete and less like a drunkard stumbling along, and actually I passed three people running (two in the home stretch). So I must have been doing something right.

It felt great to cross the finish line, let me tell you! A woman from out of town who had come with her husband's cycling club saw me finish and couldn't help saying, "Great race! I admire you for what you've just done." That felt pretty good. And the truth is it's pretty fun to participate in these races at home--now when I run people know why. I'm not just the crazy American; I'm the crazy, fast American! ;)

It certainly was an experience...and perhaps I'll sign up for more duathlons once we figure out how to put the bike rack on the car.