Duathlon

I participated in my first duathlon yesterday hosted by the ironmen. It was a nice relaxed race. No pre-registration. No timing chips. Only about ~25 competitors.

I scanned the competition and put them into 3 groups: 14 year old boys, ironmen, grandmas. I figured I'd try to hang with the grandmas. In the end I came in 1st in the international division, of which I was the only competitor. I finished ahead of only 1 14 year old boy and 1 grandma.

The race was a bit different than what I had expected. It was advertised as 3K run, 15K bike, 5K run. It turns out it was 3K run uphill to the lookout point for Port Douglas, an 18K bike, and a 7K run down the beach.

It was an incredibly beautiful race. On the drive up to Port Douglas (about an hour north of Cairns), I saw the sunrise over the ocean. Running along the beach, although difficult, was also amazing, just palms to my left and ocean to my right. And truly there's no better way to finish a race, then to kick off your sneakers and run out into the surf.