I completed the duathlon! I can hardly believe that I managed to do it! 6 months ago it was a struggle to the letterbox and back. My foot injuries have left me with pain in my left foot all the time, although its not as intense as it used to be. I don't think my foot will ever fully recover, it doesn't have the flexibility of the other less injured foot (fancy breaking both feet - I don't do things by halves!). So walking has not been easy for me. The bike riding, however, once I got used to it on my new bike, has been a lot easier to cope with. (I love my new bike BTW - I've called her Audrey).
I had a lot of people passing me in the event and I began to think I would be last, but I made up a bit of time in the cycling section. I don't have the official times yet, but my trusty pal and best buddy timed me and said it was about 45 mins for the 10km bike ride. The last stretch of walking (1 and a half km) was hard as my feet were protesting that they had done enough. But getting across that finish line with everyone cheering me on was just awesome. I felt like blubbering. The happiness was exhilarating. There were a lot of other biggish women and I didn't feel so self conscious. I also had 2 very lovely friends who were competing and that was great. They finished and then doubled back to keep me company on that last arduous stretch to the finish line.
It was a very supportive and 'feel good' event, not so much a competition but more the joy of completing the course being the main motivation. Big ups to the organisers and I'll put a link to the website in case anyone is interested in the events. Real Duathlon website. This was the last one for this season, and I want to do next year so I will work towards that over winter. (Yes winter is coming to the lower hemisphere all you northerners!)
Gotta go and rest now.
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