The New Champion

We’re pleased to have guest poster, Daniela Ginta supplying today.  Daniela competed in her first ever duathlon this past weekend and as you’ll see in her fantastic description below…it was the experience of a lifetime.  Congratulations on your accomplishment, Daniela and thanks for today’s great post.

If you’ve been thinking of competing for the first time, you’ve got to check this out.

What a thrill! The race. My first duathlon! I always thought I am not really one of those people. They train in a special way, they do things a special way… well, you know what I mean. I really admired them, but always had a nagging oh-so-rational thought at the back of mind “What’s the point? It’s just too exhausting…”. That until a good friend tempted me with this one. So I signed up. And the day was today! I woke up in the morning feeling excited and a bit scared, and realized pretty soon that I did not need any caffeine for that extra morning boost. Big adrenaline rush was just about to flow freely through my veins. And it sure did!

The 5K run went as smooth as a first run of the day along some nice shady roads could go. My legs were not anticipating the pain I was about to put them through. Transition to biking was great, I never really had a problem with that during training. And I really looked forward to hopping on my bike too. The biking part was by far the most exciting: people on fast bikes flying around me, marshals directing traffic and yelling – some just traffic directions, others encouraging words too, and my oh my what a great impact those can have when uttered at the right moment, then my ride back to the transition area feeling exhausted but so happy to have done the 20K relatively fast and still feel my legs.
Why so happy, you ask? First of all, I am not riding one of those wow bikes. I have a good, solid, yet fast hybrid, which so far has served me well. So far. And second of all, riding uphill with the wind in my face was just not easy.
But, I have to say, seeing all the nice bikes was intimidating. And yes, it made me think down the road too – no pun intended. I love my bike just the same, even more after today, but I am dreaming of a nice racing bike too. In time for the next duathlon, I’m thinking…

The second transition to running was tough. My legs felt like they belonged to someone else – I’m quite sure they wished they did at that point. Maybe less so after the first kilometer or so, when endorphins did their part. I won’t lie to you. It was tough here and there. You know, the story about the muscles you didn’t know you had… it felt like that occasionally. But there I was, doing the very thing I wanted to do and my only thought was “I could do this”. Way in the distance I saw my boys and my husband cheering and looking all excited. That moment alone, with the adrenaline rush from the race, from seeing myself at the finish line and from my boys’ large smiles, I have to say, changed me. I did not care about the timing, the one big thought going through my mind was “I did it!”. One small event for the rest of the world, one big empowering step for me. The only caveat: I’m addicted now. And yes, I don’t think I’ll ever let go of my lucky green running jacket. Well, not for a while anyway…

Daniela Ginta has her own blog, Think of Clouds.  It’s not a cycling blog, but worth checking out.

Tags: duathlon, race