White Sands Duathlon
Las Cruces, New Mexico
February 9, 2008
By Brooke Harris
I wanted to give you all a race report from
my first race of the year, as well as my first-ever
multi-sport event. This weekend I raced in the
White Sands Duathlon, held at the White Sands
Missile Range near Las Cruces, New Mexico. It
is a race in the Southwest Triathlon Racing
Series, the oldest series of multi-sport racing
events in the US. The race had a wide range
of age and ability categories, and there were
some strong early-season racers to contend with.
Racers from El Paso and western Texas, Albuquerque,
and southern New Mexico participated in the
event. The race consisted of a 5K run on a rough
dirt road with some sandy sections, followed
by a 30K bike on nice paved military base roads:
flat to rolling terrain. and some crosswinds.
I
got in to a steady rhythm on the run, since
I had no previous experience running and biking
together in a race. I was the top female finisher
on the run, and in the top ten of the men. I
definitely held back on the run to save some
for the bike. When I hopped on the bike, I felt
at home, since that is what I have been doing
for the last several years! I started flying
on my gorgeous new time trial rig, and started
reeling guys in. I ended up finishing first
overall for the women, and third overall. Only
two guys placed ahead of me. Not bad for my
first multi-sport event!
I learned a lot about how to pace myself in
multi-sport events and will make a few changes
next time. But I think I am off to a strong
start to the season, considering I am just now
starting my more intense training. This race
was my first intense cycling workout so far.
So things will only go up from here in both
my running and cycling fitness.
The multi-sport crowd was very friendly at the
race. I had a handful of guys approach me after
the race, asking me who I was, since they had
just been "girled." I found out this
means a girl put it to them in the race, and
left them in the dust:-). I also had a few people
after the race ask about my Fuji Aloha CF1,
and want to know what I thought of it. Of course
I could honestly answer that it is a great,
fast bike!
I
got in to a steady rhythm on the run, since
I had no previous experience running and biking
together in a race. I was the top female finisher
on the run, and in the top ten of the men. I
definitely held back on the run to save some
for the bike. When I hopped on the bike, I felt
at home, since that is what I have been doing
for the last several years! I started flying
on my gorgeous new time trial rig, and started
reeling guys in. I ended up finishing first
overall for the women, and third overall. Only
two guys placed ahead of me. Not bad for my
first multi-sport event!
