Duathlon Divas

Over Labor Day Weekend Rene and I completed a Duathlon...run 3.2 miles, bike 12 miles, and then run another 3.2 miles. I was so proud of us. I needed a goal to work towards and it felt good finishing this thing a month before I turned 30. Almost like I was starting a new decade on the right foot!

The best part of the entire race process wasn't the race or the training though it was the chance to spend more time with my cousin. She has always been more of a best friend than a cousin. She is always there to support me, encourage me, and make me laugh! Throughout training I was the one with the big picture in mind..."come on, lets do this, it won't be that bad, we could crawl across the finish line for all I care". Rene on the other hand was there for the reality of the day to day, pushing me on with each mile and each pedal of the bike. I call her my Jillian and here is a direct quote while we were doing a practice run...Angela says "I heard J. Lo did a full triathlon 8 months after having her twins so we can definitely do this" Rene's response "hmmmm, okay, we really need to work on our breathing and lengthening our strides right now". If it wasn't for her pushing me I probably really would have had to crawl across the finish line! Thank you Rene!

Here is the stuff real cousins are made of...as we lined our bikes up with the rest of the racers there were only two bikes that weren't road racing bikes! She has a hybrid and I have a mountain bike. I knew it wouldn't compare to a road bike, but it was like pedalling through sand that had been coated with molasses. I was so far behind everyone during the bike portion. When I finished biking I thought for sure she would have been done with the entire race, but she was there waiting for me to finish together! Thank you for helping me to reach a goal Rene. You mean more to me that I could ever tell you!!!