Duathlethon Time Challenge

Everyday presents a new challenge. Today Hubs and I wandered into the shop where we purchased my road bike last summer, Trysport, in Hubs hometown of Parry Sound, Ontario. Because Hubs always loves a hometown plug, I would be in the doghouse if I also didn't mention that Parry Sound is also the birthplace of hockey legend (OK Hubs: err I mean the greatest hockey player that ever lived) Bobby Orr. Exhibit 1:

Parry Sound is also in the heart of cottage country in Southern Ontario, an area commonly referred to as the Muskokas. It is really breathtakingly beautiful, and several celebrities such as Martin Short, Tom Selleck, Tom Hanks, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell all own "cottages" here. Exhibit 2:

OK, enough with the preamble, back to the bike store. On Wednesday Hubs and I went for a leisurely 19K bike ride. It was a nice switch from running, and the scenery was stupendous. It felt good to be actually riding my bike. Confession time people: I have barely road my bike since I dumped a large chunk of cash on it last summer. In fact Wednesday was my first ride of the season . Today (Thursday) Hubs and I went in to the store to say hello to the owner, Dave, who sold me the bike last year and to find out about running events in the area. Not knowing the lack of my riding, Dave invited us to come out for a time trail later that evening with his local triathlon team, the Nachos or Nachoaverage triathlon team. Not wanting to confess our lack of riding, Hubs and I agree to participate.

Hubs and I arrive, and try to appear cool and calm. Hubs was sporting his $150 -10-year-old mountain bike. I was fully decked out, but I had to pretend I knew what the equipment was for! I became nervous when Dave mounted a real race time clock on top of his truck as the official timer. They meant business. The team began warming up, and Hubs and I meekly followed suit.

It turned out to be a lot of fun! The 13.1 km bike was first. Each biker would start at a one minute apart interval. Hubs started first and then me since we were the newbies. I finished in a respectable 27 minutes, 10 seconds. Not bad for my second ride of the season. I felt like I had coughed out my left lung though. I never did catch Hubs, Can tire bike and all, he finished fast, despite his handicap.

We waited until all participants were back for the 3k trial run. 3K, piece of cake, I thought. I took off and realized how hollow my legs were from the bike. I felt like I was trudging along. I finished in a respectable time of 14 minutes, 30 seconds. Not bad when you factor in that I nearly killed myself of the bike. I have new found respect for these triathletes.

Afterwards we were invited to join the group for beer, but Hubs' sister was treating us to dinner to celebrate our anniversary, so we had to decline. What a great group of athletes! Lesson: Its always fun to try new things, don't be afraid of failing. Have a great day, and thanks for reading!