350, and duathalon news

This is my 350th post, which I feel should be special, but it's not likely.

Instead, I will express my deepest gratitude when we discovered that the scheduled duathalon on Sunday can be done relay-style. I haven't felt that joyous inside for a long time.

You see, I'd been training pretty diligently, still wasn't up to running 2 miles, and feeling like I wanted to back out, but couldn't because I've already written two columns about racing, and committed to a bunch of people.

Uh-huh, pride.

And this morning I was stressing out because I still didn't have a bike, I haven't ridden a bike in YEARS, the guy at the bike shop made it sound so incredibly complicated, I realized I needed a helmet too, and it was all kind of expensive. I told my friend Emily, who's doing the whole thing with us, that it wasn't the physical part that worried me, it was the logistics.

I would be the one who'd be worried about where to park the bike I didn't have over if my legs could carry me the last 1.6 miles.

Organizational freak.

So Lauren and I were discussing how we still didn't have a bike (as we have been for the past two weeks) when our office lady said she has a brand new road bike we could borrow. Lauren looked at each other like, "Haven't we been discussing this for two weeks?" but we graciously accepted. I'm picking up the bike tomorrow and will begin practicing.

The plan is for Lauren to run the first 1.6 miles, I'll bike the 10, and Lauren will finish up with the 1.6. She was worried about the biking, I was worried about the running, so it's a good deal.

I think.

Like I said, I haven't been on a bike in way too long.

I'm a little worried that this lowers my coolness factor among the ranks. I won't be a full duathlete. BUT, as Lauren pointed out numerous times today, we both still get our own goodie bags, which comes with a t-shirt and massage. And maybe a commemorative cup.

So. To summarize, I'm doing this for myself and for all the other women out there who've never done this before, but somehow think in 4 days, they can be ready for a 10-mile bike ride.

We soooooo got this.