Kayakalon

This past weekend was the 2008 Race for the River Kayakalon in Washington NC. Since I just happen to have a future sister with a house down the road from this event and a future, past, and present brother that is all about triathlon, I signed up to race on a relay team. I was joined by father Puryear and several of the Ritters for this event, so we ended up with three teams total. If you are wondering what exactly a kayakalon is, it is just a triathlon but instead of swimming you kayak.

The day started bright and early so we would have enough time to load up the kayaks, eat some breakfast, and get to the race with time to set up. My team, the Lanky Lady Legs, had already decided to wear green for our team colors, which was a perfect opportunity to show off my new jersey that I got last week. My team was made up of E.A.'s mother Ann kayaking 1.5 miles, myself biking 15 miles, and ending with E.A.'s sister Cori running 3.2 miles. The other teams were E.A. (kayak) and Ethan (bike+run) on one team with the other team consisting of E.A.'s dad Bull (kayak), our dad (bike), and friend of the Ritter's Lauren (run).

The Group.

Once the kayaks were launched and the race had started, the Puryears headed over to the transition area to set up our bikes. We found some spots to rack the bikes and Ethan and I took a quick jog around the parking lot to stretch the legs. After a short wait, the kayakers started to show up so we could head out on the bike. E.A. was the first to arrive which sent Ethan on his way, followed shortly by the other paddlers just a few minutes after. I was the last of our group to leave and one of the last few cyclists in the race to get started. Fortunately, this meant that all of the cyclists that were anywhere close to me in the race were slower than me, so it wasn't that difficult to catch and pass them. My main goal for the race was to keep up with Ethan, which I knew would be difficult since he has been training for months while I have done nothing. Being in Eastern NC, the course was perfectly flat and very fast. I tried to keep my pace in the 22-23 mph range but dipped down into the upper teens during some of the windy stretches. I was able to pass Dad about 3.5 miles in and thought I would open up a really big gap on him, but after the turn around spot I saw that he was only about a mile behind me. I did a good job of pacing myself and maintaining a good steady pace that I thought would challenge Ethan's time, even though he had the advantage of aero bars and I just rode in the drops. Once I arrived back at the transition area I realized that our bright and early start may have been a little too early for some since my runner was asleep in the grass. After waking up and taking the team bracelet from me, my part was done. I ended up finishing the ~15.5 mile course in 42:30 or so for an average speed of 21.4 mph. Although I didn't quite keep up with Ethan I wasn't too far behind, he finished in 41 minutes. Dad came in a little while longer with a time of 56 minutes and a 16+mph average, much faster than his normal rides. This was a super fun event and I am already ready to go for next year, or maybe another similar event this year. Hopefully we can get another good group together for the 2009 race. An extra big thanks to the Ritters for hosting us this weekend and to E.A. for the photos.

Ethan.

Me.


Dad.


Me lecturing Cori on how to be prepared...

And then crying by myself in the corner.


The Puryears.