My First International Olympic Duathlon

7^th February 2016, I participated in my first Olympic Duathlon and started practicing for it. It’s a competition that is composed of running and biking. The format for a Duathlon is run-bike-run. It was 5 km run, 40 km cycling and 10 km run. I nailed it in 3 hrs. 15 min (approx.) I was very excited for this event. After long days of practice and strict Diet, I completed Olympic Duathlon within a committed time to myself. 

My favorite quote in life is – “The moment you stop accepting challenges, is the moment you stop moving forward. Keep Moving”. This is what keeps me moving in life. It was the motivation for me throughout this event. Getting up early in the morning for pedaling & running few miles, and then focus on work wasn’t easy as I thought would be. But after this event I got to know few things about me. I need to practice running and exercise regularly especially before an event like Duathlon/Triathlon.

The event started with Run: 5 Km. One loop outside of stadium went well. I started with good pace and finished a loop inside the stadium. Cycle: 40 Km. Four loops outside of stadium and finished in about 1 hour 20 minutes on my Mountain Bike. Run: 10 Km. After fast ride and run, I was bit tired, my throat dried up and I felt hungry. I wasted lot of time at first pit stop but at last I finished 10km run in a good time and last one loop inside the stadium. It was a well spent day with fellow athletes.

A big credit goes to organizer and volunteers who helped and motivated me during the event to complete it & Delhi Police to ensure that the traffic was moved off our lanes when we were there. At last, the moment of the day was receiving medal from Mrs. Deepa Malik, an Indian Athlete. She is a paraplegic. Whether it is swimming against the strong Yamuna current, or riding a special bike or even taking a shot at the Paralympic Games, she has done it all. She has won bronze medal in Women Javelin throw. She has got nominated in Limca book of records for her swimming records. She is an inspiration for me.

I want to try more events in my life and keep going because the day I stopped accepting challenges in my life is the day I stop moving forward. Thank you to event organizer Chiro Mitra, Sangeeta Saikia and team for organizing this event in a well-structured way and looking forward to you for more events.