COVER
She had to du-it! Dawn Hagaman wanted to race a duathlon — and she did!
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awn Hagaman, 50, of Charlotte, recently checked off a big to-do item on her list: her first duathlon. Taking on the Tri Greenville Triathlon and Duathlon, in Greenville, meant training runs and rides, new equipment, a modified diet and plenty more. Hagaman, who is an attorney and senior claim specialist with a medical malpractice insurance carrier, gave Healthy & Fit Magazine an interview about her experience. Here it is: How long did you train for your first duathlon? I signed up in early March (the race occurred June 5). Initially, I had just been running 5Ks every Sunday as part of a challenge a friend had asked me to join to kick off 2021. I gradually started running at least two to three days a week so that I wouldn’t die each Sunday. Another friend saw my accountability posts on social media, noticed how my times improved and asked me to team up with her to try our first duathlon together. I don’t think I started practicing the bike until April. I actually had an old granny bike that was way too heavy and had to make a purchase in order to totally commit to fulfilling my promise. What was the worst and best part about training? The worst part of training was training in sleet, hail, rain, etc. As you know, springtime in Michigan is like a box of chocolates. I have two “bests” from training: (1) seeing my run time and bike times improve with each practice, give or take a few; and, (2) while I did some of my training alone, I really enjoyed spending time with my friend outdoors doing something healthy and working towards a common goal. How was the duathlon? I did finish the duathlon crossing the finish line together with my partner, but our time was at the bottom of the duathlon finishers. We did pass a lot of triathlon folks (understandably, as that was a longer race and we had no idea where we were compared to those who started with us). We vowed to
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stay together as “the half-pint posse” (that was our team name), with no half-pint being left behind. My partner is an amazing biker. She decided that, to save on transition time, she would do what I was doing and wear the same shoes. In order for her to do so, she wanted to put toe clips on her bike. We did that the night before the race in the hotel parking lot. We did not,
however, have the best tools. In fact, we had to use a flashlight as a hammer to pry her old pedals off, and I think we even used nail clippers. We managed to get the new clips on, but neglected to test them. I highly recommend packing tools and testing equipment Contnued on page 20
