Pigs have flown y'all!! Ever since I started this little blog 2 years ago, I have asked Garrett to do a guest post on one of his many races. The day is finally here ladies and gentlemen. I'm ecstatic to formally introduce my husband, Garrett on the blog {I guess you've seen his pictures but you never get to hear his point of view}: It's guest blogger time!! I guess it's appropriate that I contribute at some point to this amazing blog! I give all credit to Lauren, she does an excellent job blogging! I look forward to her blogs and updates just as much as our friends and family do.
It's that time of year again! Yes you guessed it, it's race season! No... that's not what you were thinking? Well here is my first race report of the Triathlon season.
For the past couple years I've dove head first into the world of triathlon. It's an exciting sport which can become very addictive! I had been running marathons and running races pretty much my whole life. I had always wanted to try a tri. And three years ago I finally took the plunge and decided a half ironman was a good starting point... Maybe I was crazy... Maybe I still am, but after my
first race I was hooked! I highly encourage anyone who is remotely interested in triathlon to give it a tri, and jump in!
RACE 1:
My good friend Mike and I were down in Fairview Oregon for the
Blue Lake Olympic Triathlon. Last year we did this race for the first time. It's a great course, the swim (.9 miles) is a large loop in the small lake. The lake temp was around 68ºF. Then an out and back bike (24 miles) along airport road which is extremely flat! And finally a nice trail run (6.2 miles). This is a great distance, I think, it's not too far and not too short, you can really let it rip on the bike, yet you have to know your limits, so you don't bonk!
{ETA by Lauren: bonk means hit the wall}We got to Portland Saturday afternoon, it was a great day! The weather was perfect, it was sunny with high clouds and about 80ºF, we couldn't have asked for better weather.... Little did we know that Sunday had a few surprises in store for us. We woke up Sunday Morning to the sound of our alarms and... the sound of rain outside crashing down on the tops of cars. I looked out the window to see nothing less then a downpour! My first thought was "man, I haven't see rain like this since I lived in Hilton Head." We got our stuff together and headed to the park for the race!
There was a slight change of plans for race day. They had to have all the participants park off sight, they did this because if all the racers parked on the lawn it would be a huge mud fest and cars would have been stuck all over the place! We parked, got our gear ready, and then stood in line for the shuttle bus (in the rain of course).
When we finally got to the transition area it was too late. Instead of cars making a huge mud fest, all the participants took care of it. All the grass areas were sloppy muddy messes, and most all sidewalks and walkways were puddles. At that point Mike and I realized there was no use fighting the inevitable. So we got ready to rock!
We had all our gear laid out, our bikes ready to ride after the swim, and everything seemed in order. As we were putting our wet suits on, I glanced at my watch and realized it was crunch time! We had less then a few minutes before the gun went off. We sprinted to the lake, saw that our age group was already treading water off shore waiting for the starting gun. Mike and I jumped a fence, sprinted the beach like we were rookies on Bay Watch, and we got to our group just a few seconds before the gun went off! For anyone interested in tri's, this is not an ideal way to begin any race.
Mike and I actually did pretty well on the swim, we both improved our times from last year and came out of the water top 10 in our age group! Mike was first out of the water and I was out shortly after him. By the time we got to the transition area to get geared up for the bike, all of our nicely laid out shoes, socks, etc. were completely soaked and muddy. I said heck with the socks and took off!
The bike was good. I think I had a bit left in the tank. Mike and I have decided that we have definitely out grown our bikes. I've done some very technical calculations and I've concluded that we can only average around 20 to 22 mph on the bikes we are currently riding. So technically our bikes are what's holding us back.. Believe me, it's science! So if you would like to make a donation to the Mike and Garrett Bike Fund, please be our guest!
After the bike I was able to make up a bit of time on Mike, he was just leaving the transition area for the run as I was getting there. Keep in mind it's been raining cats and dogs on us this whole time. I don't think it ever really stopped rain. As I was jogging out of the transition area I had a critical decision to make and I only had a split second to make it. Should I A) give chase to Mike and try and keep with him? Or should I B) listen to natures calling and make a pit stop for the port-o-potties? I went with option B. After my needed break it was back on the trail. The road was good, as were the mighty puddles we sloshed through, jumped over, and tip toed around.
In the end Mike and I both set new PR's and had a blast!
{ETA by Lauren: AND GOT TOP 10 IN THEIR AGE DIVISION!!!} Blue Lake is a great race, well organized, and a perfect kick off race of the season!
Mike commented after it all that we now know what Woodstock was like minus the LSD and free love, MUD FEST 2010! Can't wait for next year race!
Disclosure: As a guest blogger I may have got a little long winded, but get me going on triathlon, running, swimming, you name it and I could go on forever! Thanks for reading! G
Thanks for guest blogging hun! Three cheers for Garrett doing a great job.. Hip Hip Hooray! Maybe I can convince him to do a garden guest post?!
