Hotter'n Hell 100 Endurance Ride

7:28:56

Pros:
The first 2/3rds of the water stops were packed full of good stuff. Tons of food, sports drinks, gels, fruit, it was amazing. And let me just say Thank you so much to whoever it was that sponsored the 50odd mile stop, Margarittaville was wonderful, they had sausages and more food than all the other stops afterward combined. I stayed there for probably 30 minutes. Had it not been there I would have given up.

The atmosphere was so cool. I've never had a ride where at every moment you are surrounded by people. At no time are you alone. There is always someone within sight.

Cons:
Last 1/3 of the water stops were not good. Either they were poorly stocked to begin with or it was all gone by the time we got there. That last stretch is where I really could have used some food and it was all gone.

Shirt is kinda lame, wishing I'd sprung for the jersey.

Some people I know had trouble with the timing chips.

Amy, me, and Alice waiting for the 6 AM start.

Personal:
I have to admit that was so much harder than I thought it would be. I hauled following a guy from San Antonio for the first 30 miles. He said his goal time was 5 hours, I knew I couldn't hang with him the whole time, but I thought I'd try. After I lost him, I found my friend Corey (yes, the one that ditched me when I crashed a few weeks ago). We rode most of the rest of the course together. In fact the whole crew I went with hopped, skipped and jumped each other after the 50ish mile stop. Corey moved on when I stopped for lunch, I had left my friends in the dust at the start. When I passed Hell's Gate just 30 minutes before they were to close it I was worried my friends weren't going to make it through. Imagine my surprise when not 10 more miles down the road I discover they'd passed me while I was hanging out at margarittaville. We all ended up finishing within 30 minutes of each other. My garmin shut itself off again so I don't know what my ride time was, but oh well. I'm proud that I finished. I heard someone say it may have been the hottest one yet, don't know about that, but I do know my cell phone battery in my jersey pocket got fried. So it was plenty hot.

I saw people crash. I saw people puking. I even saw a truck with trailer packed full of people giving up with only 10 miles to go!! I am incredibly proud I finished this. It's a must do on a recreational cyclist's bucket list.

Wee Chi Tah Mountain Bike Race, Hotter'n Hell Weekend

1:17
1st in my age group in cat 3.

And they're Off!

Cons:
WATER!! I thought the flier was a joke. It says "We will have water stops, but they will be in the wrong places" haha, that's funny. No, not really. There is only one water stop only a couple miles in, unmarked, around a corner, so I missed it. I did stop and steal a bystander's water, she consented, but seeing as I was already opening it to drink, she didn't have much choice. If you do this race, come well prepared because it might as well say no water stops.

The course was tricky. Most of it was not hard, but there are some bits you absolutely have to walk unless you're just kick ass awesome on the bike.

Pros:
Some great hazards: Highway to heaven, that was so cool! You're like 5-6 feet off the ground on a bridge that might be a foot and a half wide and there are no side. The course was great, I nice mix of easy and hard.

Definitely go ride this course sometime, it was a blast. However if you have trouble with narrow passages, this would not be the course for you. There were a couple spots where you had trees on one side and a good size drop on the other. Also some very steep descents. Did I mention we had to go up on an old cement foundation and come back down! This course is so much fun!!

Nice shirt. Nice medal. Fun people. Would definately do this one again, but next time I will have loads of water with me.



Personal:
Well, that was interesting. My first official mountain bike race. How'd I do? Well, here is what one guy said to me afterwards, "You did a great job keeping up with us.... there at the beginning..." Thanks a lot. I was very proud of myself in the beginning. There is a tight tree section which slowed me down and I'm sure frustrated those directly behind me.

My friends, Alice and Charlie, waiting oh so patiently for me to get back so we could go eat.

Picked it up again, but altered my line to let a guy pass at the worst possible moment. There was a hard right which sent me off the bike and dropped my chain. I had to stand there fumbling with it, while watching to see if anyone was coming down the incredibly narrow trail. I was standing in the trees on a slope, my bike on the trail and I had to pick it up to let people pass. ARGH! I had a hard time recovering after that, but I did have a good time.

I'm trying to spit out all the mud people were throwing up after the river crossing.

The water crossing was interesting. I'm glad the guy in front of me stopped to dismount, if he hadn't I probably would have tried to ride part of it which I wouldn't recommend. There were a couple of deep spots I could definitely envision someone biting it.

Spin Your Wheels

Course and Elevation for most of the 100 mile course.

Hundreds of bikes collecting as the sun comes up is a beautiful sight. I enjoy the excitement (and food), the talkative company (and food), and the funny jerseys.... oh and the food. This ride is the best fed and most supportive ride in the city. Police escorts, tons of SAG, extremely well stocked rest stops with everything a cyclist could ask for. Last year I couldn't find the people I was looking for before the start. This year I did.

Alice and Corey. Corey and I took off with the fast group determined to catch our friends that started an hour earlier. The escort cop cut off two miles and went straight down Route 66. I didn't care much I wanted to catch Amy. Corey and I decided we would forget to mention the short cut when we caught them :p We hauled for the first 6 miles then eased up, but even easing up we hit 25 miles at 1:15 in. For me that is ridiculously fast. We stopped at the 52? or however far turnaround.

I got a laugh out of the chamois butter smeared on the toilet seat... ewww! I was thinking, that will probably be the highlight of my blog today!! I'm sure I can come up with something funny to say about it, "I guess they wanted to share." I really enjoy the rest stops. Something about all the bikes and people just make me smile. I snapped this pick just before we left.... it would be the last time I smiled on this ride.

A mile from the rest stop, I was trying to get comfortable again. We had been at the rest stop for 15 minutes, which was too long. I was shaking out my legs, adjusting my shorts. My left hand was on the bar, but my front tire caught a small crag in the road, pulling it to the left and I couldn't regain control. Head first into the cement, but fortunately I had enough time to try and point my fall in the direction of the grass. I rolled off the road and was sitting in the grass at the end. I'm not sure how my feet got out of the clips. I added arrows so you can see it. The left arrow is where the helmet is split, as in I can pull the whole thing apart and see light in between. The arrow on the right shows the big dent. That grey line should be straight, in fact the dent is on the top middle and bottom of that side of the helmet you just can't see it well in the pic.

This is my dirty and ripped jersey. I think the only reason there isn't a huge hole is that I ended up on the grass. My knee is scraped, you could see the muscle when it was fresh, but it's just bright red now. My shoulder and elbow are scraped up. I have a big bruise on my inner thigh of one leg and a bruise on my haunch of the other leg. I can tell you right now I will be hurting in the morning.

Corey had ditched me in that mile (I told him I am no longer friends with him! I was just kidding Corey... mostly :p) It was on a downhill so there was only one guy directly behind me that saw it. He road up a little frantic and kept asking me if I was okay. I told him I was fine. I sat there for a minute and tried to decide if I had lied to him. A group of "cyclists" passed me after I had stood up and one made a snarky comment about my choice of places to stop... maybe I never want to be a true cyclist. I thanked the guy that stopped, took my bike, started to mount, to my surprise my handlebars and my wheel were not pointed the same direction. I dismounted and about that time Alice road up behind me. She helped me square my bars and helped me make it to the 32 mile rest stop... where I didn't get my clip out and pulled a dummy flop onto the gravel. Despite Alice's sound advice to stop and head back, I opted to go for the 100. My shoulder hurt, I couldn't turn my head all the way to the right, but I got some antiseptic at the rest stop and pushed on.

It sucked. The course beyond that is hilly, but I still wanted to catch Amy and at this point I wanted to catch Corey. Our friend Charlie helped nurse me along the rest of the ride, but my front derailleur wire came off at the top of the Cat 5 (or so I hear that's what it is) hill. I lost Charlie at that point. Then my garmin finally died. That is when I decided I was done. The pain killer Charlie had given me at the 42 mile rest stop was beginning to wear off. My lower back was speaking to me and the words were not kind. I was done. My first SAG. I tell you what though, if there ever was a ride to want to SAG in on, it would be this one. You cannot find a better t-shirt ride than this. It should be on everyone's list.

The bike is now in the shop, I have bought a new helmet and I'll let you know how my body feels in the morning.

Pros:
Pretty tshirt
FOOD! Lots of fruit, clif bars, shot bloks, peanuts, pickles, pickle juice, crackers, cookies, etc.
Tons of sag, you get passed by a sag car nearly every mile. It definately came in handy.
Volunteers, tons of volunteers asking what you need the moment you get in ear shot of the rest stop.
Police escorts. Countless cop cars, even more bike cops. Stopping traffic at most intesections, toward the end picking individual riders to escort through town.
An entire week to pick up your packet from 8 in the morning to like 6 in the evening.

Cons:
Hilly, hilly course. If you want it mostly flat do 52 or less. If you think you need a challenge, then by all means go for more. I don't think I'll attempt the 100 here ever again. The back end of the course is too much. Even if I hadn't crashed, it was a hard course. I am very happy that they changed the path up a bit from last year, it kept us out of downtown El Reno.

Lighthouse Sprint Triathlon

1:22:20
4 of 10 age group
15 of 64 females
500m S:10:15   T1: 0:48    13m B:41:40    T2: 0:28    5K R: 29:12
Bike Course and Elevation coming soon

Course:
Bike - Flat. It's around hefner, you don't get any flatter. You have to go up over the Hefner Parkway bridge, but other than that, it's like riding a trainer.
Run - Mostly flat. There was one very small hill. As for barefooters there was one spot with some gravel across the road. There was also a small stint of pretty course asphalt, but it probably wasn't more than a quarter of a mile.

Pros:
T-shirt.
I heard they let you practice swim for free for a couple weeks before the tri.
The course is flat.
There was plenty of water stops on the run! Yeah!
Hot dogs and burgers afterwards.

Cons:
Website information. You have to go to the calender on their website which only gives you the course map and the link to sign up. There is not enough information on the website or the signup site. No timeline for race day. I showed up at 5 and the guy had to make a phone call asking when transition would open. He then had to call again to ask when we asked about the start for practice swim.

No courtesy email reminding people about packet pickup. Everyone does this now. I guess I've gotten too used to the fun rides and runs picking up packet on race day. I forgot about it until a friend called me about an hour before it ended.

5 second swim start! Why? You'd have thought they'd have learned from last year and all the complaining, swimming head first into each other, and swearing off this race as a never again. I was lucky enough to have put in a far too fast swim time so I only had two people pass me and relatively little congestion. There was around 100 people fewer this year than last and I still heard about congestion problems in the pool.

This is not my photo, I stole it, but I was already on the course at this point and have no photos to show of me, so haha, if any of you are reading this and want me to take your pic off my blog let me know and I'll photoshop you out of it. Left to right, Kari, Christin, Terri, and Amy waiting for their swim to start.


Personal:
I knew this was not going to be a PR for me. I hadn't swam or run in two weeks, hadn't rode in a week. I didn't feel good going into it. I just wanted to have a good time. I saw a lot of familiar faces which is a great thing about the triathlon community around here. It made me sad this was probably the last tri for me this year! In the end I felt great during the whole thing, it was a great race for me. I had a great time and didn't hurt myself :) I felt absolutely awesome on the bike, good on the swim, and I was sub 30 on the run. Can't beat that for two weeks without running. I put it all out there and am extremely pleased. I think this may have been the first race I didn't wonder "Why am I doing this?" Maybe I have said that before, but I really did have a great time :) I enjoyed cheering on my friends. I probably would do this one again, but I will definitely put in a too fast swim time to avoid the backup :p

Duncan Dehydrator

2:48:02
8 out of 9 women
I did finish ahead of a few guys doing the same distance tho...
Course and Elevation

Let me start by saying I had friends doing the rides, they enjoyed it, had a great time. I didn't hear any complaints. They said the course wasn't that hilly, well supported, great time. Boy was I jealous...


DO NOT DO THIS RACE UNLESS YOU ARE A TRUE CYCLIST!.... or if you want your ass handed to you..... The riders are fast, it is hilly, and it is hot by the end. If anyone is keeping track, it should be obvious from my other posts, I don't take any of this that seriously, it was obvious I didn't belong here. With the exception of one very friendly newbie, who beat me by 28 minutes, the group was not exactly inviting.

Pros:
There was a waterstop at 10 miles that you pass 3 times, I felt like it was enough. There was also a med tent w/ water if you were desperate at the start/finish.
Jerseys for the winners, I don't know about quality since I sure didn't get close to one. The medals are cute with the little skeleton rider on it (I did get one of those since there were only two in my age group).
Food! Good food at the end, you just have to ride back to get it! There was a small spread at the race site with some stuff to refuel and a place to rest before heading back.
Showers, I've never had an event that offers a place to shower afterwards, really nice facility.

Cons:
There was a 5.5 mile ride to the start, which you also had to ride back after the race.
Some difficult hills, but one killer hill 10 miles into the loop. I saw a guy zig zaging it in my last lap. It was hard.
Okay, tri's and du's usually have a bike shop tent at the event to offer basic mechanical help before and after. There was nothing like that here. No one with the race/ride had a pump or anything to help. On rides I've done SAG usually has some basics to help, but this SAG was apparently around to only take you back.
Road hazards were well marked the last 3 miles, the other 11 miles were not!

Personal:
My goal was to finish in 2:30. I seriously believed I could avg somewhere in 17mph. My friend Amy and I drove the course before the start and I seriously considered changing to the ride. We got back barely in time for the ride out. I didn't want to huff it the not quite 6 miles to the race start, but I had to push a little to keep up with the group. The ride was looking more and more appealing. Then up rode Alice, she appeared at the moment I needed her to! I realized I was at the back of the group and had decided I might just watch the race start then go back and ride with my friends. Alice's small talk about all the men stopping to pee by the road helped me get my mind off the daunting task at hand. It was her first cycling race too. I wasn't the only first timer! I could do this!
The problem was I really couldn't, I was hoping I could keep up for most of the first lap at least until that killer hill at mile 10. I held in there for 4 miles, when the 65+ men showed up I got bumped out of line. Retrospect I should have kept pedaling and held my ground, by moving over and letting off to try and slide back behind the last guy I had already lost too much momentum to keep up, not that I would have made it to 10 miles anyway, but to have my confidence shot so early made the entire thing more difficult.
I could always see someone in the distance so at least I had someone to chase. I caught up with one guy half way through the second lap, we chatted for a minute about when we would be lapped by the guys doing 4 laps. Sure enough in the last two miles of the second lap, here they come swishing on by like I was standing still.
I dropped my chain on the decent leading to the hill up to the timing map. I coasted as far as I could trying to finagle it back, I got it, but then couldn't convince it to shift to granny gear so I still had to get off and fix it. I got to the timing mat and I'm not sure what got my attention, but I suddenly became very aware of my rear tire. It was definitely looking depressed. No.... you're just looking for an excuse to stop..... it's just your big rear weighing it down...... I can't get a flat.... I've never gotten a flat except in my driveway.... I can't have a flat....... I rode while my inner monologue continued. By the time I was 7 miles into the last lap I knew my tire was going flat if not flat already judging from the sound that developed. The more I thought about it.... Why bother getting off... I only have one cartridge. I've never used it before and I know I'll screw it up, which would just leave me to be sagged in. I've forced myself to continue each lap as much as I wanted to stop, I was not going to allow myself to be sagged in with only 7 miles to go.
Life was great when I crossed the finish, I headed straight for the watermelon I eyed going into the last lap. I didn't want to linger since my legs would just feel worse. I mounted my bike, looked down, sure enough my tire was flat. Silver lining, I got to sag back to the Simmons Center. Changed my tire, tried to use my cartridge and sure enough pierced it too early and wasted it. Good thing I didn't stop during the race to change it.

Norman Conquest, 42 miles

Course and Elevation Profile

This was a fun ride. Proceeds go to the children's developmental disability hospital in Norman. There was a HUGE crowd, we even started a bit late because they were trying to find parking for people. So if you choose to do this one, definitely get there early. Police escort for the ridiculously fast. There were quite a few cops out for traffic control. They weren't at every intersection, but there were quite a few and at the ones that were dearly needed.

I have to say, unfortunately, we got to see how well the emergency dispatch in Norman works. There were three wrecks. One due to a water truck wetting a road, another I missed, it happened behind me, and a third which was pretty severe around a sharp turn. The first wreck had a cop already on scene. We passed the ambulance and fire truck only a mile down the road flying in the direction of the bad wreck. So bravo to Norman for responding so quickly.

Okay, there is a reason it's called the Norman Conquest, Conquer the Hills and Conquer the Heat. There are hills, really, hills. You want to be ready for them or they will serve you your rear. I rode this course a couple times last fall and it's hard when you're starting out. Be prepared!

Rest stops were well placed. The bananas were kinda green unfortunately, but the oranges were good. Water, gatorade, no pickles though... I was kinda disappointed in that, most long rides have pickles.... They made up for it at the end. There was a wonderful spread of fantastic food, by far the best catered event I've been to.

I was going to do 68, but my buddy I was riding with decided she'd had enough so we cut it short. I'm glad I rode with her, I would have pushed and tried to see how fast I could do the 66 and probably been miserable at the end. This was a very enjoyable ride. I've ridden these hills before and whined the ears off a couple of my friends in the process. This time the hills didn't seem bad at all, I stayed in high gear for most of them. I guess Meers was good for me :) I do like the tshirt, it will be a comfy lounge around the house in the fall shirt. I will probably do this ride again.

Du Draper Twice On Road Duathlon

3:15:51.3   
14 of 17 females
1 of 2 age group
55:40.7    1:26.8  1:44:09.1    1:12.0    33:22.8
Course and Elevation Profile

Course:
Run, a bit deceptive.... it's not really hilly... but the slope going out of the marina is a tiny nasty little hill.... not sure if it's the gravel that made it feel that way, but it was an unpleasant little hill, other than that just a rolling course, not flat, but I wouldn't call it hilly. 5K course, two laps for the 10K. In case you didn't catch that a stretch of the course is gravel.

Bike, speaking of nasty little hills. There was one hill that was unpleasant on the bike. I'm a wimp what can I say? Don't get me wrong it wasn't awful, but I really do not like hills. Beyond that one hill though it was not bad at all, mostly flat... ish. I hate to say flat. If you are from around here flat is Hefner, which has I think a 3 foot elevation change. That is flat, but if you are not from around the city, then I'm sure this course would be considered flat, minus that one hill. One lap for the short course, two for the long.

Pros:
Plenty of water! Three water stops on the run, so you got to hit the water stops 8 times. There was one water stop for the bike too, which was nice. Very useful, especially on a day like this!
Run course was well marked, had no problems figuring out where to go.
Food! Lots of food at the finish!
First prize was a hat :) Very cool.
Ice baths! So wonderful, exactly what I needed at the end of this!

Cons:
Bike sticker.... you want me to stick that on my bike? Seriously? And then not even have anyone around to check it when I take my bike out of transition.... seriously? It was a name tag sticker, like you wear at some lame reunion. I have scrubbed my bike for 15 minutes and I still haven't gotten all the goo off it.... not happy....
The bike course could have used a marker to tell people to go south on post. I knew where to go, but the bike ahead of me paused for some time trying to make a decision where to go. On the second lap the cop car had moved into a position that pointed people in the right direction.

Personal:
I always feel better if I know people at the event. This was one of those lucky days. A few of the OCCC crew were there. A couple people I'd met the day before at the off road race were there. One in particular, had volunteered the day before and gave me grief about my vibrams, jokingly telling me I should wear some shoes (ha... ha....). In fact every time we passed each other during the 10K he kept telling me to put on some shoes.

My knee still hurt from the trail run the day before, I picked up a light weight knee brace the night before and wore it during the entire race. I also had some pain killers before, just in case. I told my husband that a DNF was possibly in my future. I wanted to do everything in my power to ensure that didn't happen.

I wore my vibrams thinking, if my runs turn into walks, the cement is going to get very hot. I am glad I did since part of the course was gravel, not small gravel either. Large rocks and lots of them, on a slope. That was the only time I walked in the 10K was up the gravel hill, wasn't worth possibly hurting myself. The 10K is a new PR for me by two minutes and on a harder course too. The knee ached a little in the beginning, but by the time I started my second lap it had stopped complaining. I realized in the second lap that I wasn't feeling sweat around my glasses like I always do. They are cheap sunglasses, I have to constantly wipe my face or they slide off due to all the sweat. I thought maybe the overcast and the water I'd been pouring all over me must be keeping the sweat at bay.

I took an extra bit of time in transition. I unvelcroed my vibrams which I didn't need to do. I fiddles with my bike shoes longer than necessary. I just needed a breather. Off I set, across the mount line, first shoe in... clatter, clunk, click, click... wtf? I pedal up the hill wondering what all that noise from my gears was about. As I get onto the main road, it became apparent. I couldn't shift to high gear... I begged and pleaded with her. I changed from high to low on the cassette, even reached down while riding trying to push the front derailleur over... cursed at her.... nothing worked. I finally jumped off and forced the chain up, but it slipped off a couple of miles down the road.... so there I am in granny gear..... trying so hard to catch any women I could cause since I finished the run next to last of women. I did catch some, but I found the entire bike leg to be frustrating, I know I could have averaged 18. I could have taken 15 minutes off. I know I could have, there were more than a few times I just topped out and I cursed and yelled at the damn bike. By the end of the second leg though I had made peace with it, until Glen passed me..... oh hell no.... that's not gonna fly..... new goal, forget passing women, pass Glen.

Nearly to the end of the bike, I missed the water stop, the guy was trying to help the runners and I wasn't going to stop while he came back to my side of the road. It's about then that I realize, I still don't feel sweat on my face. I reached a couple fingers into my helmet and felt a a bit damp, but definitely not the normal amount I'm used to. I started to freak out a bit, I knew that was a sign of something, maybe too much salt? I had been choosing the junk drinks instead of water today since I knew it was going to be really hot by the end.

I mentioned to a few people as I went out for the last leg that I didn't think I was sweating. One said I needed more water, I complied and asked her to pour 5 or 6 cups on me. Another sent EMSA after me, which was nice, they gave me a bottle of water, but I told them I was determined to finish this race. I did a lot of walking in the last 5K, it was hot, nearly everyone was walking.... but not Glen..... I still had a goal. I poured water all over myself and set out to catch him. At the turn around he told me he'd worked too hard to catch me on the bike, so I better not pass him. There was another woman behind me, I told her we needed to catch him! Team work, we needed to work together and go beat him! She tried, but she told me in the end she just couldn't find the strength in the heat to catch either of us. My friend Charlie rode up to check on me a few times, I told him I just wanted to catch up to Glen, I had to. He of course rode ahead and warned Glen I was coming :) In the last tenth of a mile I did it! On that sorry gravel road! I did it. He told me as I passed "I told you not to do that." My response - "What can I say you should have taken off those shoes."

Du Draper Twice, Off Road Trail Duathlon

2:13.47
4th of 12 females
1st out of 6 in my age group!! Woohoo!!
4kR: 27:49.4   T1: 1:10.6  20kB: 1:13:30.2  T2: 0:51.3   4kR: 30:26.0
Course and Elevation Profile

First duathlon and first off road bike race, so take my opinion for what it's worth since I have no point of reference.

Run course, had a couple of steep inclines, but nothing too bad. There is one very rocky descent that tripped me up a bit. I did see one guy fall.

Bike course, very easy, no big obstacles, just a winding path with a couple of good straight aways, there were also a couple fun jumps but easy to avoid if you wanted to. Definately beginner friendly.

Pros:
Plenty of water stops, two on the run, and one of the three loop bike. I will not complain about water this time! Can you believe it??
Very friendly people running it.
Easy bike course, mostly easy run course.
I got a hat for winning my age group... Nice :)
Food!! Glorious food at the finish! Watermelon never tasted so good!

Cons:
Bike - They assumed everyone could follow the green arrows.... eh, I was lucky I rode this course four times in the last two weeks. There were a few places people could easily (and did) go off course. To make matters worse the trail was marked for a crit from thursday night which made things a little confusing. Next time I might even volunteer to mark it cause it needed to be marked.

Run - The run out followed the same path as the bike in... surely this could have been arranged a bit better.... Even if we ran on a non existent path it would have been better than having to dodge bikes. They even said at the prerace meeting that bikes have the right of way.... since when?? Pedestrians always have the right of way. I don't care what they say. I moved off the path for the people running up as I came in. The guy riding in as I was running out was not so polite and I had to dodge him. I feel like there was enough space that definitive paths could have been tied off to allow each their own path.

Apparently the two 5Ks were actually 4Ks. So if you are a stickler for accuracy that might be a problem for you.

Personal:
This race was a lot of fun. I'm sold I want to do a true mountain bike race :)

I was extremely happy with my bike time, especially since I stopped to adjust my seat post, stopped for an encounter with mother nature, stopped twice to be passed, and nearly crashed twice trying to pass (really need to work on that :p). I am sold on trail bike racing... I definitely want to try it again, without the run. The run was hard for me, I'd only run once in the last three weeks. And that was a mediocre run since my dog was getting overheated I walked a lot of it. I rolled my ankle on some rocks. It didn't bother me till the last half mile of the second 5K, I think I started to over compensate with the other leg which caused awful knee pain. I haven't had knee pain like that since giving up my asics a year ago. Shame on me for slacking on the running, lesson learned.

SKUNK!!! In the first lap of the bike what jumps onto the trail!! AHH!!! I came to a hard stop and gasped. Oh pleeeeaasee!! Don't spray me! That tail went up and I held my breath for a minute. I knew people were coming up behind me, so I inched forward slowly which encouraged the little bugger to run, unfortunately it ran down the trail :p I followed it for a while, maybe 20 yards down the trail it decided it'd had enough company and dashed into the brush. I yelled skunk as loud as I could to warn those behind me and moved on as fast as I could.

I could hear people talking ahead of me in the last lap, I was determined to get ahead of more women! I did it! Woohoo! I knew they'd be right behind me on the run. I started walking a lot in the last half mile when my knee started to tweak and sure enough one of them caught me, she beat me by a minute, but I managed to finish a minute ahead of two others that were in my age group. So victory among defeat. The only other two that beat me were girls, 15 and 17 cross country high school students. My body has been through far more than theirs so I don't feel bad about being beaten by them! :)

Limbs for Life's Blaze through the Adventure District 5K

26:26
19 of 152 females
5 of 28 age group
Course and Elevation Profile

The course, hilly, not awful, but sloping inclines and steep downhills. I knew that going into it since this went right through the zoo, I go there nearly every week with my girls. I was also prepared for the not so barefoot friendly parts of the course. What I was not prepared for was Remington Park. We ran on the grass inside the track, not a big deal for me, I found it enjoyable. Nearly everyone else I heard afterwards did not.

Pros:
I was sold on this race as soon as I heard about the charity. What a great cause getting artificial limbs to those that can't afford it. I will definitely be back next year.

I got to run through the zoo! How cool is that?? I love races in places you would otherwise never get to run in!

Tshirt, yes I like races with tshirts.

I feel like the cons are lopsided, I enjoyed this race, the ambiance was great. Seeing people who benefit from the organization was great. Maybe if it was a longer race I'd have more to say about it :)

Cons:
I guess there were very few trail runners there, everyone was complaining about running on the grass. Most of the last mile was on grass, some of it wet. Lots of people said they would not be back next year for this race unless they changed the course. It would be more enjoyable to run most of it through the zoo. Of course that would turn it into an out and back, it would also have to go through buildings or exhibits to get the extra mileage to stay in the zoo, so I don't know what the solution would be. I enjoyed the course. I loved going through the zoo, I enjoyed the grass. I will definitely be back next year whether it's changed or not.

The other complaint I heard: It needs to start earlier. I agree, after getting up so early for tri's the last few weekends. It felt late, it was already hot. I spent an hour hanging around waiting for the race to start and was already sweating. That would be my one big con for this race. Seconded by water! Which is always my complaint about nearly all races. One water stop on a very hot morning is not enough.

There were issues with the timing which is not the Limbs for Life's or DG Production's fault. Apparently the software that the two companies use weren't compatible so things got jumbled when they sent all the racers' info to the timing company. There was a similar issue the week before at OCCC's triathlon, hopefully DG can figure out a solution, knowing them they probably already have.

OCCC SuperSprint Triathlon

1:18:25
2/52 females. That's right second overall! Woohoo!!
1/7 age group
500mSwim: 11:32 (I know, sad isn't it :p)  T1: 1:16   12.5mBike: 39:53  T2: 0:25  5kRun: 25:21
Bike Course and Elevation

New Sprint PR and 5K PR for me! Yeah!!

Pros (I know I'm a little biased since this is my home pool):
Friendly volunteers
The lanes are huge! It is a 50m by 25y pool. You basically get 5, 5 yard lanes. They started each swimmer 15 seconds apart which was perfect in my opinion.
Both bike and run course were flat. I did hear some people who are mainly runners remark about the hills, so I guess my definition of hill has changed. I'll try to post the elevation profile later, the accuracy may not be wonderful since my aero bar was rubbing, doing strange things to it.
For once someone got the water stops right! One maybe a quarter mile in that could be hit 4 times (you ran past it into a turnaround and back past it before heading to the main turnaround) and then one at the halfway point! Perfect!!
The medals are nice. I liked the shirt, I had seen the previous year's shirt and was not that impressed, I didn't like the colors. This year's was much better, might even be my new favorite race shirt.

Cons:
Portland road is filled with potholes and is a very poor road to ride on. I'm sort of used to that in Oklahoma, but it is probably among the worst 10 roads I've been on.
The choice of road leading in and out of the college for the bike created a bottle neck.
I felt like the course was marked well, but I did hear of some people taking wrong turns.
Where was the clock at the finish??? Even if it's a staggered start I can do the math to know what time to take off! I wanted to know what my time was when I finished. It didn't take him too long to start posting results, but still I like having the clock at the end!

Personal:
I spent the entire hour and a half before the race worried about my seed time. I was #32! AH! Nearly everyone I swim with was after me and I know they are faster than me. There were tons of small women that looked like swimmers after me.... What was I thinking! I thought I could swim it in 9 minutes even though Marleen had warned us swimming 50m length is a totally different animal than 25m. She also told me to put in 8:55 that way I'd be at the front of all the 9 minute people. Why didn't I think of that. Definitely a trick to remember. I apologized to the lady directly behind me before we started and then off we went. To my surprise I was only passed by two people. Turns out everyone had under estimated a 50m length pool :p Even the men of our group that started ahead of me finished around the same time I did. There was a small group of 4 or 5 swimmers just behind me by the time I got into the final lane, but they couldn't quite catch me. When I felt a hand on my foot I pushed a little bit harder and manged to keep my lead.

Oh how I hate that run to the bike. Everyone says they hate T2. Not me, T1 is where I have trouble. I think it's because I enjoy being in the water and I am heavier. To suddenly have all that weight forced back on my bones, it's hard to get motivated to run to my bike. My Bike, my new bike! A Fuji Aloha 2.0 This was only my second time to ride her. I was so excited I passed 4 people in the first half a mile. Her ride is smooth, I don't feel like I'm battling my bike. It was wonderful..... until about the third mile. I could tell my shifter was tilted on my left aero bar. I took my arm off it for a second and it sagged. It came loose. Why, oh, why didn't I go over all the bolts and tighten them. D'oh. By mile 7 the right aero bar came loose. Fortunately I had my aero bottle attached to them, so as long as I had one arm on an aero bar they didn't fall forward.

It was a two loop course which did cause some frustration as I was trying to turn back into the college. If the timing mat had been further back from the turn I could have passed comfortably and avoided the slower riders. I couldn't do so without possibly not being read by the mat. I was 6 minutes from first so it's not the end of the world, I didn't lose enough time to make a different, but I wonder if anyone else had that problem. As I took my hands off my aero bars coming into transition, the aero bottle started dragging on the wheel. It was frustrating, but an easy fix once the race was over. I'll forgive Tigress (She's orange and black and my transition towel has tigers on it. I know I'm such a girl sometimes :p).

The road was fine for barefooting. I tried to not think about racing anyone. I only counted one woman ahead of me so I know I wasn't paying attention since there should have been at least three. The girl who got first is also a swimmer with the OCCC triclub. I was a bit worried toward the end that she would pass me, so I tried to hurry. I shaved 4 second off my best 5K time. Maybe I need to ride my bike before all races. It seems to give me better run times. Last week she beat me by 10 minutes, this week it was 6, I hope to close that gap a bit more next time. She's incredibly athletic and smaller than me. She's been at this for 3 years, has a beautiful cervelo and from the sounds of it puts in a lot of time on it. She's also completed an Ironman. Honestly, I'm surprised I'm this close to her time. I know she'll probably always beat me, but I like to have a goal!

I could hardly contain my excitement about being second! It's so affirming to see all those bodies you don't think you can compete with and to come in second!!?? I was on cloud nine. Then I realized that night.... Ironman Kansas was this weekend..... all the real athletes (minus the girl that came in first) aren't in the state, D'oh.

Route 66 Olympic Triathlon

2:59:35  
1/4 Athena (Woohoo! First place!!)
3/7 age group
18/46 Females
1500mSwim: 32:53   T1:  1:19  40KBike: 1:27:11   T2: 0:44   10KRun: 57:31
Elevation and Course for Bike. x2
Elevation and Course for Run. x2

Pros:
Water bottles at the turn around for the bike. I needed that water, happy to have it.
The whole course is pretty straight forward and well marked.
Lots of eager volunteers, lots of cheering and smiling faces.
Nice shirt, nice license plate awards.
Food!! Hot dogs, chips and cookies afterwards, N'om....

Cons:
Male and female started the swim together, lots of bumper bodies.
Lots of traffic on old Route 66.
The bike course is bumpy, lots of crevices to ride around.
First water stop was less than a tenth of a mile into the run. It would have been more useful about a half mile in so it could be used four times instead of two.
The awards were license plates, cool, but since I don't plan on putting it on my car I think I'd rather had a medal to let my kids play with.

Swim: Be prepared you cannot see in this water. I mean it. Not a bit, you can't see your arms or hands. It is all greenish brown. I heard a lot of out of towners talking about this on the second day, they couldn't believe how murky it was.
Bike: It is not flat, but not hilly. It's kind of hard to explain. If you are from around here, it's not Hefner, but it's not Edmond or Norman.
Run: Flat, easy winding road. For the barefooters or minimalists among us, not the best paved road. Asphalt, the first mile is not too bad, but the further you get the more protruding rocks there are and a few gravel roads that meet it so some debris to avoid.

I loved this race. This morning found me in the right frame of mind. I put aside my bike envy from the day before, determined to have the best race I could possibly have. My first Olympic Tri and I was going to have a good time! They announced a few minutes before start that the men and women would start together, all the women let out a groan. Seriously, it was funny. The first trip out was too crowded. Climbing on people, getting kicked. I started to go off course again after the first turn around, found it was less crowded, so tried to keep my distance without going too far off course. The beach run, blah, only one person who got out of the water at the same time actually ran. The rest of us walked our way back into the water. In fact the 10 or so of us took the time to yell at a guy swimming the completely wrong direction! I think we all felt the same way about getting back in, but in we went. I stayed far left of the buoys and managed to not run into anyone until the turn around. I decided I lost too much time trying to stay out of the crowd. I hugged the buoys and sure enough began climbing over more people.

The bike was no different than the day before, same route, same hair pin turn, same gradual hills, only twice the fun! I heard two people fell on the turnaround, thankfully I was not one of them. That good rhythm set in about the 9 mile mark, just to disappear when I dropped my chain at the bottom of the hill in the 12th mile. So frustrating, my legs never felt as good after that. It took too much out of them to climb that hill with no momentum. Plenty of blue haired old folks headed for sunday church around to try to hit cyclists. There were a few close calls that I saw including one of my own. I wish they could close parts of the route to traffic. I heard there was even a farm combine blocking the race at one point. Glad I didn't have to deal with that! My cycling buddies cheered me on as I glided into transition. I needed the encouragement, it made my legs lighter to see them. My thigh felt off going into the run, fortunately it eased up after about a mile. Nearly ran off wearing my helmet. Took a long pause to decide whether to take my vibrams with me as backup or not. Glad I decided not to, if I'd taken the time to put them on I wouldn't have got my goal time!

I took the time to put on my camelbak, glad I did. Worth the extra weight, I didn't fill it completely, but I managed to drink every bit of it. The half way point handed out Heed, made by Hammer.. I think, pretty good. Never tried it before I'll have to do some research on it. Hot, from beginning to end. I expected it since the last 15 minutes the day before were hot.  After I hit 4.6 miles I took it up a notch and ran harder. In the last mile the pavement started to heat up, not pleasant for the feet, but nothing like Redbud. I started to feel a chill, knowing enough that it is a bad sign I pulled back a little bit, but when I saw that clock under 3 hours I ran as hard as I could. I knew it would be close, but I was going to get my 3 hours!!! Then as I put on the breaks, crossing the finish, I heard my husband calling my name. He surprised me with my three girls at the finish. I fell to the ground and hugged my babies. Not that I needed to fall to the ground, I was so happy to see my babies I just wanted to lay there and hug them all at once. I cannot explain the feeling of crossing the finish line. I set a goal and I did it. I wasn't disappointed in my performance or any part of the race. I felt so great to meet a goal. I usually set my goals above what I'm capable of. It was wonderful. I cannot wait to do another Olympic distance.

Route 66 Sprint Triathlon

1:26:20  
2/10 Athena (22 seconds from first, d'oh)
3/16 Age group
26/55 Females
500mSwim: 11:11    T1: 0:57    20K Bike: 45:24    T2: 0:48    5KRun: 28:03
Course and Elevation for Bike.
Course and Elevation for Run.

Pros:
The whole course is pretty straight forward and well marked.
Lots of eager volunteers, lots of cheering and smiling faces.
Nice shirt, nice license plate awards.
Food!! Hot dogs, chips and cookies afterwards, N'om....

Cons:
First water stop was less than a tenth of a mile into the run..... ? I guess that would be useful for those who didn't carry water on the bike, but I felt like it would have been more useful about a half mile in so it could be used twice.
The awards were license plates, cool, but since I don't plan on putting it on my car I think I'd have rather had a medal to let my kids play with.
The bike course is bumpy, lots of crevices to ride around.

Review for those interested in doing this event:
Swim: Be prepared you cannot see in this water. I mean it. Not a bit, you can't see your arms or hands. It is all greenish brown. I heard a lot of out of towners talking about this on the second day, they couldn't believe how murky it was.
Bike: It is not flat, but not hilly. It's kind of hard to explain. If you are from around here, it's not Hefner, but it's not Edmond or Norman.
Run: Flat, easy winding road. For the barefooters or minimalists among us, not the best paved road. Asphalt, the first mile is not too bad, but the further you get the more protruding rocks there are and a few gravel roads that meet it so some debris to avoid.

Lessons learned: sighting is very important.... Not only does it keep you from going amazingly off course, but it should also keep you from running into kayaks. Both of which made for a crappily awful swim. I should not have taken so long. I read somewhere once that you should approach each part of a triathlon separately. Focus on swim as if that's all you were doing, go into T1, put on a new face and come out fresh and as if biking was all you were doing, same for T2 and the run. I repeated this mantra to myself to no avail. All I could think about for the rest of the race is how terribly off course I went in the swim. All for what? 2 minutes? Not worth dwelling on. I had fun, but had a hard time getting over my mistake. I wanted to be close to 1:15, I was disappointed. Then I thought I had first in Athena! It was posted I saw it, yeah!!! Only to realize after I stuck around an hour and a half for the awards that there had been an athena in the last swim wave that beat me..... grrr..... Not my best day. I didn't feel great on the bike, I didn't feel great on the run. I was thinking about Sunday and the Olympic through most of this race. I may skip the sprint next year, volunteer perhaps. I don't feel like I gave everything I had to this race. I did pass a lot of people on the run which felt pretty good!

Route 66 Splash N Dash

26:01
1st in age group!! Woohoo!!
6/16 female
31/55 overall
470mSwim: 9:32    T1: 0:18   2mRun:16:09


This was a great, small event. I think things like this would be great for a beginner. Someone just starting out in triathlons, but not sure if they are ready for a sprint yet. The atmosphere cannot be matched. It's a bunch of friends getting together for a group workout then a cookout. The tri okc people are friendly and entertaining! They have splash n dash events every month in the summer, this was one of only two sanctioned SnD's for the year, the rest are free. Definitely check out Tri OKC and show up for one of these things!

Okay, so I only got first in age group because the real 1st place was top female. Does that still count? Felt great. I did have butterflies in my stomach at the start, but they disappeared once the swim was underway. Honestly have nothing bad to say about this one, it's hard to find something bad about an extremely short event like this, especially when they feed you afterwards :) I think there was water on the run.... I don't remember now, the weekend has melted my mind, more on the rest of the Route 66 events to come.

Andy Payne Memorial Half Marathon

2:14:27
39% of females
50% age group - 3rd place!
Course and Elevation Profile.

This might be my favorite race so far this year. I feel like they did everything right. It started early, there was water every mile. They were handing out pretzels and gu. Everyone got a medal, which I think is nice. Lots of photographers. The course is flat as can be. It was a very enjoyable race. Heck you even get an indian taco at the end! That's better than the pizza at the end of Route 66 last november. The only glitch I ran into was for once I wanted gatorade/powerade to which I got "next table" only that's what I kept hearing. I found a table that did have it, but on the return trip they said "next table". I normally am water only, but seeing as I had a long bike ride the day before in 100 degree heat, I felt I needed more.

I had a good time. My feet held up wonderfully. This was my longest barefoot run to date. They weren't too thrilled about the road south of Britton, which is a little rough, but they made the return trip okay. I carried my bikilas with me just in case, but never felt I needed them. Just cruised around the lake, wish the wind hadn't been so bad, it kicked up a lot of the exposed dirt due to the water level being so low. That was the only unpleasant part about this race. Will definitely be returning next year!

Tour de Meers, 65 mile route

4:44:18
avg pace 13.7
avg moving pace 14.5
elevation profile and course

I would love to come back in the fall to ride this course. It was beautiful. I saw wild turkeys, a friend of mine saw a buffalo, though she was also stung by a bee. Lots of wildlife and gorgeous scenery. Drawbacks to this ride: HOT. There is no cover, no where to hide, no convenience stores, no trees even near the road. There are hills in the first 20 miles that slow you down, the rest of the course is flat with rolling hills. It really is a great ride, I can see why so many people do it. Next year I'm starting a couple hours earlier, like around 6. There were not a lot of water stops, what they did have was placed well. If you venture out on this ride approach it as if it were unsupported, bring everything to get you through and be prepared. There were a lot of people apparently who nearly passed out from the heat many of whom were delirious and didn't realize how they got back to the fire station.

Our group at the start.... oddly enough there are no pics of any of us at the end.... I wonder why..... :p

After a week of thinking about it, I decided to come back and give a brutally honest review: If you are considering this race, to be entirely honest, this probably was the hardest event I've ever done. This is the first time I seriously thought about quitting. Around 35 miles I did not want to pedal anymore. I didn't want to be in the heat anymore. I wanted to stop. I pulled over and dragged my bike off the road to a small tree which was the only shade I'd seen for miles. I pulled out my phone to call my friends and see where they were, hoping and praying they had sagged in and were waiting for me to get back, only to find I had no service. I dug out my mp3 player. It was only the music that kept me going on this ride. When I got to the final water stop, I felt good and thought I only had a few more miles. The last three miles were the worst because you keep thinking "Just over this hill", but each time you get there the fire station is no where in sight.

Last year I finished a 62 miler in 4:07 (not including the rest stop in the middle) so this route took me an extra 20 minutes riding time, but the one I did last was almost entirely flat. I have definitely made progress. This was 1749 feet elevation gain. The largest gain I've ever done on a ride, the closest I've done that compares was 1622 and that was 2 or 3 weeks ago. I shouldn't be surprised that this was a hard ride for me. 95% of my rides are relatively flat. I must work on hills this year, they just defeat me in every way. My feet hurt at 25 miles.. I've never had that happen before. I found myself not wanting to be on the bike anymore. I honestly don't know how I finished this ride. A challenge and an eye opener, must. work. hills.

Sooner State Games 5K

SECOND PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP!! WOOHOO!!! This is the first time I have ever placed! Not only that, but it was also a new personal record for me! Yeah! Go me!

25:25
50% age group....... this is where I fess up and tell you, there were only 4 of us.
22% females
Course and Elevation Profile.

This race had a lot of firsts in it for me. PR, first medal, first time to see another barefoot runner, and the first time I really felt like a runner. I've been going to a lot of meetings and group practices, so I'm beginning to get to know people. I showed up and people remembered who I was (okay, mostly cause I'm the only barefoot woman they probably know), but it felt good. Especially after a lady at the Triokc meeting made a snarky remark, but I won't get into that.

Another first, a girl, much younger than me, who I passed (she passed me at the very end), came up to me at afterwards and thanked me for telling her "good job" when I passed her. She said it was the encouragement she needed to keep going and to put it all out there in the end. I have never had someone thank me for encouragement before. It was really great :) All the more reason I feel all runners should have a smile on their face and say something nice to every person they see! Whether it be good job, looking great, doing awesome, almost there, or anything you can think of to lift the person up and keep them from thinking about what hurts. I usually don't do this as much as running events. It's something I picked up more from the sprint tri and the trail running events I did, but I will definately be doing this more from here out!

All in all this was a really nice small race!
Pros:
Had no problems getting my packet or chip, they seemed very well organized.
Nice shirt, bag had some neat pins in it.
Really nice medal! :)
I dropped my glasses and the turn around, the girl said she'd take them back to the start with her and the guy with her actually found me in the crowd and gave them back to me while they were giving out the awards! I couldn't believe it! Totally awesome young people working this event!!

Cons:
Water, I wish they (and every other 5K) had the water stop around the mile mark instead of 1.5. There are people that will take an hour and they deserve water more than once.
They did have two people calling out 10K left and 5K right. Maybe they could hold some signs next year cause I had to focus on one of them and ask, I couldn't understand between the two of them yelling.

Warrior Dash North Texas, Roanoke, TX

32:07.9
4.6% of age group
13.5% overall

What a great way to make a 5K more interesting! The obstacles were not too hard, they were just right and fun to do! The moment you get out of the crowd's sight we went chest deep through a small river, then on to some small walls and under barbed wire, through a storage container, then the tire field, over cars, more tires, Monster wall that was probably 15-20 foot high, balance beams, bungee spiderweb, pitch black tunnel, hanging cargo netting (like stretch flat so you had to crawl over it, but I walked across the support beam instead :p ), hay bale tower, cargo net climb,  floating log jump, fire jump and mud pit crawl under barbed wire. It was so much fun! We're planning on another.

I wish I had known about the bag check, you have a tag on your bib you hand to them, you put all your stuff in a plastic bag, hand it to their volunteers who keep it in a confined space until you come back to get it. If I'd known that I would have brought my change of clothes and towel. I wish they'd explained that better on the website. Oh and let's not forget the "hoses" they had available to rinse off were two guys with industrial size hoses on top of a storage unit, spraying into the crowd of people. The water smelled awful, I think I should have left the mud on. I'm sure there were living things in that water, I hope no one gets sick.

All in all though I had a great time with my friends!

Pros:
Nice shirt, nice medal, cool hat (my kids like it, it's too small for my head)
Fun course

Cons:
There was only one water stop at the half way point (some people took an hour to do it! There should be more water, shame!)
The bananas were green - tasted like crap.
The food to buy afterwards was expensive.

Redbud 10K

1:10:43
64% age group
63% female
Course and Elevation Profile.

H - O - T .... Maybe even as hot as last year.
I ran barefoot.... hindsight... not a wise choice. I'd only ran barefoot 3 times this year and while one of those was a 5 miler, it was not a day that melted tar on the road, nor was is such a horribly surfaced road that it made my feet scream. Two miles in I step in some tar and while it was not hot enough to burn me, I realized I had made a poor choice and moved to the grass. My body was absolutely ready for this race. I had no problems running up the hill I had to walk last year. As the finish came into sight and my body said "GO!" My feet replied "HELL NO!" hobble, hobble..... at least I made it to the end, finishing in almost the exact same time as last year. I could have done this course barefoot without a second thought at the end of last year. My feet went too soft after 3 months off. Oh well.

Pros -
Lots of water stops, very well placed. Lots of volunteers this year, more so than last year, they were working fast to get water to everyone. I remember there being lines last year for water. They did great!
Awesome neighbors, lots of people out cheering, spraying the hoses, gave the race an awesome aura
Shirt, medal, food, massage

Cons -
NEED MORE TOILETS. I waited in line for 30 minutes, nearly missed the start!
Road surface is awful, definitely wearing my bikilas next year.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78470551

Redbud Classic 52 Mile Bike

47.97 in 3:28:50 (3:13:18 moving time, but part of that moving time was walking across a parking lot to and from the johns)
Course and Elevation Profile.
Damn! Those real cyclists fly! I felt the breeze as they passed us on their way back, wow.

It was a perfect dawning day at the starting line. Beautiful, good food and drink, plenty of parking. Ready to take on 52 miles. Note to man behind the microphone at the start tho, no matter how many times you say "Everyone in the east lane" If no one has attempted to move after the first two or three times, I don't think you're going to get a response. At 5 minutes till start I began wishing I'd made one more stop to the toilet.

The route was great, plenty of cops to keep the cars at bay, the hills on Hefner Rd that I normally dread were somehow easier this day. Maybe because my bladder was full and I had incentive to get to Jones - Fast. I missed the first water stop since it was on the opposite side of the road, the second stop in Jones was huge and had a massive amount of people. For some reason they set it up right on the street so bikes and people were collecting and traffic (as well as those cyclists trying to move on) had a hard time getting around. It made no sense seeing as there was a perfectly useable parking lot. They put the portajohns in the parking lot but not the water stop.... I waited for my friends in Jones. I was there for probably 20 minutes or so. My legs hurt when we set back out again. Too long of a break - lesson learned.

There were tons of signs along the road warning people "biking event - caution" the only problem was 90% weren't facing traffic. It seems they set them up the night before and forgot to send someone to move them into place. As we left Jones the wind picked up, hills+wind=blah. The 15 mile square that starts and ends in Jones, had one water stop, about 2 miles before you get back to Jones.... ?? Why not 7-8 miles in? I didn't understand that choice. I decided to not wait for my crew as I entered back into Jones. The water stop had shrunk to 1/3 it's previous size. I guess most people were doing the 33 mile.

There were more water stops after that, but I didn't stop at any of them. At this point the wind was trying to knock me off the bike, I just wanted to be done. As we turned back south on the I-35 service road the head wind shut lots of people down. I saw a few people walking their bikes and when we turned back west there were 5 guys who stopped on the bridge to stretch. They were hurting pretty bad from their faces. It's bad when you're going downhill and can't hit 11mph even though you are pedaling. The hills leading back to the finish were not as bad as I anticipated either. I was so thankful when I was done, though my gps said 48 miles. As did my friend's.

What on earth? Shut down at 11? Literally? There were still people coming in after 11, but apparently they close up the food and the massage at 11. It says they expect everyone in at 11, but I thought that was so the cops could get back to their real work. I find that ridiculous. I don't understand races that cater to only the fast people. Most of your money is coming from the recreational athlete, why not cater to them sometimes?

Pros:
Lots of cops and very little risk of getting run over.
Good food (If you can get back fast enough to eat it)
Massage (If you can get back fast enough)
Nice prizes (giftcards and a 2K bike, I didn't win anything :( )

Cons:
SAG - For "One of the best supported rides in the state" I saw 2 SAG wagons the entire course. There were about 15 at Spin your wheels last year.
Water stop placement. The second half they were well placed, first half not so much. I was passing the first water stop before I even knew it was there.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78138224

Tatur's Lake McMurtry Trail Run 12K

1:23:41
24% female
29% age group
Course and Elevation Profile.
My first trail race, my second trail run, I am extremely pleased with my performance. I expected to see more vibrams than I did. I thought I wouldn't get quite as many odd looks as I do on the road, but I did. I think people were both surprised at my shoes and my size. Most people were considerably smaller than me. However, that still did not change the wonderful attitude most of them had.

The trail is an out and back, the 25K and 50K were already running when we started, so just before the halfway point the trail started to get crowded. Most of the people were considerate, friendly, lots of encouraging words were being passed, and the water stop was wonderful too. As always I wish there was maybe one more waterstop, but they placed it much better than the st paddy's run. It was truly 1/3 of the way in, so it showed up right when you needed it.

And guess what? They had food! Real food at the finish! Barbeque! It was wonderful.

There are a lot of roots at McMurtry, I was nearly done in by one. I looked at my garmin at just the wrong time. I bit it hard, now 5 days later my ankle and knee are both bruised. The scrape on my knee is healing very well. There is also some soreness in my hip. Welcome to trail running :p I guess I'm officially initiated.

This is me and Alice after the run sporting our bling. This run was on my mind, but when she called me up and asked if I was doing it I knew it was a sign I should go. I'm so glad she talked me into it. I can't wait to do another tatur trail run!

St Paddy's of the Great Plains 8K

46:34
30% age group
35% female
Course and Elevation Profile.

Fun race. Lots of goofy costumes and lots of people there to have a good time. They had a local track team in costumes cheering everyone on, which was odd, but they were wonderfully enthusiastic. There was a few kid friendly games at the start line and a fun run that started after most all the runners were in. Panera Bread and Kolache Kitchen provided food at the start which was awesome! I love Kolache Kitchen! I wish Panera would only bring cinnamon crunch (maybe a half box of a couple other flavors would be okay), the other bagels looked untouched when it was all over with but they were out of cinnamon crunch. The asiago bagel also needs to be right beside the cinnamon crunch so that mistakes are not made. It's a bit of a shock to get a sharp cheese when you're expecting sweet. It was a conversation starter though, apparently I was not the only one who made that mistake.

Anyway, the race course was flat, well marked, the shirt was cool, and there was green beer and pizza afterwards!!

Negatives - NEED MORE WATER. In case you didn't notice I'm a big advocate for more water stops. It's better for there to be too much water offered than not enough. I can see why there were so many people with water belts on at this race, apparently other people had clued in. There was one stop you passed twice on the back half of the course. I understand it's more efficient to have one stop that is passed twice, but it makes for off timing of water stops in my opinion.

I wish there were more barefoot runners here. People looked at me like I was crazy. Only caught two stick burrs, was able to shake one off, ran with the other for about a 1/4 mile but it wasn't about to come out on it's own. I stopped fast enough that is didn't really show in the gps data.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73848825

Battle at the Bird Mountain Bike Course

All I can say is you people are nuts. Seriously? This course was created by college students with no responsibilities and no concern for their physical well being. Good luck to those of you who are doing this race this morning and may your broken bones heal quickly.

I hiked most of this course, there is definately a reason it's labeled expert. I was decieved by draper, the expert course there had a couple of obstacles and easy bypass routes. Grant you maybe it does have easy bypass, but the course was already marked and all bypasses were blocked. From what I could see though it appeared the bypass were far from easy they just weren't quite as difficult. I'm glad I purchased my mountain bike for fun and recreation, a break from trying to break PR while road biking or running, because I will NEVER race a mountain bike.

My friend I was riding with told me the yellow and green (easy course) was used for the lowest category riders last year, woe to the person who comes back this year thinking that's what they will be facing today.

Oh yeah, and I bailed at the end, my chest hurt and I was out of water. I didn't even have enough in me to do the easy part of the course.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72653181

Panera Jack Rector Beacon Run 5K

30:00
28% female
43% age group
Course and Elevation Profile.

Wow, that's a mouthful, say the race name five times fast :p Not much to be said for today's race. My calf still hadn't recovered from last week's 10K. I was really hoping to hit 25:00 minutes, using last year's times as an indicator that would have put me in a possibility for placing. The good news is, even if I'd hit 25:00 I still wouldn't have placed this year. It would have been a shame to push so hard and not got what I was wanting out of it anyway. My calf shut me down just after I hit two miles. I walk/ran the last of it. I can't believe I seriously considered doing the 25K, even to mostly walk it would have been miserable. I'm glad I backed out of that. I wish I could convince myself to stop focusing so much on time and just run, I think my body would be the better for it.

My friend Alice did a great job today. She was only a little over a minute behind placing! And she thought she'd come in last! She had a wonderful race!

Oh yeah, I saw three other vibram runners and a guy in huaraches.

Pros:
#1 MASSAGE! I love races that have massage afterwards!
#2 Course was well marked and flat as can be.
#3 Goodie bag had some coupons and flyers in it and a pair of gloves.
#4 Free Bagels! I wish my stomach had felt like food when I got there. They even had cinnamon crunch... yummmm

Cons:
#1 Swag - The logo printed on my shirt is very light, I think if I wash it, it might disappear. Someone was wearing a shirt from a previous year and it didn't look like that.
#2 Parking - That's just the nature of Stars and Stripes Park.
#3 Chips - Last call for picking up your chip was before the 25K start, 20 minutes before the 5K start. My friend who showed up thinking she had plenty of time nearly didn't get her chip.
#4 Personally I would have put the water stop about a quarter into the course since it's an out and back. For those running it in 30 or under it's not that big of a deal, but some of those people were out there for almost an hour. It probably would have been nice for them to be able to get water twice and it wouldn't have hurt anyone to have that opportunity.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72653176

Creek Classic 10K

1:02:50
62% female; 87/140
75% age group; 15/20
Course and Elevation Profile.

First impression - there are so many people here! Yes, there were, but most were there for the 5K, there were less than 300 there for the 10K compared to roughly 650 for the 5K. Apparently only the serious runners do the 10K. Serious sunner I am not, I ran backwards and sideways hanging out with the friend that talked me into this race, grooving to my music. I wasn't that concerned with time until we made it to the last kilometer. There had been a woman that refused to let us pass her for the latter half of the race. We would pass, she would pass, we would pass, she would pass. I was wearing my garmin, I knew we were at a very consistant pace. The last K this woman passed us again and picked up pace. I said goodbye to my friend, in pursuit, I passed her with a 1 second lead. And even in chip time I retained my one second lead! Woohoo! Victory.

There was a man who did this during Spin Your Wheels last year. He would pass, I would pass, etc. I lost track of him finally at a water stop. During the last few miles I began chatting with another man and we spoke about this guy in the OU jersey (kind of hard to miss). The man told me he probably sized up my calves.... "He, what??" Apparently real cyclist will look at the calves of the person in front of them, if they deem their calves unworthy in size, they pass. This is why I had to beat this woman. What did she not like about me? Was it my vibrams? My waist size? What? I have to admit I am also guilty of this. During the Tye-Die Tri last fall, there was a woman who passed me, I looked at her calf (for anyone who doesn't know they write your age on your calf during triathlons). She was much older than I. I saw no reason for me to not be able to keep up with her, even though she was obviously in better shape. I stayed on her tail until the last 100 yards and sprinted around her.

Anyway back to the Classic.. Good course, straight mile north, weave through a neighborhood, then three straight miles back to the start. There were a couple of hills in the 5th mile, but nothing too bad, I noticed the downhill in the 5th mile more than anything. (Now that I look at the garmin info I see why.)

Positives:
#1 Parking! Plenty of it! Laugh if you will, but that is a serious issue at a lot of races.
#2 Good Cause! It appears to be a really good school system. There were banners up in the school for a fundraising drive to donate goats to developing nations. That was really nice to see.
#3 The route was pretty straight forward and easy to follow, if you were running alone at the end, getting lost probably wouldn't happen. There was a bit of confusion from some at the start when the 10K and 5K seperated, other than that course was marked well.
#4 Nice shirt!

Complaints
#1 Need bigger water cups, not minis! I get the idea of eco friendly, okay, then give people options, small or big!
#2 Maybe this is typical and I know stuff left at water stops is subject to be lost forever, but I would have thought they'd bring the stuff back to the start to be reclaimed when they load up to head back, not leave it by the side of the road. Especially in a small race with just a few things left behind.
#3 There was a lot of confusion during packet pick up as to which line was for what, I didn't have any problem, but lots of people were trying to figure it out while I was standing in line.


Garmin info, I forgot to start it in the very beginning, then the signal had a few issues, and the two big slow downs in the beginning are when I dropped my phone, then my keys, about the time I lost my license too. Positive #5 good honest people, my license made it back to me :) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/71431353

Race Website: http://deercreekclassic.com/

2010 Race Results

Williams Route 66 Half Marathon
2:29:30 (10K - 1:05:07) (15K - 1:45:06)
58% female
68% age group

Me after my first half marathon. I bonked at 8 miles. I carried the gatorade bottle in my hand the entire race and drank barely any of it. I craved water through the entire race. I wish I had known that was a sign of dehydration. I was not happy with my first half, then I saw the man that was my age die on the course. I was not far behind it and looked up in time to see another runner jump on him to start CPR. At that point I decided it didn't matter what time I finished in, I was thankful to finish. They have food and beer at the finish. A really nice medal. The course is hilly, deceptively hilly. Beware OKC runners that choose to go do it, definitely go run around Arcadia lake to prepare.

Alfalfa Bill Century Ride.... that wasn't
46 miles 2:50, ride got rained out

Honestly, I don't remember what this was raising money for..... It was an interesting ride with some good cookies at the start..... The half I did had some great scenery. I do remember the roads being very busy with very rude drivers on it. I don't think I will do this one again.
Komen 5K
27:56
25% female
28% age group (gun time, not chip time)

This is the Allegiance Credit Union group I ran with, I'm the odd one out in grey toward the back. Joined a little late to get a shirt, which wasn't a big deal to me. Here's the thing about the Cure run, if you want to have a PR or don't like weaving in and out of people you will have to push your way to the front before the start. Most of the people are there to support the cause, so if you are wanting a true race start at the front. It is crowded. If I remember right the water stops were not quite large enough to handle the amount of people going through. So if you want to support a great cause and get some neat goodies afterwards do this run. If you want a race, don't do this run.

Tye-Die Triathlon (500m,12m,5K)
1:26:13 (11:31, 42:06, 30:21)
30% female
29% age group

This is the OCCC triathlon group of 2010. Mike and Marleen are the coaches up front. They came out to support all of us doing the Tie-Dye Tri. This tri was a bit of a mess. They were well organized except when it came to bike course. The leads missed the turn back for the funky second loop and got DQd. So if you choose to do this one, make sure you understand the loops of the bike course BEFORE going out there. The bike and run course is flat. The battle the day we did it was the wind. This was my first triathlon. I would do this one again and I think it is a good one for first timers.

Midnight Streak 5K
30:36
24% female
21% age group (gun time, not chip time)

This race is a lot of fun! It is kind of hard to see the road at some points, it has some slopes if I remember right. There is a prerace massage which felt wonderful! I don't remember the water stops or if there was anything to eat after. The tech shirt we got was good quality though.

Spin Your Wheels Metric Century
4:07 not a race, but a great ride for a great cause.

Slightly hilly, but not awful, mostly flat. I'll be doing this one again in the morning, only the 100 mile this time. Subway sandwiches to eat afterwards, lots of food stuffs to fuels up with at the start. Lots of water stops with stuff to drink and eat, but I do remember the pickles being gone at the turn around point by the time I got there.

Red Bud Classic 10K
1:11:28
61% female
63% age group

Okay, you can look at my review from the 2011 redbud for whatever you want to know. I will simply say here, I will not do the redbud run again.