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! :)
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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