Pacific Grove Triathlon Weekend

Geez, I've been sitting on this post for far too long! 

The weekend after Labor Day Derek and I traveled north to Pacific Grove, right next to Monterey, for the Triathlon at Pacific Grove.  We were doing the Olympic distance relay with my aunts and uncles on Saturday, and the sprint Distance on Sunday.  Friday we drove up, got all settled into our house right on Asilomar Beach and went to dinner with everyone.  Chris and Pete drove down from Reno, Jim and Diane came from Fresno, and my mom, our cheerleader, came from Ripon.  We had a really nice dinner at Il Veccio and drank a little too much wine!  But I figured I was only doing a swim the next day so what's wrong with a little pre-race wine!

Saturday

We were up and early for race morning, even though our wave went off at 9:45.  Pete was super excited and wanted to get down to the race start early.  We sent him on his way and had a leisurely time getting ready.  Finally around 9 we arrived at the race site, and it was a gorgeous day!  I found out where I needed to run after getting out of the water, squeezed my happy little butt into my wetsuit and wend down to the swim start.  Holy crap, the water in Monterey Bay is cold!!!  58 degrees, and apparently that is warm.  When my wave started I got right in front and held onto some feet for the first half of the lap until the kelp got too thick and I got entangled.  I didn't think that swimming through kelp would be that bad until I was doing it.  Overall the swim went well, a little slow but I wasn't trying for a PR and the kelp really held me up.  I was the second female out of the water for the relays, and handed my chip off to Diane who was doing the bike leg, and Chris was doing the run, we started off with a 12 minute lead on the men  but ultimately lost.  Jim and Derek kicked the ladies butts on the bike and run!  Derek can finally rub it in that he beat me at a race!

Me, Derek, Pete, and Chris watching the bike portion

The ladies relay team!

All of us on Sunday! 

We hung around the until the race was over and then went to a little English Pub for dinner, which included more drinking!  Apparently I don't believe in not drinking before a race and being on your feet all day!  Once back to our beach house we did walk on the beach and go to bed pretty early. 

RACE DAY!

I was up early and ate my breakfast of Corn Flakes, banana and peanut butter.  We loaded up and road the mile to the race start.  It was a gorgeous morning and was actually warm for Monterey standards.  The water looked like a lake, not a ripple to be seen.  Derek, Chris, Pete and I were all doing the sprint.  I was able to watch Derek's swim start and finish.  He started pretty close to the back and was one of the first out of the water, I have no idea how he did it!  He swam an 8:15, which was good enough for 8th in his AG in the swim!  Chris and I watched Pete take off, and then it was my turn. 

Swim 6:29 1st AG

When the gun went off I ran my butt off and was out in front with one other girl, she was going at a great pace so I decided to follow her feet/bubbles the entire swim (thank you whoever you were).   I just hoped that she was swimming straight.  The swim felt really good and really the only time we slowed down was when swimming through slower swimmers.  I remember thinking that she might be my only competition in the race.  Until we got back to the beach and she just kind of stood up and slowly walked out of the water.  I ran right by her and onto the timing mat.  So even though I technically followed her on the swim I ended up with the fastest time! 

T1 3:57
I have no idea how this time is even possible because I ran all the way to my transition area, tore my wetsuit off, put my shoes/helmet on and was out of T1 before anyone else on my rack even got there.  I never passed another girl in my AG on the bike either. 

Bike 35.45 avg 20.9mph
The bike course winds along Ocean Ave. from Lovers Point to the start of 17 mile dive, it's a beautiful course, if you take the time to pay attention to it!  I, of course, wanted to extend my lead as much as possible and put the hammer down as soon as I was on my bike.  I figured I was going to be the hunted one since I was the first out of the water.  Right away I had a small issue, my bike computer was not working!  So I had to ride on feel, and hope I was going as fast as I thought I was.   I passed a lot of people on the 2 laps and was only passed by a few men on my first lap as they were on their second.  Overall I felt really strong and fast on the bike, but probably could have pushed harder.  A plus is that it wasn't nearly as cold this year as it was two years ago when we did this race. That year I remember not being able to feel my hands, face, or feet halfway through the first lap. I passed Pete on his second lap about a mile from transition and I saw Chris going out on her first lap right around there too, she started a wave or two after I did.  They both looked really good and were doing great!  It's both of their second ever triathlons!

T2 1:57
I was in and out fast, but I did take about 20-30 seconds longer than I would have liked because my fingers were cold and it was hard to tie my shoes!

Run 13:17 avg 6:38
Once out of transition I ran hard the entire way.  It's a two loop course so it goes by really, really fast.  At one point I passed an older gentleman who said that I was making the run look easy.  That is always nice to hear in a race.  That two miles hurt a little bit, but I feel that I could have ran it a bit faster.  I wasn't totally spent at the end which leads me to believe that I could have gone harder the entire time.  I ended up finishing in 1:01:19 which is 5 minutes faster than '10, but not the hour I was gunning for.  I was 1st in my AG and 3rd OA female.  The two girls who finished in front of me are 17, and 18, and are both possible future Olympians!  If I was going to choose who I'd be beaten by, then who better than two teenagers who may be in the 2016 Olympics! 

I got a sweet medal this time!

With my mom

Derek and I showing off our sweet IRT wheels!

Derek finished in 1:06:30 and 11th in his AG, a personal high for him!  He did point out that he beat me in transition, but to my credit his rack was way closer to the in/out than mine was.  But I'll let him have that little prize anyway.  This is such a fun race and we will certainly be back next year to do it again, as will the rest of the family!  We finished the day by heading out to the Highlands Inn and having lunch overlooking the water, which is always fabulous!  The Highlands is one of my favorite places in the world and has such a special meaning to Derek and I.  We had such a wonderful weekend and I cannot wait to do it again next year!

 

with my love

Vineman 70.3 Race Report

Another 70.3 into my little personal record book!  I love this race and cannot wait to do it again next year!  It is quickly becoming my favorite race, and I'm trying to convince Derek that we need to make it an annual event.  It's a gorgeous, challenging course, and your in the wine and foodie mecca of CA!  What's not to like?  This year we really wanted to go wine tasting and float down the Russian River (after the race of course!)

We left on Friday morning to drive up to Ripon to break up the long drive from Pasadena to Sonoma and get a little family time in along the way.  As always it's good to see family and have a visit.  One day soon we will be living back in Northern CA and I can't wait!  On Saturday morning we were up early, did our shake-out ride/run and were on the road to Sonoma.  As usual, I was a little slow getting ready and we were on the road later than Derek wanted to be.  Once there we checked into our cottage and went to the race expo.  I will say that the expo a bit disappointing, there were far fewer vendors this year.  We had to sit through the 30 minute video presentation on the course, and I'm curious to know how many people crashed on the right hand turn onto Sunset after we were told multiple times to be careful there! 

We went to Kin for dinner, it's an awesome little restaurant in downtown Windsor.  Love the sweet potato tater tots!  We were back in our room early to get everything ready and go to bed early and for the first time ever I slept really well the night before a race!  That never happens!  I'm usually lucky to get a few hours of sleep. 

Race Morning:

The alarm had us up at 5:30!  It was almost like sleeping in! For pre-race breakfast I ate 2 big bowls of Corn Flakes with whole milk, a banana and 1 packet of honey peanut butter on the banana.  Normally I don't want to eat in the A.M. on race day, but today was different, I was hungry! It was cold and foggy early but started to clear up once we arrived at Johnson's Beach.  Vineman is a point to point event and I think that T1 and T2 are separated by 15 miles or so.  Basically you only bring what you need.  I wasn't nervous at all, that is until Derek's wave went off, which was about a half hour before mine, his @ 7:50 and mine at 8:22.  My goal of the day was to try to catch and pass him but I knew that I had my work cut out for me.

Swim:  30:03 14th AG

I was able to get in the water a couple minutes early and get a decent warm up in.  I loved my 2xu wetsuit, I can't remember the style but it was sleeveless and awesome!  The water was a balmy 72.  It's a floating start and I took my place front and center.  So when the gun went off I was able to get out in front and find feet to follow.  For a tri start it was really mild and I never was touched or man-handled the entire swim.   I was in the midst of a pack of about 6-7 girls who were swimming well, but just a little slower than I would have liked.  I couldn't force my way through them because they were swimming shoulder to shoulder and I thought it would have taken too much time to go around them.  At the turn around I was able to get through the pack and saw a girl about 15 yards ahead of me, I swam hard to get on her feet and followed her all the way into T1.  Gotta love not having to sight at all, I just trusted her that we were swimming straight.  Overall I'm happy with my swim, I wanted to go under 30 minutes.  I missed it by 4 measly seconds, but I'll take it.  Derek ended up swimming 43:03 which for him is better than last year, but slower than he is capable and he's a bit disappointed in his swim and said he could have swam a lot faster.

Bike:  2:57 29th AG

Since my wave was one of the last to go off it meant that the course was full!  I love this bike course because it's super pretty going through all the vineyards, but it's pretty much either uphill or downhill, nothing if flat!  Right out of T1 the road was packed!  The first few miles were the worst and it was hard to make totally legal passes without drafting, but eventually around mile 35ish it cleared up a bit, but then got clogged up again at Chalk Hill.  I passed a lot of people over the 56 miles but passing legally made it really hard to get in a rhythm.  I'd have to soft pedal a bit behind a line of people and then surge to get past all of them.  I felt really strong the entire way through and probably could have pushed harder, but ever since my incident with the "bee" two weeks ago I've become a little more timid on the bike.  Again at Chalk Hill I thought, "is that it?"  It's a nasty little hill but not as bad as it's made out to be.  I did follow a girl for about 20 miles and we just passed and repassed each other.   Finally I lost her on the descent coming down CH.  I picked it up heading into town but apparently I was not going as fast as I would have liked or thought!  I'm pretty happy with my bike time, but my goal was to go under 2:50 and I know that I am capable of doing that on this course.  I really think that my little accident a few weeks ago made overly cautious.  I averaged around 19mph on a tough course and improved 7 minutes from last year.   Derek and I both rode on IRT Wheels for the first time in a race and I must say I loved them! They were awesome! I like having something that is different than all the Zipps you see. It's a smaller company based out of SoCal and they have a great product, loved it. 

My trusty steed with IRT wheels, before we left.

Not race day, but this was my race outfit.  Love Betty Designs!

Nutrition;  I pretty much ate the entire time on the bike!  I was a moving buffet.  I had 2 apple cinnamon Honeystinger bars (180 cal. each), 2 packets of orange blossom Honeystinger engery chews (160 cal. each), 3 Salt Stick salt tabs, 3 bottles of Skratch Labs lemon/lime mix (80 cal. each), and 1 bottle of water (total 920 cal).    I was not going to make the same mistake as last year where I was starving for the entire run!  I've discovered that I need to eat a lot on the bike to have sufficient energy to run afterwards.

FOOD!  Yea, I ate pretty much all of that on race day

Derek's bike was another frustrating ride.  Last year he lost a contact and he literally cannot see without contacts, and this year his aerobars came loose on a descent and tilted dramatically down!  He said he almost went over the front but was able to save it!  Disaster averted!  Once he was able to get the bars in a semi-correct position he was able to ride again but couldn't stay in the aero position on any descent for fear of going over the front.  Apparently, when the bike shop installed his new aero bars etc. they should have put a carbon compound between them and the stem, which they didn't! 

T2/Run:  1:58

My AG had a much better rack placement this year as opposed to last.  I was lucky enough to be in the first 3 racks this year and didn't have to run all the way to the back.  I was in and out in a hurry!

My legs felt really good coming right off the bike and I was ready to run.  I think a lot of that has to do with my new fit, it really has made a difference.  I didn't have dead, heavy legs for the first mile or so.  I realized at the mile one marker/aid station that I forgot to start my Garmin, oops!  Not really sure what I went out the first mile at, but it felt like low 8s? It was pretty hot  and I made sure to get lots of water at every aid station, one to drink and 2 to pour on myself.  Usually I do not do well in heat and I really wanted to do my best to stay cool.  I was able to keep my pace in the high 8s and low 9s.  The hills around mile four are the worst and my pace crept closer to 9:30 but I did my best to recover on the downhills.  My HR was good and I was able to keep it in the 160 range for most of the course.  I had a high point around mile 6 I saw Derek as I was entering the vineyards at La Crema Winery and there was a misting tent!  I was so excited to see both!  Derek looked good and I knew that I needed to turn it on if I was going to catch him (he was about 1.5-2 miles ahead).  The loop through the vineyards hurt!  All of a sudden there was no breeze and it was HOT with no water/ice to dump all over myself in sight.  This year we made a right out of the vineyard to the turnaround point and I saw Derek again this time he was about a mile ahead of me.   I was catching him but I knew that time was running out.  My right hip flexor started hurting around what I thought was mile 8 but was really mile 9 (not starting the Garmin had me all confused, I couldn't do basic math), but I just pushed through.  I was not slowing down, I had to catch my husband!  The last few miles I was able to get down to the low 8min/mile pace but I didn't have anything left.  I was tired and ready to stop moving.   I was also in no-mans-land as far as girls from my AG, all the fast girls out in front so I didn't see or pass but one or two girls from my AG the entire run unless you count the girl who had "26" on her calf that passed me in the finish chute but turned out to be in my AG Turns out Derek was able to hold me off and finished 7 minutes before I did.  I did negative split the run course, so I'm really happy with that!


Overall 5:33:33 27th AG.  A new PR for me!  Derek finished in 5:57:57, and I'm really proud of him.  He did great and it was so nice to have him standing on the finishing line waiting for me.  I'm pretty happy with my performance at this race.  I know that I could have done better and have a much faster 70.3 in me, but I did the best I could with what I had to work with on race day.  I know that taking 6 weeks off from running and only being able to run the last month of training is not ideal, but out of my control.  Next year I will do better! 


My parents were at the finish too!  It was nice to have someone there to cheer you on.  I love that they drove all that way to see us.   We went to dinner in downtown Healdsburg and the Healdsburg Bar and Grill, which was so yummy!  Derek was in beer heaven and I swear that was one of the best martinis I've had in a long time.  Plus we had chorizo corn dogs, talk about fat dipped in fat and then deep fryed in fat!  Pure heaven.  We stayed several days after the race to go wine tasting, shopping, etc.  But I'll save all that for another post, this one has gone on far too long!  Sorry I don't have many pictures, I forgot the camera pretty much every day.

Just a few of our wine country purchases!

In front of our favorite winery!

Here is the link to my official race pictures, I will warn you they are bad! But then again I don't think anyone ever likes theirs.

http://www2.brightroom.com/email/98176/2045/139261673

Where does the time go?

It's been a busy month.  Derek and I went and watched the last stage of the Tour of California in downtown L.A. (our old stomping grounds).  It was really cool to see all the pros and watch them, they are incredibly fast!   We rode the train from our house in Pasadena to downtown, which was nice that we didn't have to drive.  The day was really hot, but we had a lot of fun.  I forgot my camera and had to resort to crappy iPhone pics, sorry. 

I got 3 in the frame!

We also had family come visit us over Memorial Day weekend, which is always nice!  We hardly ever get visitors so it was fun to go out to dinner, eat way too much, drink, shop and do family stuff.  Unfortunately, we ended up taking the weekend off of training and only got in one long run.  Oops, but family is important. 

Breakfast from Marstons, good but so not healthy.

The last few weeks have been great on the Swim, bike, run front.  We've been logging lots of miles on the River Trail, Rose Bowl and pool.  The last 2 Sundays we got a late start and didn't finish our rides until noon, and had long runs off the bike after which were somewhat miserable because of the heat.  Plus where we run off the bike is on a black, asphalt path with absolutely no shade, not optimal.  I don't sweat that much and the heat really bothers me, but I was able to maintain 8:30 miles for a 6 mile run in the heat, which made me feel a lot better especially due to my calf.  I just hope that Vineman isn't hot this year, I'm one of the last waves to go (8:22 start time) so it could potentially be really, really hot on the run.  Or with all the hot runs Derek and I have done lately, I'll be ready for the heat!  I did get this snazzy little thing from TP Therapy cool point, I've only used it on one run so far so I'm not quite sure if it works or not.  It seemed to help, but the verdict is out still.

Derek and I both had Retul fittings done recently with Julian Franco of Franco Bicycles  Julian is the nicest guy and has made me so much more comfortable on my bike!  What a difference.  My fit was way off and I was sitting way too far forward on my seat.  Both Derek and I are already averaging 2-3 mph faster without even trying!  I feel so much stronger and faster on my bike.  My next road bike will probably be one of theirs too.  They basically will build you whatever you want!   You get to pick everything instead of buying a bike and then having to re-buy every component to make it exactly what you want.  I think Derek is already planning his out and will probably give me a wish list on the day I pass the CSR! 

I was so excited last weekend when an IM race in Lake Tahoe was announced.  We went back and forth and couldn't decide if we wanted to do it.  Well, it turns out we waited too long and it's sold out, poop!  So we're going to volunteer and do it the next year.  Hopefully by that time we'll also be living back in Sacramento and will be able to go up and train on the course.    I'm a bit disappointed but I guess it wasn't meant to be!

Ok enough of my ramblings.  Derek and I are off to Pismo this weekend for a little vacation!

It’s been a busy week! And I’m starting to realize I need to keep better track of how many miles I’ve ridden, swam, and ran.  I think last week I rode 160-180ish miles on the bike and swam an undetermined length in the pool.  Plus school is really kicking my @ss! I'm getting frustrated because I'm so close to passing into the next speed group, and I keep missing it by one or two errors. What other school considers a 97.5% a fail? It's crazy how high the standard is, but I totally understand. I will get there and pass a test soon. Then I'll be at the bottom of the heap again, to claw my way back out. Ah, the joys of court reporting school. 

Loot from the farmers market next to the house.

Last Sunday Derek and I went on another long ride on the SGRT.  The last 20 miles or so were through a really sketchy area, so we did our best to hammer it to the turnaround point and back.  There are little underpasses that go underneath the road, and it smelled so bad in some of them!  I could only think of the nasty crap I was riding through and not to fall down!  Derek has been having little run-ins with squirrels!  He has nearly ended the life of two on the bike.  Poor little guys run out and he misses them by mere inches, Derek almost went down on one because he locked up his brakes!  On Thursday Derek left work early, which he never ever does, to go ride 40 miles on the river trail.  We only made it a little over 20.  The wind was crazy!  I literally was giving it everything that I had and could only keep 17-18 mph.  The wind was just brutal.  We decided to turn around and call it a day.  There is one part where the path turns and we got a nasty cross wind, it was so hard to keep my bike upright!  I don’t even have high profile wheels either, and know I would have had a hell of a time to stay up if I did.  Maybe that is a little taste of what Kona is like; I’ll keep that in mind if I ever make it there.

Derek getting ready before the crazy, windy ride.

I still haven’t been able to run and my PT says that I have Peroneal Tendinitis, which sucks!  So, there has been lots of ART, stretching, rolling and ice around here. Thankfully he said I’m good to cycle and swim.  I’d go stir crazy if I couldn’t.  A new thing is that I’m going to start swimming with the Rose Bowl masters team.  For some reason when swimming on my own I’ve been getting bored and finding myself half-assign it. Which is weird, but I really think it’s because I don’t have someone to chase or someone behind me.  My first workout with them will be this coming Thursday, and I’m excited!  I haven’t swum in a structured team setting in years.  I just don’t want to be last, which I probably won’t be, but I still have that irrational fear.   

Sunday is the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California at L.A. Live.  Derek and I are going to ride the metro to our old stomping grounds (we used to live 3 blocks from L.A. Live) and watch the finish.  We’ve been watching the stages every day, and so far it’s been such a great race.  I was so excited yesterday when Sylvain Georges won the stage after being in the breakaway for 184km!  Riders in the breakaway hardly ever succeed in staying away and winning, but this guy did!  He held off the wolves just long enough!  Tomorrow will be a crazy, busy day because we have to get a long ride and swim in before heading to watch the race.  I think there is a super early morning in my future!

Absent blogger!

Oh, where do I start?  I've seriously neglected this blog for far too long!  So much has happened since I last posted.  The biggest and most important thing that happened is.....Derek and I got married on Maui!!!!

View from our balcony overlooking Lanai and Black Rock

We had the most amazing time!  It truly was a perfect day, and so many of our family and friends made the trip.  We spent a week on Maui and a week on Oahu, I never wanted to come home!  The hike to the top of Diamond head was probably the most athletic thing we did, other than surfing.   We pretty much spent two weeks eating, laying in the sun (pool or beach), surfing and shopping.  It was absolutely perfect!

Me a hot, sweaty mess at the top of Diamond Head

Derek and I on Maui in front of Black Rock

What we did almost the entire two weeks! Sit in the pool or on the beach!

School is still hectic, and darn it, one of these days I'm going to be finished and amongst the working!  I swear court reporting school really kicks my butt almost every day, but I will prevail and make it.  Most working reporters say that school is harder than work, I hope they're right! 

Derek and I are training for Vineman 70.3, again.  Last year didn't go so well for either of us. I like to think of it this way, I did Vineman and he did Blindman!  I was sick the entire week leading up to race day, and really could have done so much better.  And, well, Derek lost a contact on the swim and he is seriously almost blind without contacts, -7.75 which is very strong!  I have no idea how he rode 56 miles on a bike with vision in only one eye, but he did it. He likes to say that he is stubborn or determined, and I affectionately call it stupid.  Either way we both had less than stellar races in 2011.  I finished in 5:47 and Derk 6:33.  So we signed up to have another go at it!  Hopefully this year will be better than last. 

Lately our days have been filled with swim, bike, and run.  Well, not so much run for me, since I have injured my Peroneal muscle in my calf and it hurts to walk, especially going down stairs.  I've been seeing an ART guy and he's been working his magic on my leg.  I'm hoping to be up and running soon!  Derek runs the Rose Bowl loop and I attempt to walk Max around the small loop, but we only make it half way since Max refuses to walk. 

We've been logging lots of miles on the San Gabriel River Trail, which is awesome, but not very pretty.  Whoever decided ,way back when, to cover over L.A.'s natural rivers with concrete was a moron.  It's really ugly! I do like the fact that we can ride 60-100 miles and be in the aerobars 95% of the way, and not have to worry about cars at all!  Just the occasional dog, kid on a bike, or rooster will jump out.   For some reason it seems to get really windy some days, and that you're battling the wind both out and back, and then it'll change and come from the side.  I guess it just makes me stronger!  I really hate wind though.

See!  Not so pretty, but Derek looks cute.

Higher up the trail, but you only get "nature" for a few miles

Me, on the last run I did before I hurt my leg. :(

On Sunday will be my first "test-run" in a few weeks, and hopefully it'll go well.

Yay for July!

I love July!  I think it may be one of my favorite months.  It's summer, hot, full of BBQing, swimming, days at the beach and the Tour!  When I was little and on vacation in Gold Beach with my family I used to hate it when my Uncle Jim made us watch the Tour de France everyday.  I thought it was silly to watch men ride around on bicycles, who does that?  Fast forward to now, and I can't wait to get home and watch the days coverage of the Tour.  I'm glued to the television for 3 hours watching the latest stage.  I even love the announcers.  I'm really hoping that Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans kick ass in the mountain stages, and that Thor holds onto the yellow for a few more days. 

As far as my own training, Derek and I have been logging a lot of miles on the bike, meters in the pool.  Unfortunately I've been running alone, since Derek has a nagging Achilles injury.  I like running alone but I also miss my partner and having someone to talk to.  We recently started biking along the San Gabriel River Trail, and it's awesome!  I love it.  We could ride all the way to Long Beach if we wanted.  I really like that we can ride 50 miles without having to think about cars or anything.  Every now and  again a squirrel jumps out to play chicken with me, but I have yet to run one over.  Hopefully that day doesn't come!  Derek just bought me 2 really cute cycling kits from Betty Designs which I love! (see pic below).  I also have an Adamo seat from her and water bottles.  I love her stuff and can't wait to get more.  The next thing on my wish list is a workout bikini.

On the trail in my awesome Betty Designs jersey.

Vineman is a little over a week away, and I'm getting really excited but also a bit nervous.  The last 2 days I've had a really sore throat and my nose is bothering me.  I keep telling myself it's allergies, but as a precaution I've been drinking Airborne and all kinds of stuff like that.  I'd hate to have put all this time and energy and then get sick the week before!  I'll still race, unless I'm bedridden, but I really want to be able to do my best on race day.  I've done all that I can do up until now and just enjoy my taper week and bring whatever I have to the table next weekend.  Hopefully I'll feel better!  I can't wait to get away for a long weekend with Derek, even if it won't be that relaxing.  It'll be fun to get out of town, see family, race and drink some wine! 

California Classic Weekend

On Friday Derek and I packed up the FJ and headed for a fun filled family weekend in Fresno to do the California Classic Challenge, metric century ride on Saturday followed by a half marathon on Sunday.  This is the perfect training weekend for us, since Vineman 70.3 is coming up in July.  We stayed with my Aunt and Uncle at the Casa Durham.  Almost the whole family made the trek; my mom, Aunt Chris, Tommy, Tarah, and Terry (well for a few hours while on his way to Napa).  We stayed up and hung out for a few hours.  Bright and early Saturday morning we were up and eating yummy steel cut oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts before the race.  I wore my new outfit from www.bettydesigns.com which I was so excited to get as a gift from my love!  Derek and I had to leave a bit early to pick up our race packets, since we were late.  We got everything ready and met everyone at the start line.  Derek, Diane, Chris, Tarah, Shawn and I all tried to start together but with 1,500 people we got separated.  I was in no man's land with the girls in front of me and the guys behind.  I knew that eventually I'd meet back up with them again.  It was really slow going for the first 4-5 miles through town, there were a few times that I even had to unclip and stop but once on the 168 it was full steam ahead. 

The 168 freeway was closed for 10 miles for us to ride on, and that was really cool.  I finally caught up with the girls, and we slowly spun down the 168.  It was much smoother than I had anticipated.  For some reason I was thinking that it would be a really rough 10 miles, but it was probably the smoothest part of the entire ride.  Derek and Shawn caught up with us about 3-4 miles after getting on the 168 and we were all together again.  Once off the freeway we no longer had any traffic control, which I though was a bit strange since we were on country roads that people go blowing by you at 70 mph!  There were several uncontrolled intersections that cars would not stop, so it was a bit scary! 

me, Shawn and Derek stopping to say Hi to Mary. 

It would have been nice to have a little police presence out on the road so drivers slowed down just a little bit.  A semi truck passing you on a little country road can be unnerving at times.  We stopped again around mile 30 at the first rest stop and it was crazy!  Hundreds of people were there and only 4, yes 4 porta potties!!  Really!  Thankfully I didn't have to go, or I would have had to wait in at least a 20 minute line.  Once back on the road, we just cruised along at about 18 mph and talked.  It was so much fun to cruise along and chit chat.  There were some really pretty areas that we went through, but also some really scary ones. The route back to the finish took us through some pretty rough areas of Fresno, I really think the race organizers need to plan that part of the course a bit better.  I'm not really sure what our finish time was, since we did not have chips and I didn't start my Garmin until mile 24.

Derek, Shawn, Diane, Tarah, me and Chris

Afterwards we hung out and had lunch at the park then went home to rest.  When we got back to the house we all sat in the ice cold pool for a bit and then the spa!  Perfect recovery combo.  I also used my Grid foam roller and my legs were never sore.   Uncle Jim made us an awesome tri-tip for dinner with salad, corn, veggies and pilaf.  I was totally stuffed!  Derek and I went to bed pretty early since we had to be up super early again on Sunday. 

Yumm!  Courtesy of the Durham support team

We were up bright and early Sunday morning and out the door a little late.  Derek, Diane, Chris and I barely had time to park and get to the start line to fine Mary.  I think we talked for maybe a minute before the gun went off.

Derek, Mary, me, Chris and Lisa

It was crowded!  Derek and I once again started way too far back and had to fight the crowds.  We ended up running on the sidewalk for about a half mile to get around the mob.  Our time goal was to run the half in under 2 hours.  We started off in the 8:30-8:40 range and kept that pace, it felt good and wasn't a push.  The first few miles of the course really twisted and turned, but we did get to see Shawn a bunch of times and unload our warm clothes on him.  Thanks Shawn for always being our pack mule!  Once out of downtown Fresno we were taken through some really rough areas and beautiful industrial streets.  I mean after Big Sur the views here were just as stunning, I heard later that there were a few hookers out and about, I was a bit disappointed that I missed them!  Mile 6 we entered the Fresno zoo, and Derek took off!  He is really creeped out by zoos and caged animals really bother him, so he was off like a little rocket through the zoo. Once out of the zoo I fot him back on pace and we cruised along.  Around mile 8 I decided that I wanted to run faster and see if I could break 2 hours.  Derek tried to keep up, and stayed with me for a bit, but then dropped back.  I just kept finding people ahead of me to catch and pass, my last few miles hovered around 8:00.  Turning the corner and running onto the field I knew that I was well below 2:00 and ended up with 1:48:56 Woohoo.  Derek was not far behind, he sprinted to finish in 1:51:03.  He crushed his goal!  I gave him a water as soon as he crossed, but he just walked to the side and flopped down in the grass, he was spent.  I am so proud of him! he did such a good job and really put in a huge effort.  Especially on tired legs.  Shiny new PRs for both of us. 

Derek was spent after his finish!

Derek and I on the field.

Mary, Derek and I

After we finished we went back out on the course to cheer Mary and Chris on.  After Mary went by we waited for Chris.   I ran the last half mile in with her, in case she needed a little moral support!  She looked great and was running at a good little clip and she was extra cute in her lulu outfit.  We all hung out on at the stadium afterwards, ate breakfast, talked with my mom, Shawn and Jim (the awesome support team!).  Chris and I happened to turn around at one point to see Diane running across the finish line!  She walked/ran the half and beat her old time by 20 minutes!  Overall it was a great weekend filled with family, food and racing.  It was a perfect weekend and perfect training for Vineman in two months.  Lots of swim, bike run in my future.  I get the whole next week off of school to relax and recover from this weekend.  Even better we'll get to see the see the family in a few weeks in Vegas for PJs 21st!  Can't wait!