wildcelticrose.net

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Chilly Hilly was a BLAST this year.

Michale F and I arrived early because he needed to register; because of this, we got “Doris Day” parking on the Waterfront a bit South of the ferry dock.

There were a lot of people registered already and since the weather was sunny and spectacular (very unFebruary like) we knew that thousands of people who were waiting to see what the weather was going to do would be registering at the last minute. The final rider count was 6,028. Yikes!

The person on the loudspeaker kept saying, “plenty of time to catch the ferry”. I looked across the street and saw the loading area nearly full and barely got in the queue. This was when I realized that no matter how much I fantasize about a lovely island home on Vashon or another one of our beautiful islands, I’d want to shoot myself if I had to use a ferry to commute every day (maybe after I retire and just want to write and do photography)

I had a brief visit with fellow ride ref Michael Snyder at the registration area before I headed over.

I discovered that I was only one row over from Allyson and Marizel, so I managed to squeeze over their direction and hang out with them while waiting to load.

I was one of the last people to make it in the queue and as the boat pulled away from the dock, we saw that the queue was full again. A quick phone check of my facebook status replies showed that Michael didn’t quite make it and there is a cutoff on the number of cyclists, not due to space limitations (it was weird not to see the deck covered in bikes) but to the number of life jackets available on the ship (that’s the law)

I ran into lots of friends on the boat (hey, with well over 6,000 people on the ride, it’s impossible not to find people you know) and spent a lot of time answering text and voice mail messages of friends I was trying to connect up with.

There were more than a few jokes about being glad that our tsunami was the day before (our tsunami was inches rather than feet)

I met Leo and my friend Bill on the Island side and waited until after the screaming hordes attacked the first hill to start our ride and ride ref duties. We figured that it would be helpful to sweep for those having mechanical problems or other issues (it was mentioned to me by a club member that they never see ride refs in the back of the pack) and that the slower riders might be more in need of support and learning about safe and courteous riding. The added bonus was that it was much less stressful than riding up the first hill in the middle of all the wobbles, stops and crashes (which there were plenty of refs already doing).

We honked our ride ref horns a LOT, made lots of bad jokes, sang silly songs, and made a huge deal out of thanking people engaging in safe and courteous riding behavior.

We got a lot of thank yous for being out there and only a few dirty looks from people we asked nicely to “please remember to call “on your left” when passing”. (thinking to myself here… Uh, excuse me? You are the one breaking the rules of the ride you signed up for and agreed to abide by are breaking laws, endangering others and when I ask you nicely to remember to follow the rules/laws I’m the jerk? Whatever…)

I’d say my biggest frustration was riders for whom “CAR BACK” seemed to mean “ride three abreast, pass people and take up the entire lane so that cars need to cross the double yellow line (bonus for doing so on blind corners) to get around slower riders.” (there are always a few buttheads in every crowd)

I was riding up one of the big steep hills at the end (the first of the series just before the church with the water stop and blessings) and thanked a gentleman for saying “on your left” as he passed me (we believe in loudly thanking people for doing the right thing in order to encourage such behavior from all parties in the future). The woman I had passed a hundred yards or so back who was walking her bike up the hill (and yes, I said on your left when I passed her) starting yelling at me… “WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT?” I don’t know how she could have thought I was talking to her, I was nowhere near her. (and how is “thank you” offensive?) At this point I was sucking wind and couldn’t have yelled back if I wanted to. Luckily, Leo was behind me and explained to her that I was thanking the gentleman who had just passed me courteously.

The positive interactions far outweighed the negative. Overall, I’d say that the riders this year were more courteous than last year which is surprising given the huge volume of riders.

Leo and I pulled into the finish line, chatted with friends, turned in our ride ref bibs and met Bill in the beer garden.

I ran into Crystal, Michael F joined us and then we headed over to Docs Marina Grill (with a few detours around the ferry dock and other areas looking for the place because we just hadn’t ridden enough hills already) to meet Marizel, Allyson and others for beer, chowder and a bit of the USA/Canada hockey game. We were in there when team USA tied up the game in overtime. The place went NUTS!

Michael and I headed out to catch the 2:55 ferry. OMG, the lines (of cars and bikes) were the longest I’ve ever seen them. We weren’t convinced that we were going to make it on that boat, but we managed to get on just before the cutoff. It wouldn’t have been a crisis as the weather was lovely, but we were tired and didn’t feel like hanging out on line to wait for the next boat.

It was a lovely ride back.

I ran into my friend Lynne in line so we got to hang out a bit.

of course, we had to do the obligatory “Look at us on the boat with Seattle in the background picture”

On a physical note, I felt MUCH better than last year (pretty easy to do)

I was in better shape, as I’ve been exercising more consistently. Last year I hadn’t eaten or slept for 3-days and had been very sick from the stress of my mother’s impending death, layoffs at work and some other things (not the least of which was the selfish jerk I was dating at the time who made everything more stressful).

I ended being SAGed off the course just after the rest stop because I was bonking (as it turned out, after I uploaded my Garmin data, I discovered that my heart rate had peaked at 215 and stayed there for over an hour)

That nasty hill just before the rest stop got me again this year; which was mostly due to lack of legs, my cardio-vascular system is in great shape. Perhaps I just psyched myself out.

When I saw Baker Hill, I almost died (I had been SAGed off the course before this point last year so it was the first time I’d seen it) and said to the guy next to me, “I see a walk in my immediate future” but I cruised up that sucker as well as those bad nasties at the end with no problem at all. (not saying I was fast, just saying I made it without stopping or walking)

The weather was great, seeing so many friends was great; and the fact that we got beer at the beer garden before they ran out was great.

The rest of the pictures are available here:

Today, I’m resting in the morning, cleaning my filthy apartment, going grocery shopping, and running errands. Tonight, I’m doing masters swim and TWBC ride leader training.

Tomorrow I go back to work to rest.

~L

Mood: Tired

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Yesterday was the culmination of the (sanctioned) triathlon season here in the Pacific Northwest.

I had grand plans to perhaps do a Half Iron triathlon (and and there were the two marathons I was going to do to earn my “marathon maniac” status)

But my training this year was “epic fail”.

Of course, the goal I set at the beginning of the year was an Olympic distance triathlon which I did complete (three of them actually) It just didn’t feel like “enough” once I completed my first one in early June.

I started out by barely surviving the holiday season (our busiest season at work and the beginning of my Mom’s medical drama)

I had to take several weeks off of training at the end of February when due to the aforementioned mom and job stress, layoffs at work, and having been sick I bonked on the Chilly Hilly ride with a heart rate of 215 (totally sick with cold/flu, stress and sleep deprivation induced).

February through the end of July, my mother was in and out of the hospital and there was much drama, lying, and resurgence of childhood issues including abuse.

Against my better judgment, (after much coercion) I attempted a trial co-habitation with the man I’d been dating for a year. I was always concerned about the age difference and that we were at different stages in our lives.

Thank goodness I kept my apartment, because before one month was over, it was apparent that he was selfish, unyielding, uncompromising, uncaring (he was gone on a solo backpacking trip when my mother’s body was found and left the evening I told him what was going down and that I expected her to be found dead within the week-if he has asked if I wanted him to stay, I’d have told him to go-the telling point is that it never occurred to him to ask), the fact that when I moved out, he refused to repay me for what I paid for a bed (his needed to be replaced and he still has it) and other issues that I won’t share out of respect for him (he’s not a bad person, just not boyfriend material) believe it or not, I let him talk me into “trying to start over” after this disaster. The good part is that the “starting over” was so bad, I was finally able to get pissed off. The more I heal from everything I was going through, the more I realize, it wasn’t me and what I was going through. It was a bad idea and a bad match.

And then there was the drama leading up to my mother’s death and the news that her body had been found and all the legal financial pressure dumped on me as the sole survivor. (not to mention having to deal with her friends wanting this or that, and vulture real estate agents)

After that, I got the flu, then I got a nasty sinus infection, then I tried to break my ankle falling/crashing my bike in the transition area at the Bonney Lake Triathlon three weeks ago.

It was a rough year, and I spent so much of it sick, stressed out and grieving that my training was completely inadequate.

I still raced through it all. I knew that my times would suck and that I’d be prone to injury if I pushed. But I needed to move (when I wasn’t sick)

Yesterday I completed my third Olympic triathlon (which I was hoping would be my first half iron distance) at Black Diamond. My 11th triathlon this year, and my 14th triathlon ever. (I started this silliness late last season)

When I drove through Enumclaw early yesterday morning, the thermometer at a local bank read 37 degrees (F) friends who were at the park (Nolte State Park) said that the thermometers in their cars read between 33 and 36 degrees.

That’s just “butt cold”

The lake (Deep Lake at Nolte State Park) was steaming when I arrived.

I needed to get there at 6:30 AM in order to get one of the very limited parking spaces at the state park; otherwise, I’d have to park 1 ¼ miles away in Cumberland and take a bus (not likely, I’d have ridden my bike and hauled my gear) to the park.

By the time I got my transition area set up, my feet were numb from the cold. I walked back to my truck, cranked the heater and hung out there until the start. It takes a lot time for the sun to hit an area surrounded by the Cascade Mountains and old growth forest.

My teeth were chattering (even in 3mm neoprene) when this picture was taken

The water was a “balmy” 64 degrees which sadly, felt good to get into.

I got the snot kicked out of me during the one mile swim (someone even hit my injured ankle). It was like swimming in a washing machine full of boulders. The start area was very wide across the shore, with everyone heading to a tiny point to round the first buoy.

*this shot from last year’s event… Check out how close the buoy on the far left is to the shore (it’s a small lake) No… not the one to the left of the shore, the one behind the shore… We all had to jam into that tiny spot to get around the first buoy (oh, and this shot shows about 1/3 of the swimmers in an average wave…)

I keep saying this, but I have got to stop starting in the back of the swim. I end up getting stuck behind slower swimmers, and there should be a rule that those who breast stroke should start in the back-it’s difficult to safely pass a breast stroking frog kicker.

I had a rather unimpressive transition from swim to bike and hit the rolling hills of the Cascades for what must be one of the most spectacularly beautiful bike courses I’ve ever seen.

The temperature “might” have been up in the 40s by then, but I’m not so certain. I did put on my The North Face Cipher jacket to cut some wind chill on my wet tri suit.

A woman who rode next to me for a time said, “What about that crazy swim?” Apparently she got the snot kicked out of her as well.

The 25 mile ride was challenging without being too difficult. My Garmin shows 1,410 elevation gain, 1,140 feet elevation loss (my Garmin says negative 191 feet of flat. I’m not sure how that works, but let it suffice to say that it was not a flat course)

My legs felt like mush by the time I was done with the bike ride.

I had another unimpressive transition (I was so out of it by this time that I put my bike shoes back on instead of my running shoes so had to change shoes again) to the 10K run.

I was very concerned about my lack of training and injured ankle (it wasn’t sprained but with the kind of trauma it was subjected to, I’m suspected that it would be more prone to injury than normal so I took it very easy on the run, quite a bit of which was on trails.)

The important thing here was to finish uninjured.

I met a very cool woman on the run portion (we also chatted a bit on the bike ride)

Here is my new friend Natalie and I after the race.

I actually managed to eek out a 3rd place finish in the Athena/40 and over divison. There were five women registered. I don’t know how many actually finished (the results page was borked at the time I posted this report) but I’ll take it.

Any finish you can walk away from right…

Here was the course…

My goal this year was to finish an Olympic Distance triathlon.

I completed three. I even (still don’t know how this happened but it’s still showing on the USA Triathlon website) got All American Honors for the Moses Lake Olympic Triathlon. (I think the rest of my times were too slow to even show up on the rankings as that is the only one I could find)

I completed a total of 11 triathlons this year.

And I got a lot of shiny things

I’ll take it.

And I’m planning on 2010 being a MUCH better year!

But I’m not done with 2009. I’ll be running the Seattle Half Marathon, the Norpoint Turkey Trot and some of Bob’s uber fun races down in Elma.

~L

Mood: Tired

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In an effort to distract myself from recent events by beating the crap out of myself until I collapse from sheer exhaustion engaging in healthy outdoor exercise I signed up for the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon when I realized I wouldn’t be able to train/fund raise properly for the Courage Classic when things started to go bad (for the final time) with my mother.

I almost didn’t do it.

Taper? What’s a taper? (for those not into marathoning it’s tapering off activity for a week or so before the event to give the body time to heal and rebuild from training-I am not good at tapering)

I backpacked on Sunday, ran around on the beach (beach sand is a hard workout) all day on Monday and backpacked out on Tuesday. I rested on Wednesday and did a 5-mile run (on hills) on Thursday, resting on Friday.

The 5-mile run after only one day after a 3-day backpacking trip was “teh stupid”. My legs hurt yesterday and were still tired this morning.

The stress of the last week, as well as the (multiple) record breaking 105 degree heat wave had taken their toll on me.

I almost went back to bed when my alarm went off.

I almost decided not to go several times during my getting ready time this morning.

I almost didn’t get on the shuttle in Tacoma because if I had just dawdled a little bit, I’d miss the last one and have an excuse not to do it.

Gee Lisa, unmotivated much?

I paid a crap load of money for this race at the last minute, and I actually paid for it and didn’t run it last year because I got sick.

So I sucked it up. The course was open for a long time so I could walk it if I wanted to. Heck, I had my transit pass with me, I could have hopped a bus.

As we left Tacoma and approached the Narrows (a, you guessed it, narrow crossing of the Puget Sound) we entered a fog bank.

Blessed, semi-cool, moist marine air. This was a good thing! (did I mention that it was a record breaking, miserable 105 degrees here on Wednesday?)

The start line was a the Tacoma Narrows Airport in Gig Harbor. The packet pickup was in an aircraft hangar complete with (you guessed it) aircraft. Personally, I’d be a bit freaked out about it if I was one of the plane owners.

I’ve never had a helicopter at a race start before (well, other than news choppers for big events, but they were in the air)

The only complaint I have about this race (aside from the fact that we had to haul our butts up to Bonney Lake which is nowhere near Tacoma to do packet pickup if we didn’t want to wait in a long line this morning) was the lack of port-a-potties. There were only 16 at the start for 1,000 runners who have been extra vigilant about hydration this week due to record breaking temperatures and most of whom drink coffee. (this is after all, the Pacific Northwest)

Most of us gave up and peed in the bushes/trees near the road or behind the hangars.

The race started nearly 10 minutes late (which is not good when you’re trying to beat hot weather)

We ran away from the bridge for about ¾ of a mile and then did a U turn to head out across the Narrows Bridge towards the City of Destiny (aka Tacoma).

I ran into my race buddy George who is 65 and has been running races for 28 years. He is featured in my Tacoma City Half Marathon Video>.

We had a foggy run across the Narrows bridge (we were thankful, it would have been brutal in the sun at this point)

We ran up the (another) hill up the Blue Star Memorial Parkway where the “Blues Brothers” water stop is.

I only got a shot of the last sign (blues brothers in the background)

All of the other signs were there…

It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.

HIT IT!

Oh, and there was ONE port-a-potty at this stop; and the line was terrible. I ended up peeing alongside Highway 16 in full view of someone’s house later on when I just couldn’t stand it any longer.

There was a lot of semi-public urination today. The port-a-potty situation sucked! I (and others) am pissed off literally and figuratively.

I ate well yesterday and ate and drank well this morning, but due to “life circumstances” didn’t have any Cliff Shot Blocks or gels with me, and I started to feel a little bit “bonky” just before Cheney Stadium (that’s Cheney with an “eeee” sound like “green” not like the dick)

There was a gel stop at the entrance to the Stadium, and George who doesn’t use gels was kind enough to get one anyway and give it to me. I sucked two of them down, along with water before a loop around the baseball diamond. (Sadly, Rhubarb the Tacoma Rainer’s mascot was not there this year, so no photo op)

It started getting hot about the time we exited the stadium back on to the Scott Pierson Trail which runs along Highway 16.

At the end of the Scott Pierson Trail we started heading down hill; this is where my knees started bothering me and I slowed down. I just don’t “do” downhill after fracturing both knees (don’t get me started on the spine and pelvis)

The last three miles were on concrete sidewalk (the rest of the course had been blissfully concrete free) and that combined with the curbs slowed me down a bit and I moved out to the edge of the road.

I cruised into the finish in 2:54:06 which although slow, is my fastest half marathon time this year (this was my 3rd)

Since this was a training run and done with my body under extreme stress from both emotional and environmental/heat factors (I purposely took it easy) I’ll take it.

We get finisher pint glasses at this race instead of medals.

They are still shiny and are useful.

I hung out at the finish line festival for a while. I almost won the award for the longest hair on a finisher and probably would have if I hadn’t had it cut last week.

My average heart rate was 136 (zone 3) with my highest heart rate hitting 158 in zone 4 for less than 12 minutes. It was a good workout, and I actually ran it faster than I did the 5 miles on Thursday.

~L

Mood: tired

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What a weekend it was…

I don’t even know where to start (and this post will be long and rambling)

When I first moved here 11 years ago, I couldn’t imagine riding on the road (hadn’t had a road bike since college and had been a mountain biker my entire adult life) more or less riding 204 miles from Seattle to Portland with 10,000 of my new closest friends.

But now, I can’t imagine not doing it.

Last year I was nervous and terrified-I didn’t know if I could do it.

What a difference a year makes; I fussed over logistics but knew I could do it even with less bike time this year (with all the triathlon training I’m not in as good a bike shape but am in better overall shape), had nothing to prove and would be riding with friends. (last year only 2 of the 11 people I trained with actually rode it and they wanted the latest start possible [on the hottest day of the year no less-I passed] so I rode solo)

Of course, no major undertaking is without things going wrong.

For the life of me, I could not find my bike pump that I took off my bike last time she was in the shop. I finally pulled one off of my other bikes.

My bike computer died so I replaced the battery (the battery wasn’t the only problem as it turns out-it told me I was riding 4mph slower than I was making me think I was bonking when I wasn’t)

and when I got to the start line, I discovered that when I tripped on my stairs leaving my apartment at 4:00 AM (almost took out my ankle and missed the ride all together), the heart rate monitor strap on my Garmin fell out of my bag and was likely lost forever.

I called Leo (my ride partner and other half of our comedy duo) at 4:30 and he was about 3 minutes behind me on I-5; we arrived at the UW in Seattle at about the same time. (not bad for one of us leaving from Bremerton and the other leaving from Tacoma)

I picked up my medical support jersey from our happy volunteers and got to meet Kimbery, MJ, Andy Williams (we’ve been reading each other’s blogs for some time) and Shawn Darraugh (photos to be uploaded to Facebook)

After picking up my jersey, hitting the port-a-potties and loading my luggage on the truck I was putting the final bit of air in my tire and getting ready to go when I heard,

“Hey!!! It’s DARWIN (my slug who has his own blog)

Mary was not only excited to meet Darwin in person

but she had banana slugs all over her helmet (and she gave me one; I also saw another slug on the ride that she gave someone else)

After that, Leo and I headed to the start line at 6:00 AM sharp (right in our projected time frame)

Last year, I was a very new (and nervous) road cyclist having only had a road bike for three and a half months before the STP.

This year, I was much more relaxed and less nervous about the other cyclists (many of whom aren’t adept at riding in groups safely or courteously) I also slept better the night before and ate more and often.

We enjoyed the cruise along Lake Washington Boulevard with the water and Tahoma (Mt Rainier’s real name) as a spectacular backdrop.

We had a blast singing, joking, insulting each other for the amusement of the other riders and playing duets on our horns (Leo loaned me a horn that honked to offset his “squeaker”.

There was an accident near Renton, but there were already medics and a support vehicle on scene and the EMS system had been activated so we kept going to be available for other incidents.

Claire and David when whipping past us on their tandem (they’ve been animals this year) Leo took off after them (at about 25 miles per hour) I took off after Leo, realized it was stupid to push that hard so early in the ride and backed off.

We did see them at the REI rest stop.

Where there were lots of REI employees volunteering and working hard at the BEST rest stop on the ride.

I even got to meet “Super Girl”

We saw lots of interesting people along the route and had a “lovely” (read hot on new black asphalt) run up the Puyallup hill and then headed on to Spanaway for the lunch stop.

We discovered early on that Leo was the “invisible” ride ref. He would politely ask people to say “on your left” and they’d completely ignore the poor guy. (he got teased about this for two days)

The lines were very long, but we got food quickly and then unlike last year, sat in the shade and cooled off.

It wasn’t easy, but I talked Leo out of waiting in the scorching sun for the port-a-potty lines and made other arrangements down the route (legal indoor plumbing thank you very much)

There was a bike accident outside of Spanaway, but there were more medics than patients and a support vehicle on scene, so we kept going to be available for other incidents. We also started seeing lots of flat tires.

I started getting sick from the heat around Tenino (it wasn’t quite as hot as last year, but was more humid) I thought I was bonking earlier when my bike computer said I was only going 9mph (slight uphill) when I was actually going 14 before I realized that it was borked)

Once I get that hot, I can’t eat because I get nauseous. Luckily, I was well hydrated, but I did bonk between Tenino and Centrialia. We pulled over and I downed a package of Cliff Shot Blocks and as much water as I could get down without vomiting (and it was close, let me tell you)

I made it into Centralia where I had a room booked at Rocky and Patsy’s house (the house with the mister set up practically on campus). No riding across town to a motel and walking back.

It was like staying with friends. The two other guys that were staying there were guys I had met on the Chehalis Western Trail (what are the odds out of 10,000 people) when I was being regaled with linguistic trivia by another rider.

I pulled up on my bike, put it in the back yard and was offered a beer (a good one too)

I had a nice shower, sat in the front yard and then a wonderful sit down dinner of lasagna, salad from the garden and garlic bread.

After that, we all walked over to the camp at the college (less than half a block) to socialize.

I finally got to meet Michael Snyder from the Cascade Bicycle Club.

Here we are with Leo in our obligatory Hawaiian shirts (how we recognize each other in the beer gardens at these events)

The beer garden had run out of beer (16 kegs), so we wandered over to the West Sound Cycling Club tent for a beer before calling it a night.

Yes, I was a naughty girl, I stayed out past 9:00 PM drinking beer with the cycling club from across the bridge (for which Rocky briefly locked me out of the house as joke)

I was awoken just before 5:00 AM (when the alarm was set to go off) to the sound of a torrential downpour (these were not showers-this was a deluge) which didn’t bode well for the rest of the ride. Heat exhaustion the first day-hypothermia the next. Good times!

Leo and I met back at the camp and headed out just after 6:00 AM.

I had breakfast at the house (just coffee and cereal, I’m not a big eater in the morning) but Leo didn’t. I hopped a paceline between Centralia and Chehalis, turned around and didn’t see Leo anywhere. It was his turn for a bonk.

I pulled out of the line and waited for him..

There was thunder and significant lighting strikes (big ones hitting the ground) which added more than a bit of excitement to the ride. We (along with a few hundred of our closest new bestet friends hauled butt into Chehalis where the smart ones took cover while the cells passed.

This was where we had an awesome breakfast at the park. (much like a hobbit, I enjoyed “2nd breakfast”)

Here are Leo’s Squid and my Slug enjoying it. (yes, the Ensure is Leo’s)

When we got a break in the storm, we headed out for what is my favorite part of the ride; the rolling countryside between Chehalis and Longview.

There was a huge number of flat tires on day two; it seemed like we were coming up on one every 100 yards or so. Michael even stopped for a guy who had broken his seat post.

This year, I had to stop in Winlock to take a cheesy photo with the egg…

We continued on through the wonderful rolling hills when our bliss was broken for a time by a hailstorm that pummeled us not long after we left Winlock.

I got to sing with a fun paceline while on the rollers. We belted out a fabulous rendition of “Take Me Home Country Roads”

I was excited to find that they were not out of turkey warps at the Lexington stop this year and we had a nice break and lunch.

At this stage in the ride (just shy of 150 miles) there was a lot of Chamois Butt’r being used… Here is the scene from inside of one of the port-a-potties

We were leaving that stop at about noon when the announcement came…

They were only going to do the escorts across the Lewis and Clark Bridge (between Longview WA and Rainier OR) until 1:00 PM.

It was only 8 miles away, but we decided to haul butt to make sure we got across with the escort.

The bridge to most people is the scariest part of the ride and it’s worse without the escort trying to ride it with logging trucks whizzing by.

Here we are lined up to get over the bridge. (small groups are escorted by the Gold Wing club)

And here we are crossing the bridge (right before the screaming downhill run with the scary expansion joints)

width="500" height="375" alt="STP 2009 031" />

The mad dash to get across the bridge lead to a bit more crowding on Highway 30 than usual but it was workable. (check out the rain on my helmet)

Just before the St Helen’s Rest Stop I could tell that my lactic acid threshold (which I’ve learned a lot about over the last couple years) was being pushed and that whatever they had at the rest stop (they usually run out of turkey wraps that late in the day) was not going to cut it. Michael was very good about staying with me and offering to take pulls when I started slowing down just before St Helens.

So I pulled over at McDonalds (disgusting but a good, cheap quick source of meat, fat and carbs all of which I needed) and got a cheeseburger and fries,which I stuffed in my jersey pockets before heading into the rest stop.

Leo looked at me with revulsion at my disgusting choice of endurance fuel to get the final 25 miles (out of 204) into Portland.

Michael looked at me a bit less harshly…

Soon, they both headed there as well (yes, I laughed my butt off)

Since I was the slow one out of the group, I headed out a bit earlier than they did.

Michael caught up with me well past Scapposse after sprinting a good distance and Leo took a bit longer to catch up.

After that, we took turns taking pulls into Portland (pretty much hauling butt-a 17 mph average that late in a double century ride is hauling butt for me)

That last stretch of Hwy 30 entering Porltand makes me nervous. It’s narrow, the traffic is speeding by, and everyone is tired, stressed and ready for the ride to be done. It was especially bad this year because it wasn’t just raining, it was pouring and we were soaked to the skin and there was a lot of standing water. Some of the storm drains on the side of the bike lane were only identifiable by the bubbles coming out of the standing water.

People turn into “instant buttheads” passing too close without saying “on your left” (I was tempted to snark, but could not do so while wearing a ride support jersey)

Just before the nasty hill coming into Portland we stopped to help a couple of ladies with a flat tire.

I don’t know what was up with me, but I actually passed people on the first half of that nasty hill, I came to my senses and slowed down on the 2nd half. (I’m not a great hill climber)

During the final miles through Portland to the start I was whining, “No ooone toool meeee iiiit might raaaaiiiin in Poooortland.” and “I’m sooooo cooool aand weeeeet I caaaan’t feeeeel my buuuuut anymooooore” (not a bad thing actually)

We hit every red light in Portland between the Steel Bridge and the finish line.

My friend Peter (one of my VERY best friends in Jr High School who I recently reconnected with on Facebook) was there at the finish line for me and for a very short visit. We hadn’t seen each other since the 70′s.

We got in very late (as a support rider Leo, Michael and I had to stop a lot to help people) and barely had enough time to get our bikes on the truck, grab our luggage and get on the bus back to Seattle.

No food, no beer.

I did change into dry clothes (which disgusted Leo that I did it without showering) but he actually got on the bus in his wet disgusting riding clothes.

Someone was kind enough to give us some granola bars as a “thank you” for volunteering and Leo found some cheese crackers in his pocket.

Traffic stunk (which it usually does on Sunday between Portland and Seattle especially on STP and Oregon Country Fair weekend)

We pulled into the UW parking lot some time after 10:00 PM and I was a bit worried when Flash wasn’t racked.

I d id not want to drive up to Seattle the next day to get my bike (again, last year the truck my bike was on got a flat tire)

Then I saw the next truck pull up and Flash was one of the first bikes off.

I was happily reunited with my beloved bike and headed home.

Yes, I’ll be doing it again next year.

Oh, the rest of the pictures are here…

~L

Mood: relaxing

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Today I took part in something that was bigger than myself.

Even though I was sore and tired from the triathlon yesterday, I couldn’t say no when asked to volunteer as a medical rider for the LiveStrong Challenge in Seattle today.

I don’t know anyone whose life hasn’t been touched in some way by cancer.

I hadn’t stopped to think about how many people I care about are survivors or actively fighting this disease.

As I wrote names down on my “in memory of” and “in honor of” cards, I started to cry.

I started to cry because there were so many, I kept remembering people and going back and filling out a new card.

It was getting close to start time, so I had to just grab the names of friends who were in the forefront for me now (I actually forgot my best friend whose cancer was a long time ago and a co-worker who just got the “all clear”) and get going.

Here are the few (of sadly too many) who were on the card today. Next year, I’ll think this out in advance because I feel bad that I missed so many. (I feel bad that there are so many)

My friend Diane Rooney died at the age of 34 after a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer (the types that hit younger women are fast and deadly) Diane and I jumped out of helicopters together and fought forest fires.

She was a warrior. After her diagnosis, she sold everything she owned and moved to Arizona (one of two states that recognizes naturopathic doctors) to study. She became an activist and battled companies genetically modifying food, spraying toxic chemicals and injecting milk cows with bovine growth hormone.

Before her cancer was diagnosed as coming back, I went to visit her in Phoenix. We took a road trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. I had a fiend from the academy who worked there, so we went and stayed with him and enjoyed “special” spots that most tourists will never see.

After she died, her father called me to let me know that her ashes were being scattered as soon as the area we both loved, Dome Rock thawed and the roads opened.

He mentioned that one of the last things she talked about before she died was that trip to the Grand Canyon. It was one of her fondest memories and a very special trip for her.

All I did was take a friend to a cool place where I had “people”. It was a simple act of friendship to me. To her, it was the last memory she held on to and took with her when she passed.

We never know when our actions might (or how) profoundly affect someone.

I met my friend Karen when I was a Ranger at Canyonlands National Park at the Island in the Sky. She was staying with a mutual friend of ours at Dead Horse Point State Park. Bonnie (the friend she was staying with) was gone for a couple of days.

It was around Thanksgiving and since Karen and I already “knew” each other through Bonnie’s loving stories, of course invited her over for Thanksgiving.

It was the first meal she had eaten since being released from the hospital where she had received some truly horrible chemotherapy.

I also gave her injections to help her body recover from the treatments (she was too shaky to do it herself)

Years later, when I was in the doctor’s office having a cervial biopsy, she sat with me and held my hand while they ripped bits of my cervix off.

Lizzy has fought a difficult and painful (emotionally and physically) battle with Ovarian and Colorectal cancer.

She is a marathoner. She has turned this marathon into an opportunity to fight this disease, even going to Washington DC to lobby.

My friend Annette has had her cancer come back at a truly horrible time in her life. (of course, there’s never a good time) and yet she keeps on keepin’ on by working and taking care of her two children giving them a loving home and good memories while going though treatments that sap her energy and make her sick.

I called her today to let her know that I was thinking of her; so I pulled off to the side of the road and gave her a call, “Hey, did you know that I’m in your neck of the woods riding with your name on my back?”

I cried after I made that call.

My beautiful “little sister” Megs has had so much taken from her by this disease.

After being to hell and back, she has finally found happiness and I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit back and watch that be taken from her.

I can’t find a cure, I can’t donate a bunch of money.

But I could volunteer to support those who can.

~ ~ ~

With that said, here’s the ride report.

I got up to Seattle bright and early and scored free (Sunday) street parking a block away from the Seattle Center.

I checked in, picked up my medical pack and got my cards (as mentioned before, incompletely) filled out.

With much fanfare and emotion, we lined up in our starting waves.

I had no business riding at all today after yesterday’s triathlon and my legs (and general sense of well being and energy levels) made that very clear.

I chose the 45 mile route in hopes that I at least wouldn’t bonk.

It was weird riding through the streets of downtown Seattle at 7:00 AM with no traffic. I’ve ran the streets when they are crowded with marathon runners for the Seattle Marathon; this was different, quieter, more purposeful.

As a sea of bikes, many riders wearing yellow LiveStrong jerseys moved down the streets people cheered.

Some asked, “What are you riding for?” Needing to give a short answer, I merely said… “Cancer”.

“Cool!” they said and they too began cheering on riders.

We got to ride on the I-90 express lanes (once again, I’ve only been on them for the marathon) which was pretty cool.

We headed out across the bridge for a loop around hilly Mercer Island.

People on Mercer Island sat or stood in their driveways or yards to cheer us on.

We looped over to Bellevue, down the lake to Renton and back up the other side of the lake back towards Seattle.

There were plenty of well stocked rest stops staffed by friendly volunteers.

The last one had a band and there was much dancing and toe tapping.

We needed that rest break because things got ugly from there.

The elevation gain on the course is listed as just a bit over 1,500 feet.

That’s true if you move from sea level to 300 feet above sea level (etc… etc… only once) but in a place like Seattle where there is no flat ground and you are up and down hills many many times, it’s much greater than that.

My Garmin shows that I climbed 6,043 feet in 45 miles today (I also rode down 6,061 feet)

Throughout the entire ride, my legs burned, complained and cramped up. They alternating between feeling like lead and rubber.

The ride was hard, damn hard.

And then I’d see a survivor ride by, or someone obviously going through treatment out there doing the same thing.

Now that’s hard.

So I kept pedaling and shut the heck up about it.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve cursed the hills on the route up to First Hill from the lake while on the marathon course.

Let me tell you, I will never complain again.

Not after doing it on a bike.

Relentless hill after relentless hill turned even strong riders, already hilled out into walkers.

The scariest part of the ride was once we got up the hills.

We had to ride down 3rd in downtown Seattle.

I have an increased respect for cyclists that run that gauntlet on a daily basis to commute. All I wanted was to get the heck away from there (I don’t even like driving a vehicle down those narrow crowded streets)

It is not a safe or bike friendly place to be; the need for the advocacy work that the Cascade Bicycle Club and other groups do is apparent.

We rode in tight little (single file) packs to make ourselves more visible and were all greatly relieved when we pulled safely into the Seattle Center.

We crossed the finish line to the sound of cheering and thank yous.

Luckily, the only medical “incident” I had today was someone asking for a band aid at a rest stop. Basically, I answered questions, gave directions, explained group riding techniques and encouarged safe riding. No illnesses, injuries or accidents. That’s the way a ride should be!

We had a choice of a burger (there were veggie options) or pizza and a Chipotle Taco. Mmmmmm tacoooooo. I went for the pizza and taco with apple slices as my side. I enjoyed them up in the beer garden on the Fischer Pavilion deck while talking about triathlons and training.

Now I’m at home on the couch getting ready to take some Advil and a nap.

It was a good day and even if it hurt (and I do), I’m glad I did it.

~L

Mood: Exhausted

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Today was our annual River Run/Walk 5K at work.

Uh, yes…. you read that right… at WORK (of course we had to do it on our lunch hour.)

I have my good friend and bike/triathlon buddy Kathy to thank for reminding me of this event so that I’d bring my running shoes to work. (after five days off, I didn’t remember much of anything)

Oh, and Kathy ROCKS; she was the 3rd woman in!

Vendors came and we had an expo.

I was expecting much less SWAG than previous years because of the economy, but OMG, I was wrong.

It was the best SWAG haul yet!

I got a great gear bag, shirt, socks (three pair from different companies) two pair of my favorite Yankz elastic shoe laces, Graingers shoe waterproofing product, some awesome Nikwax products for cleaning waterproofing and even cleaning stinky sandals. There was also Cliff bars, shots & blocks, Heed Electrolyte solution and Hammer Gels, Camelback Elixer electrolyte solution, cute little key chains and such, and awesome stainless steel water bottles courtesy of Brooks sports (I wear their shoes)

The run/walk started at 11:00 AM with lots of happy happy employees waiting for the start.

And we were off and running…

It was getting warm and the grass, flowers and that blasted Scotch Broom were spewing pollen everywhere, but I didn’t get wheezy.

I was however quite exhausted from only getting 4 hours sleep last night.

It became apparent quite early on that running a 5K two days after a triathlon (this early in the season when I’m flabby, heavy and out of shape) might not have been the best idea because my legs were definitely NOT happy. They felt like lead, but I didn’t have any pain and I was able to pull out a 31 minute run (I came in at 31:04 but goofed up and hit the start button before I crossed the start line. Hey, I’m happy with 10 minute miles as crappy as I felt.

if you are viewing this on LiveJournal of via RSS feed where the map doesn’t show up or if you’d like to see a larger map, click here

And now, I need to get to bed.

~L

Mood: Happy

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Yesterday (Monday) is what I thought was the one year anniversary of my first triathlon.

I think I may have over done it before this tri. Yes, I took a rest day the day before (when I was actually down with a horrible sinus headache that threatened to go migraine so I didn’t eat enough) but I did a 71 mile bike ride on Saturday and a five mile run and open water swim on Friday. (I guess that really doesn’t count as a taper)

I went down to Elma to do the Memorial Day Triathlon and compare my performance not only to this time last year, but to unrealistically compare it to my PR time on the same course at the end of last season (never mind we had a nasty winter and even nastier spring that has be behind on biking and running, and that even with a wetsuit and neoprene cap the bigger lakes are still way too bloody cold to get into so I’m not up on my open water swimming yet)

For those who don’t engage in this crazy sport (or don’t do it up here in the frozen Pacific Northwest where water is in the 50 degree range a good portion of the year) open water swimming presents many challenges.

First, even in a full wetsuit the water is insanely cold for all about a few short weeks of the year. The cold water compresses your lungs and makes it very difficult to breathe.

The wetsuit that keeps you from just up and dying from hypothermia further compresses your lungs making it even more difficult to breathe.

Oh,and then there’s the general excitement of a traithlon swim.

To get an idea of what it’s like, you can check out THIS video…

OK, it may “seem” exaggerated, but not that much.

Apparently, I’m getting braver because I didn’t start at the back and outside of the pack, I started right in the middle.

I got kicked in the head, kicked in the teeth and kicked in the chest.

It’s not as horrible as it sounds because water greatly retards motion and inertia, so kick in the chest is just annoying.

I’m going to have to learn to be more aggressive because I didn’t just swim over the kickers, I backed off and let them go (and they were slower than me)

I came across a guy that was doing some sort of demented dog paddle around the boat (it’s an out and back swim along the buoy line course) and I did finally get the ovaries to just smack him with my stroke until he started to move (hey, he also could have gotten the heck out of the way) so I’m not a big weenie the whole time.

I’m certainly not as afraid as I used to be.

I finished the 250 meter swim in 5:26 (should have done it more quickly than that, but I backed off when I got kicked)

I was very disappointed that 250 meters seems so far in open water. I have to do over 1500 meters for the Olympic distance triathlon on June 5th. As in (OMG!!! That’s in less than two weeks, I’m never gonna make it) At that pace, it will take me over 33 minutes to complete the 1500 meter course.

What in the heck was I thinking signing up for an Olympic distance tri at the very beginning of the season?

Ugh!

I slogged out of the water and was halfway out of my wetsuit by the time I got to the transition area. I still managed to screw up my transition and take too long. I had a case of “teh dumb” and take forever to get out of the wetsuit. I was just showing Annie and Jill the fast way to do it on Friday and couldn’t pull it off on the tri. T-1 was 3:31, way too long and I know I can do better. (on a positive note, I know how to cut a minute or two off my time the easy way)

I did the 13 mile bike ride in 45:01 which finally but me above the 16-something mph pace. I was at 17 mph.

The bike course is rough nasty chip seal and most of the course has a nasty cross wind. The head wind on the way back was brutal, exceptionally brutal, even for this course. I guess I really can’t complain about a 17 mph average.

I did rock my 2nd transition. I got my bike racked, got my bike helmet and gloves off, changed out of my bike shoes and into my running shoes in 52 seconds.

The fast 2nd transition was a good thing because my run sucked pond water. I ran the 5K in 35:39 which is well over 11 minute miles. (yeah, well I had swam and biked first)

It’s difficult to tell how fast you’re going after you get off a bike and start to run because you’re disoriented by the change in speed and perspective, as well as the fact that your legs feel like rubber.

I came in at 1:30:29.

It’s not what I wanted.

I wanted to at least come in under 1:30.

I was hoping to beat my PR on this course of 1:28:23 (I improved 8 minutes last season)

Even though there were things that went well, (such as the fact that my right calf did not cramp up on me during the first part of the run and that fast T-2 time) I was bummed.

I kinda felt like I sucked and that I’d never get any faster.

I have to remember that these little events are “training” not the “end result” or I’ll get very frustrated. (I most certainly didn’t taper before this one, I beat the crap out of myself the week leading up to it because I’m training for bigger events in three sports)

I’m training for a double century bike ride, a half marathon (maybe a full marathon later this year) and an Olympic distance triathlon.

Not only did I feel like a slug on the swim, I was 2:03 under my PR from last year.

I went home licking my wounds and feeling like fail, only to discover, this wasn’t the one year anniversary of my first triathlon.

When I looked up my race resluts on line, I discovered that I hadn’t even completed my first open water swim at this time last year.

My first triathlon was August 10th, 2008. Gene and I did our first open water swim was the week before that. My PR wasn’t until my 3rd triathlon on September 1st.

So if I compare this performance to a year ago, it’s off the charts. (oh, because I wasn’t even doing this at this time last year)

And I did come in 3 minutes faster than last time.

I’m feeling a bit cranky, out of sorts and over trained this morning, so I’m staying home and resting.

Thursday, Gene and I are doing an open water swim after work.

Friday I’ll have to rest again or do a very easy run because Saturday is another triathlon (just another little sprint) up in Issaquah.

I did get a shiny thing… (and NO, I don’t look anywhere near this buff, it’s just an optical illusion created by the fact that I’m taking my own picture and my arms are closer than my torso)

Here’s a more realistic photos showing that I am in fact, a middle aged woman who jiggles in places she’d rather not….

~L

Mood: Tired

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