20 Hours 31 Minutes

I figured a 197 mile relay race would be crazy. I had no idea how beautiful, fun, massive and hard it would be. Going into this race I did not know any of the 11 other people on my team. I either got lucky or was meant to end up on this team because they were all absolutely awesome. Every single person was talented, interesting and fun. Oh - and also a rock-star runner!

For those of you who don't know much about Hood to Coast - it is a 197 mile relay from Mt. Hood to the Oregon coast in Seaside. Each team has 12 runners, who run 3 separate legs of the race (each about 10k). Our team goal was to win the mixed submasters division (6 guys / 6 girls, all age 30+). There are 1,000 teams, which = 12,000 runners. It is CRAZY!! Some teams start as early as 6am Friday morning. Our team started at 6:30 Friday evening.

Brian and I were a little overly excited about the free stuff Cliff gave us!

The race literally starts on Mt. Hood - the first leg is brutally all steep DOWNhill. My teammate Nona rocked it.

Sometime around 12:30am I tried on what I thought was the most awesome reflective vest EVER that Jeffrey had snagged for me from work. Apparently my new-found Slughunter friends thought it might slow me down and outfitted me in this reflective vest instead.

My first leg of 6.4 miles took place along a dark river trail at about 1:30am. Running at 10k pace with a headlamp in the middle of the night is somewhat surreal and amazingly weird. In some ways it seemed like an odd dream. I saw people sleeping in tents along the river, bizarre reflections from my headlamp and even though I was running around 6:30 pace, it felt more like I was running a 4:30 pace because everything was coming at me so quickly. Words can't accurately describe it.

As sleep deprivation and miles added up, so did the loopiness. Around leg #8 our team moved into 1st place. What was awesome was to watch the momentum each of us added to the race. We all had predicted times for our legs. Continuously each of us came in slightly under the prediction and our lead started to grow.

This is what the van looks like after you run and try to sleep.

Billy had no trouble sleeping upright.

My 2nd run took place around 8am Saturday morning. It was only 4.9 miles, but I was somewhat worried since I hadn't slept and my legs felt less than frisky. This was probably the hardest leg of the race for me - I got a side stitch and didn't start to feel good until about mile 4. It was motivating how strong our team was running. That combined with some caffeine in my GU kept me moving fast.

Yes, those are jean shorts.

The finish in Seaside was beautiful. My legs were nothing but unhappy with me by the time I hit the final leg around 2:30pm Saturday. But running over the hill to find this view of the fog, ocean and my friends waiting to run through the finishing chute was something I think everyone should experience at some point in their life.

We won our division with a team average pace of 6:15 for the entire 197 miles. It continues to amaze me at how many beautiful places two legs can take you! I have a million more fun pictures to post later this week. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was the fact that by the time I came home today, my abs hurt from laughing so much!

Headed to Oregon

Tomorrow I fly to Portland. Saturday morning at 1:30am I will run my first of three legs in the Hood to Coast relay. I have wanted to do this race for over 10 years. Somehow it just never fit in the schedule, or I didn't know anyone on a team, blah, blah - it never happened.

This year I'm sure it was meant to be. In March I got an email from Kevin (whom I did not know) inquiring if I'd race on his Hood to Coast team. Not just any team - he was trying to build a winning mixed sub-masters team. My initial response was "YES I want to, but I can't!" I had been planning to race Ironman Canada. The only way it could happen was if I somehow got a Kona slot in April at California 70.3.

Getting the Kona slot ended up being more than exciting. Not only because I would race Kona again, but also because it opened the door for Hood to Coast.

You can view a live camera from the beach finish in Seaside here. Our team is called Slug Hunters should you wish to look up results. I'm hoping to post some random sleep-deprived blogs from my phone.

I am the anchor on our team - which means I have been given the honor of running the final leg #36 onto the beach around 3pm Saturday afternoon. Oh, and if it's a close race, it also means I need to run like the wind!!

GO Dad!!

In 2001 I was introduced to Ironman thanks to my Dad. He signed up and trained for IM Lake Placid. At the time I don't think I even owned a bike. The night before the race I was so nervous for him I hardly slept. I was pretty sure my Dad might die doing this insane event!! His big-picture goal was to go to Kona. At the time I really had no idea what "Kona" was.

Race day was crazy and immediately I wished I was racing. All day my mom and I ran around with the signs I made and cheered like mad women! It was hot and later poured and some of the athletes looked like death. But not my Dad - he looked strong. Toward the end he got a calf cramp and the run turned slightly ugly.

I remember watching him come through the finish chute and being so proud. The most exercise most of my friends Dads get is from golf. Not my Dad - he is an Ironman!

Since 2001 we have raced IM Coeur d'Alene together twice. Last year when I raced it my Dad ran around the course all day giving me splits. He even stood at the top of the evil little turn-around-hill out at the far end of the course to cheer - not just for me, but for all the athletes.

On Sunday my Dad is racing Ironman Canada. He is ready. If you are spectating at IMC this weekend please cheer for Ken Bauer #1926!! His big picture goal changed a few years ago from "racing Kona" to "racing Kona with my daughter." I can think of nothing better!

Riding and a Birthday

This was my view during most of Saturday's ride. 

Except it wasn't quite this blurry.

My favorite ride-by shot of the day.

After the ride we headed to Roo's birthday party. She's the one in the background practicing using her new camera. Jesse got extra Mac and Cheese for me. It was the best party ever!!

I considered Photoshop-ing the shininess off my forehead, but that seems like a lot of work, and really - who would notice? Unless of course I happened to point it out. 

And a nice parting shot of Killer K and the Frog Queen.

Happy Birthday Roo!!

Summer Images

Have a great weekend - get outside - summer will be over soon!

A Day Off

No, not a day off of work, but a complete day off from training. I'm pretty sure the next three days completely negate any "resting" I have on tap for today, but that is in the future, so I'll deal with it when it arrives.

I took this picture on a walk with Steven last night. The moss is someone's front yard. No lawn-mowing required. Pretty awesome!!

Broccoli Invasion and Sparkly Bike

I have not purchased tomatoes or leafy greens for salad in months thanks to our garden. I even got my first carrot a few weeks ago! The broccoli apparently requires more room than I originally thought - as it has taken over. I had no idea broccoli got to be so big before it produced edible produce.

The Look got some love this week from my friend Mike. Without Mike I am sure most of my bikes wouldn't be in nearly as nice shape as they are. I bring them to him covered in sweat, dust, sports drinks, dead bugs, etc. Sometimes I also throw in the occasional odd clicking noise, just to keep him on his feet. He returns them better than new. Thanks Mike!!!

Key Ingredient

Illustration by Heads of State

Pretty strong words and pretty spot-on. You can apply these words to just about anything in life - sport, love, work, bike commuting, hobbies, etc. I'm using it as Kona inspiration this week. If you've got passion for something you can make it work - make it happen.

What I learned this Weekend

You can never have too many bike bottles.

Frozen Popsicles on long rides are awesome.

There is a camel farm on our long bike route.

While riding all over North County this weekend, Ian and I realized we spend quite a bit of time visiting gas station convenience stores. Funny since we tend to ride bikes everywhere!

The weekend was big. Some of the miles were hard. And I'm pretty proud that we crammed it all into two days!

Love what you Do what you love

Created by Bandito Design Co. You can buy it on etsy.

I like this. As crazy and hectic as my life is - I really love it. I like my job. I like training. I love my friends. I love my family. The list goes on. Life is always going to throw unwanted things into my path and it definitely won't always be fair. But I tend to think if I have the time and resources to write a blog and spend time on my bike on the weekends, or running, my life is pretty good!

Bike Performance

I'm still laughing!!

Detour

This morning I got on my bike to ride to the pool and accidentally ended up at Peet's Coffee. The pool was not happening today.

There are some days when this is a much better alternative to swimming.

The human body is crazy adaptable. The past few weeks I have done more training than I thought possible with a full time job. Somehow I crammed it all in. And amazingly my body keeps bouncing back and allowing me to throw more at it day after day. Today it said to stop.

This weekend is big. Thankfully I have some equally crazy friends who will join me for all things riding and running. "Join" is a term I use loosely - in reality I'll spend much of the weekend chasing them. And really, having them out there with me is all I need because when it gets hard and I consider throwing an extravagant pity party for myself we can all laugh at the craziness of it all.

Beautiful

My job tried to kill me in a battle today. I won. There were almost casualties though! The pictures below are from the remainder of our weekend.

My new nephew - can also double as a heater. No need for a blanket, just hold the little guy!

Sunday I rode up around Morro Bay. Obviously I am from down south - I was the only person on a bike without a jacket and arm warmers. Remember - it is AUGUST!!! Coastal fog is cold!

But the sights were amazingly beautiful!

There are two deer in this picture - look close.

This was at the top of one of my canyon climbs and made it worth the effort.

Happy riding!

End of the Road

New scenery made my ride fairly fantastic today.

My Google-maps route had me turning on this road. I was somewhat fearful of how many high mountains it might take me over. Turns out much of the road is a false flat - I felt as if I was going backwards on flat ground for over an hour. Thankfully the scenery was awesome and the lack of cars even better.

My first planned route was scrapped and I resorted to "Plan B route" when I realized the road I was going to turn on was gated. And dirt.


Hi Mountain Road finally started to look like it would take me over a mountain pass, instead of just taunting me with false flats. Shortly after I took this picture I rounded a corned and said several bad words out loud, to no one in particular. I'm not sure what the actual % grade was, but I did the paper route all the way up. At one point I thought I was going to have to walk the Kestrel up, it was so steep.

This is what I found at the top of my paper route. A large yellow sign that was laughing at me. The only good part was being able to scream down the hill again, in about 1/3 the time it took me to climb it.

Thankfully, the more tired my legs got, the more beautiful the scenery seemed to get.

I am not ashamed to admit that when the tandem train, being pulled by a couple twice my age came charging by and invited me to jump on, I gladly did so.