Distance: 5k run/15k bike/5k run (the two runs were short, but I'm not sure by how much)

Had we not pre-registered for this race, we probably would have bagged it. The weather was looking pretty bad - all the weather reports had forecasts ranging from light showers to thunderstorms for the weekend. We spent a lovely day inside on the trainer Saturday (me - 1 hour on the trainer, 1 hour in the pool, 2 more hours on the trainer, Jeff - 4.5 hours). Figured we would be miserable and that Jeff would have to spend Sunday afternoon cleaning up the bikes after riding in the rain for the race.

We get up Sunday morning and by the time the sun started to come up - BLUE SKIES!!! A couple of clouds on the horizon, but looking like it might actually be a decent day! On the way to the race, I told Jeff I had prayed for good weather - sort of one of those "Um, God, I know this isn't really that important, but if we could have good weather for the race that would be great. If it's not doable, you know, that's okay too." Jeff said he had prayed too, but that his prayers were a bit more…um…fervent. More like, "God, if you don't get us some decent weather for this race I'm gonna be really @(*&#$% ANGRY." So I'm not sure which one worked :~)

I was a little concerned about the bike course - from what I read it looked like it went through the park for a mile or so and then headed out on Marine drive (which was under HEAVY construction). Then when we turned in to the park, the road got really bad - potholes & very rough road for about 1/2 mile.

At the registration table, we ran into a couple that we met at Sauvie Island and again at the LBS last week. It was her first "athalon" and he was the official photographer. Also talked with Scott in PDX a bit.

The 5k's consisted of 2 loops on a trail around the park. I felt like I was going along at a pretty good clip (for me) on the first run. Passed the lady from Sauvie Island but I guess she stayed close because she passed me back at the end of the first 5k. The trail turned to gravel at one point, which had me a little worried. But it didn't last long. At one point on the second loop of the first 5k, this older guy ran up next to me (I had heard him breathing for a while behind me and I was determined not to let him get by me) and said, "You're hard to keep up with!" He introduced himself and said, "We're running at a pretty good pace - about 6 1/2 minute miles." I'm thinking, "Whatever, dude. I can't even run a 200m repeat at a 6.5 minute/mile pace."

T1 was uneventful…came out of transition just behind the Sauvie Island chick…passed her within 1/2 mile and just started picking people off (mostly MTBers at first, then started picking off the road bikes, then the road bikes with aero bars, then the tri bikes - even a chick with a disc wheel!). Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my new bike??? At one point I came up on a girl that looked to be about my age - she blew a snot rocket that nearly hit me so I decided to drop her as payback. I was pushing pretty hard, but not really feeling fatigued, and the road wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The wind was rough at times, mostly when it was blowing from the side.

At T2, I almost left the transition area the wrong way - asked a volunteer just in time to turn around without losing too much time. It was hard to tell how I was doing on the 2nd run because the leaders were on their second lap while I was on my first. Passed a few people, felt pretty good.

1st (short) 5K: 23:34 - 8/18 overall women; 54/73 overall
Bike: 31:21 - fastest female bike split; 25/73 overall
2nd 5K (also short): 25:41 - 7/18 overall women; 51/73 overall

I was a little bummed that the run distance wasn't accurate - I really wanted to know how much I improved over the past couple of weeks in my run speed. After the duathlon 2 weeks ago, I wanted to experiment with some speedwork (did the 3-2-1 workout from the May Runner's World) to see if it would make any difference in this short amount of time. My 5k's from two weeks ago were 27 minutes and change and 29 minutes and change. I would guess I probably ran these 5k's at about an 8.5 minute/mile pace but that's just a guess. I really enjoyed running through the park - I usually get discouraged during the run because I feel like I'm going so slow, but running in the park with the rolling hills was really fun and I'm sure that helped my time somewhat. Still definitely will be working to improve the run time.

Overall place: 5/18 women, 1/2 AG :~) My first AG win! Hey, I'll take it any way I can get it :~)

We TNO'ers did you proud - Jeff and Scott were both 3rd in their AG's and David (EricH in PDX's brother) won his AG.

Thanks for reading…I really do attempt to make these reports shorter but I find myself blabbing on and on and on…

Happy training & racing! :~)

- MG