I woke up to the sound of rain on the car outside. Uh oh, not good. The race started at 10am. For someone that gets up at 4:30 and is usually training by 5, that is a lllooonnnnggg time to wait for a race start. I warmed up by riding the trainer for about 15 mins and did some stretching. CRAP, that only got me to 7:30am. Still at least an hour before we were going to head up to the Couv. Gina's sister Toni arrived, we packed the dry clothes in the car and headed out around 8:30. Ya know, I have a real problem with going to road races. I'm so anal about leaving REALLY early for tri's (you know, transition set-up, etc) that I get to road races way too early. As we headed north, the clouds slightly broke and the rain stopped. By the time we got parked and checked in, the rain really started to come down along with some pretty serious winds. I looked at Gina and Toni and said, "crap, this is not good. WHY am I out here on a Sunday morning in the rain." They just laughed.

As we walked around before the start, looking around I noticed that EVERYONE was really skinny - kind of that gaunt long distance runner look. "Uh oh, G, I'm in big trouble. I could be DFL in this one! These folks look really light and fast." Gina and Toni were running the 5k, which started with the 1/2 mary.

Ok, so here's how that courses worked. Both races started together and headed west along the lake road for a 1.5 mile out and back. Once back at the start line, the 5k peeled off into the parking lot for the finish. The 1/2 proceeded along the same road eastward. It then headed off into some great country roads for another out and back for the parking lot finish line.

The field was really small, maybe a few hundred skinny, fast folks. Since we had never been to this park before, we weren't really sure which way the first out and back was. We ended up at the very back. I was actually standing behind a lady with a baby stroller/jogger thang. Uh oh, not good. Well, there was no bang, but everyone ahead of us started moving so I guess we're off.

By the time we started the rain had stopped. I cruised through the first out and back after zigzagging my way through the pack. By the time I hit the turn around things had spread out some. Uh oh, HUGE head winds. Hmm, maybe that is why the first few miles felt pretty easy. Oh well, I settled into a comfortable pace. The first mile marker I noticed was mile 4, which I hit at 33:15.

After another half mile the course turned onto a levy with an asphalt trail on top, which was really exposed to the winds. This lasted for another mile and half or so, then on to a country road. This portion was mildly rolling hills - bumps, actually. No real climbs at all.

The Mile 8 turn around was probably the steepest climb that only lasted maybe a hundred yards or so. At this point, I had been turning between 7:40 and 7:20 mile splits. Realizing that I felt pretty good, I said to my self "Self, I think it's time to suffer a little bit and see how hard I can push into the head winds without completely blowing up."

The next few mile splits were between 7:00 and 7:10. Waved hello to a few folks I had talked to before the race and gave a few "Hang in there, you're almost to the turn-around"'s to some folks on their way out who looked like they were hurting a little.

Up on the levy, grabbed some water …. yeeeeouch. Side stitch. Oh crap, this is not good. I had still a few miles to go and didn't want to slow down. So what did I do…pushed a little harder. Ma G would later say…"you idiot…". Back onto the road that heads to the park and the winds picked again even more. Saw Gina and Toni, tried to wave hello and smile. We'll see if that actually happened when G's pictures come back.

Made the last two turns and hit the finish line at 1:40. Not bad for the slow fat kid. We had a HUGE pizza feed at NY, NY pizza in Portland. The only place I've had pizza outside of NY that claims to be NY pizza and is actually pretty close.

Sorry this was so long and thanks for reading if you made it this far.

- Jeff