Pacific Crest Weekend

Kristin and I's friend Tony was planning on doing the Endurance Duathlon at Pacific Crest on June 24th. This endurance duathlon was a 56 mile bike ride and then a half marathon (13.1 mile run).
Pacific Crest had several events over the weekend ranging from a Half Ironman Triathlon and Endurance Duathlon (the two hardest events) to shorter Tri's and Du's along with some running events ranging from a 5k to a full Marathon. These events took place on Saturday and Sunday. Tony's event was on Saturday.
Tony and Joanne rented a Condo in Sun River, which is about 3 hours from Portland where the event was being held. Tony and Joanne invited us to join them in Sun River and we couldn't pass up the oppurtunity to go see Tony race and spend some time with Tony and Joanne in Sun River. For those of you that don't know Tony, he is definately the best athlete that Kristin and I know, so watching him race is always great to watch.
Kristin and I decided that we would do the 5k race on Sunday, as the run looked really fun. This would be my first actual race as an adult. Even my cycling events are not considered races, they are considered organize rides.

We took off Thursday through Monday from work to be in Sun River. I did my long bike ride before going to Sun River so that I would have that out of the way. After my ride we went to Sun River to meet up with Tony and Joanne. Shortly after I got to Sun River I realized I forgot my running shoes at the house. So... I ended up having to drive to Bend, which is bigger than Sun River and has a good running shop, and I bought another pair of running shoes. That was a big bummer.

Kristin and I found this amazing trail along a river, I think it was called Burnt River. This was a good break in for my new running shoes. The thing that Kristin and I noticed was with the higher elevation, it was noticeably harder to breathe, and to a certain extent, harder to control your breathing. Sun River is at 4,100 feet and where we live is at 200 feet. I am not saying it was impossible to breathe, or climbing stairs was difficult or something like that, just that it was noticable.

On Saturday, we woke up early and met Tony at the start line (Tony took a bus to the start line). The morning was definately colder than we had anticipated and there was some frost on the ground. At the start line we were able to see Tony before he started his warm-up on his time trial bike. While Tony went out for his warm-up Kristin, Joanne and I went to the beach by where the Duathlon starts. The beach is where all of the triathletes started with their swim. We laid out a blanket on the beach and the three of us chilled out for a bit while Tony warmed up. When it was closer to the start time we packed up off of the beach and talked with Tony for a while while he was waiting for his start. Due to the limited amount of storage on a bike, and the desire to be at the right temp once you get warmed up, Tony chose not to wear any arm or leg warmers, so while he was standing there, he was freezing and shivering. We watched Tony start his Duathlon, and then we went and watched the Triathletes start their swim.

Next, we went to a point on the ride that was about 30 miles in to the ride. At this point we set up some chairs and waited for the cyclists come by and cheer them on, and take some pictures of the riders. After this we went to the transition area where Tony will change from cycling to running and then we met Tony at the finish line after he ran his half marathon. This was an amazing event as it was truly an amazing effort that these athletes had to put out to finish the Endurance Duathlon and Half IronMan Tri. Tony did not have as good of a result as he was hoping for, but Kristin and I think he did really well for his first shot at an Endurance Duathlon. He ended up 26th out of 78 athletes. Considering this event was a Worlds qualifying event, so you had some world class athletes there, Tony did great. So, if he wasn't feeling right, I wonder what he would have done on a day he felt good?

After the race, we all pretty much just lazed around for the rest of the day and had some good food.

On Sunday, Kristin and I ran our 5k. My hope for the 5k (3.1 miles) was to do it in under 30 minutes. Tony and Joanne went to the start with us and cheered us on and they were our official photographers. After Kristin and I did our run, we went to a local coffee shop with Tony and Joanne and had some coffee. After we were done with coffee, I thought we should go and see how we did on our times. I already knew that I was under 30 minutes, and according to my stop watch, I was at 29:00 and kristin was a few seconds behind me, but I wondered how I did in comparison to everyone else. We went to see the posted times, and Tony noticed that I was first in my age/division and then we looked at Kristin and she was second in her age group. My age/division was small because I signed up as a clydesdale (anyone over 200 pounds), so I knew I was the fastest in my age group for a heavier guy. I got a gold medal and nice glass for it though, which was cool. Kristin recieved a silver medal and a nice glass for it. The cool thing for Kristin was the age group she was in had the overall female winner in it. So, she took second to the female race winner, in the age group. In the 5k, there were 235 females, and Kristin took 30th overall for all females, which was AWESOME!!! We were pretty happy. I was chuckling about mine though, I was not thinking I could contend for any kind of podium, and I really shouldn't have, but I knew I was in a small group. I know I am not considered a fast runner by any means. I finished in 29:00 and the winner finished in 17:53. After the times were posted online I realized I actually won in the clydesdale division for the 39 and under division. I also won the normal age group division that I would have been in if I hadn't put myself in as a clydesdale, which is 25 to 29. Not sure how it happened, but it is kind of cool that my first race as an adult I get a gold medal. :)

Okay, this blog has gotten way too long, again. I just wanted to share some of the highlights of our weekend with you.