Lacamas Lake 10 Mile Walk

So it has been raining for the last week & God provided a break in that today for the third annual Memorial Day Lacamas Lake 10 Mile walk.

This is the third time they have held this event, and the third time I have participated...

This time I worked my hardest. Pushed myself as hard as I could & it paid off...

I officially came in as the first place Woman walker & the third place overall walker (behind two very fast guys that finished almost 10 minutes ahead of me!)

The guys were almost a photo finish with a 41 year old man that I had been walking with at the beginning finally catching up with the young 18 year old man that had won the event last year. He caught up with him in the last 10 yards or so & finished just ahead of him... Pretty neat...

But for me, as I was coming in at the end there were two gals close behind me & the announcer was asking if we were going to have another photo finish, which got me to look behind me & the announcer the poke fun at me about looking over my shoulder... I had just worked so hard to get where I was and maintain my lead that I didn't want to lose it right at the end! :o)

So rewind a bit to the start of everything today... My buddy from next door was kind enough to come over to the house and be here while the kids were sleeping before Mikey got home from his last graveyard shift.

I drove out to Camas where the walk was today. Wandered around and people watched until it was time to start. After making sure to remind the people making the announcements that they needed to remind people walking that it was a walk -- and if you felt like jogging at all to join the 10 mile run that started later... (Last year people that had jogged most of the way finished ahead of many of us that had walked and they got medals for a walk... I didn't see that as fair & commented about it... They were great and announced it many times this year before the start)

Started out right in the front & stayed there... The man that ended up winning and I were side by side getting each other to walk a bit faster since we were pacing each other for the first 2-3 miles... We were following two people... One close to us and one far off in the distance (that he caught up with in the end). We kept gaining on the gal that was close to us & when we were close enough to pass, he just charged on... Passing her and bolting ahead like an energizer bunny...

After he did that the 4th mile seemed to take forever because I didn't have anyone to help pace me... I just got into the groove in my head. And kept peeking behind me to see how close the competition was.

The first five miles was on country roads & then we went onto what is called the Heritage Trail - lots of ups and downs and ups and downs on a trail. My hip flexor hurt a bit at this point and it hurt to do any of the ups... But I just pushed through it and eventually it didn't bother me anymore.

After the 3 miles of trail it was back onto the side of a road for a bit. About here is where I realized and felt my socks bunching up in my shoes... I wear so special socks that have two layers to them (helps prevent blistering) and they had slipped and on of the layers had bunched up under the ball of my foot... It was grinding on the bottom of my foot & not feeling good at all... I normally would have stopped and fixed it. But this is the only event I do competitively & there was no way I was going to stop and lose my lead for that... So I just kept going.

Next was THE HILL... Yes, I capitalize that for a reason... Imagine going straight up a hill for 2-3 blocks... Man oh man...

The gal that was right behind me came REALLY close to passing me on this, but I just kept trudging along & kept in front of her. (Back to my new favorite chant "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" - as was on my shirt today as well...) I was really, really panting and out of breath by the time I got to the top of the hill & when it leveled out and I was trying to get in onto the track to finish.

I didn't know how far ahead of her I was and I had worked REALLY hard to get there and stay there and I didn't want to lose it at the end...

It was great to officially win this event this year...

2 hours 3 minutes - first place Woman walker... :O)

May 21st Rose Festival Duathlon Pictures!

May 21st - Rose Festival Duathlon

5k "run" - 30k Bike - 5k "run"

This was awesome! I had lots of fun...

I got up REALLY early... Before the birds... LOL

Drove to Gateway and rode the max downtown Portland to the starting area. Picked up my race number/packet & checked into the transition area. Got myself, my bike & my helmet numbered & all set up in my designated area & then just people watched until it was time to start.

They started us in waves. I started in wave #4 at 7:12, after the elite group, the teams & the under 30/over 50 group. There were a lot of us in this pack and I was at the tail end really quickly, being the only one walking the 5k on purpose. (some people later in the 2nd run section would walk, but just because they couldn't run anymore)

I just got into a good stride with the music/thoughts in my mind (since headphones were not allowed at all). It was funny about 5 minutes after I started the last wave of people was approaching behind me... A police man at a crossing said "I don't want to scare you or anything, but there are about 500 people chasing you!" That cracked me up!!! (Probably only 50 people, but still funny!)

I just walked and walked and walked... Finished this section strong in about 40 minutes (official times aren't out yet)...

Time to change to the bike. I quickly used the porta-potty, changed shoes, dropped my water pack, put on gloves and a helmet & was off... The first part was an out and back on front avenue where I have walked many, many times... Then we turned up another direction & it worried me that the elite people were just then coming back, I worried about what sort of hills were ahead that took them that long to go through.

We headed out to Barbur Blvd and Twilleger Blvd. Hills, Hills and more hills... I thought the hills were cool at first, ride up one & down one, repeat, rolling nicely... Then we went DOWN, DOWN, DOWN... I saw the looks on the faces of everyone coming back up them and they weren't enjoying themselves... So I was getting scared... Thinking about if someone actually checks to see if you make it to the turn around point... (the thought crossed my mind, but I wouldn't want to cheat myself of the whole experience...)

I got down to the turn around... They were handing out bottles of water, most people would ride and grab it at the same time... I knew I wouldn't be able to coordinate all of that, so I stopped, stood up for a minute, took a drink, put it in the bottle cage (where I didn't have a bottle before - it was in the fridge at home still)... Then I started out back up the hills...

There were a few that I found myself chanting like I did during the Newport Marathon last year... But this time instead of Right, Right, Right Left Right - it was I - Can - Do - All - Things - Through - Christ - Who - Strengthens - Me... One word per pedal stroke. Worked well, kept my spirits up and helped me get through it all...

I rode the bike up ALL OF THE HILLS!!! My new bike rocks!! The bike I rode last year, would have killed me, I would have had to walk a lot of it or be in agony trying to go up those hills.

It was so EMPOWERING to finish those hills...

After the hills it was back on a bunch of flat and sloping downward roads... Made for a nice ride back to the transition area... I was on cloud 9, having lots of fun riding fast & enjoying myself...

Back at the transition area, took off my helmet, changed back into my tennis shoes and put on my camelback again... Grabbed a little bag of M&Ms for some quick energy and I was back out walking again.

This second course took us along the waterfront for part of it & then back and forth through a bunch of warehouse type business areas... This was a humbling walk, seeing lots and lots of homeless people. They were asleep on stoops, sitting up watching, and some even clapping and cheering. It was bittersweet. I wished so much I had bags of supplies along with me to hand out to them. I wished I could give some of them a hug, and know they were going to be ok. But instead I walked on and prayed for them as I walked.

After going through this zig zag stuff, it was back out to the water and across another bridge back to the starting area along the waterfront.

There were lots of people at the finish - a cheering crowd of the rose festival court (all the high school seniors that are rose festival princesses), volunteers that cheered as I finished & a bunch of people that were waiting for the awards ceremony to start shortly.

Only disappointment was the finish just had someone to take the timing chip back from me and no finisher's recognition or anything. (I have started a hunt for blank medals so I can make them myself for each big event I do that doesn't award a piece of hardware... I just like them for the beautiful medals' case Mike made me, shows what I have done...)

Overall this was a fun & exciting event... I feel so accomplished to have done all of that...

My overall time was 2 hours 45 minutes - including the time in the transition area - they don't have the split times posted yet. I will add them when they post them...

Hawthorne Farm Triathlon - May 6th

This was fun. A really fun event.

This triathlon involved swimming in a pool 500 meters (10 laps), biking 13.2 miles, and walking 5K (3.1 miles).

They started people in waves according to their estimated swim time. I was in the first wave because swimming isn't my strong suit. There were supposed to be 4 people swimming in our lane, but only two of us were actually there to swim, which was good. I can't imagine the coordination of four of us in the lane. Just the two of us bumped into each other plenty of times!

I did my swim in 14 minutes 38 seconds. I wasn't the last one out of the water, but close. I guess my method of breast stroke down and back stroke on the way back was slow, but it got the job done! It was neat that all the swimmers waiting to start the next wave were on the swim deck and cheering as people got out of the water. Really nice.

I was huffing and puffing when I got out of the water headed for my Bear in the Big Blue House towel... Outside drying off while making way across grass, down stairs and across a bunch of asphalt to the place where my bike was parked. Had a fun time getting biking shorts on over my wet swimsuit, bike jersey, coat, socks, cycling shoes and a helmet all on in 3 minutes and 40 seconds!

I was off on the bike & ready to go. Only regret was not remembering a water bottle for on my bike, I was thirsty! Followed the markings on the ground and enjoyed the ride through the beautiful countryside. Was fun to be passing people that I didn't swim as fast as, but was able to make up time while on the bike catching up with them.

Had a fair share of hills, but I was a bit better off this year with a better bike, and knowing how to shift a bit better, that I rode up all of the hills. (last year I can remember walking up a few). I was proud of myself for riding up them... There was one particularly large hill that I got to the top of & couldn't believe that their was a church at the top of it... It was just fitting... Then it was a steep downhill from there... That hill I was going over 30 MPH down the hill & using my brakes to slow myself down! (the thought of falling over off a bike at any speed is scary, so I take it easy and very careful)

I finished up the 13.2 miles in 53 minutes and 32 seconds. Pretty good in my book. :o)

Back into a different transisition area, changed my shoes, shed my coat and my helmet, grabbed my camelback & my MP3 player & I was off again in just 2 minutes and 38 seconds. Fun trying to tell my legs it was time to walk now... No more pedalling for now...

I got into my groove quickly with the walking and enjoyed people watching more since the whole course was out and backs looking at other people while you were walking.

I had fun watching the numbers on people (we were all body marked with permanent marker on our calves) to determine if they started in my wave, or in a wave behind me. I really liked the staggered start of this triathlon because it allowed us slower competitors to not be out on the course all by ourselves... The elite/fast people didn't even start until 9:30 in the pool (2 hours after I had started - I was totally off the course by then).

I was the only person that I saw walking this event. I sort of came up with a nickname for myself "The Walking Triathlete." Yes I have a lot of time to myself on these events and think of all sorts of things while I am out there.

I finished the 5K in 41 minutes and 22 seconds...

I have all of the times now because they posted them on the website, but I didn't have a clue how long it had taken me to do the swim or the walk portion because I didn't have a watch with me. So I was happy to see the results posted just to know the timing of it all...

My total time was 1 hour 55 minutes

All in all it was fun! Not sure how to display the GLASS they gave me as a finisher... Won't quite fit in the medals case Mike has made for me... Silly people - where's the hardware? LOL

Discovery Walk Festival April 28-29

This year's Discovery Walk Festival was more fun than I have had in the past at this event. In 2004 I did my first 1/2 marathon as a part of this festival & I enjoyed myself, but not as much as I did this year.

This year I scoped out that they had an award that you could get called a Try-Athlon. By walking, biking and swimming during the event weekend you would get a special award. Right up my alley with what my goals are for this year.

So the first challenge was to look at the schedule and figure out how I could do all three things during the weekend. They had the biking on Saturday morning & the swimming Saturday afternoon... That worked well. The walking could be done Friday eve, Saturday am, or Sunday am...

I chose the Friday afternoon Mayor's walk. My workout buddy said she would like to come along as well, so we chose the 5k (just 3.1 miles) they also offered a 10k (we would have to work up to that for her...)

The most fun of all of this was that S came along as well & enjoyed herself thoroughly... We were even asked to carry flags at the beginning of the walk and she really liked that as well... (This is an international walking festival, so they had flags from all different nations at the beginning of the walk).

It was a nice sunny day with a gentle breeze as we walked along the Vancouver waterfront. It was fun to chat and people watch as we walked along together. S surprised us keeping up really well as well as enjoying herself.

We finished up in no time & got a little finishers award & that was the end of Friday's event.

Saturday I headed over and started the bike event towards the tail end of the time they allowed you to start. (generous start time of anywhere between 9 - 1). I followed the map they gave me and the markings on the ground and rode the 25k - just over 15 miles. It was a really scenic route through the old Vancouver Fort area, out to Vancouver lake and back. I really enjoyed doing this and it had a really neat cycling pin and medal to go with it!

I put the bike back in the car (in the parking garage across the street) grabbed my swim stuff & caught a shuttle over to the pool where the swim was.

I didn't realize how short of a distance you had to do... It was only 300 meters (six complete laps down/back). I finished that in no time & was drying off and getting my Try-Athlon patch.

It was really a fun time & I hope to complete it again in the future. Perhaps doing the 50K on the bike & the 10K of the mayor's walk.

I am also excited to see that S has the ability and the interest in completing short events with me. :o)