PACIFIC CREST

Pacific Crest in Bend Oregon, the location of a life changing event and great times. After a 6 1/2 hour drive from central Washington, we made it to the beautiful Sun River area on Friday at 11pm. There, we met up with two other families. In the group of 6 adults and 6 kids, 11 participated in some sort of event. The youngest participant being 8 and the oldest 43.

Saturday was the day for Splash, Pedal and Dash!! What a great event for the kids! We had so much fun yelling and rooting on the young ones. Parents can be so competitive when it comes to their kids - lol. Well Saturday night was drop of the bike night at T1. This would be this first time I would see the buoys that everyone talks about. They only had the orange marker buoys out and they still looked ok, but I was not sure how far the white buoys would be. I put my bike in that "out of the way" kind of place on the bike rack so I would not get in anyone's way when the mad dash coming out of the water bike transaction began. Remember this is my first Tri so later on, as I found out, that would not be a problem. I looked for Drew and Rob's bikes but I only found Drew's Porsche (nice bike) and fast helmet.

On the big day, the three of us, Kelly, Sam and I, all went to T2 to set up our running gear. I was looking around to get an idea of how people were setting up their T2's and I noticed that a few peeps were leaving their race belts and bib numbers with their shoes. In my mind that was a great idea. If it was legal I was going to do it too. I was thinking about the comfort level on the bike with no race belt cutting into me and one less thing to put on at T1. Besides that, there was a number on my leg, bike and helmet. I'm sure that would be enough numbers for them to see. Off to T2, we took the 10 dollars a person bus ride so the family could catch up with us later at the lake start. This was a good idea, they drop you off right at the mouth of the entrance of T2.
Ok, I made it! Race day is here and this is what all the training has been for. All the reading, talking to people, and picking their brains has lead to this moment and the most important task to remember today is to HAVE A GREAT TIME!!

Before I set up T1 I looked for Drew and Rob. This would be the first time I would meet them face to face. We met at the Red Bull arch placed by the water exit, great guys. They both looked like Triathletes, Rob seemed excited and Drew was very calm looking (on the outside I'm sure.) I have been reading about Drew's progress and nasty workouts for sometime. Very motivated guy. We talked about the buoys that seemed to be on the beach across the lake, but Drew was all, "you will be fine have fun it's not far la la la." I was glad to see someone was not about to come out of their skin. Ok, on to setting up my first ever T1. Bike looks good, tires are aired up to 110, 12 ounces of PowerBar Gel loaded up, 3 water bottles with with Hammer Nutrition HEED High Energy Electrolyte. Boy did I learn later on that would be way too much to take in. All that stuff made me bloat out bad. I need to learn more about nutrition on the bike!!! Not just all gel :(

Time to test the waters. Wet suit on, the water was great. I think they said it was 62 degrees. I had been training in 58 and I can tell you that 4 degrees does make a big difference. Race time. I was in the third wave, 40-44 baby blue caps - oh so manly. Swim was off I was right in the middle of the start. I really wanted to get the full affect of a swim start. Well at the first orange buoy all went bad - way bad. I came up out of the water and I could not breathe. Was I having a panic attack? What the hell? Ok, I told myself to just calm down but that was not working. I started to look for someone just in case I needed help. There was a volunteer in a kayak and I was watching him and he was watching me. Then I heard the last wave (BANG), here they come. I looked at the volunteer and said they are going to run over me and he just looked and me and went "YUP." My mind was going a mile a minute thinking about what will happen if I don't make the swim. What will my wife say? All the time, all the money, I CANNOT FAIL!!! I thought of Drew saying in his first tri that there was a guy that grabbed a buoy and that he was not going to DNF. Finally, I raised my hand to the kayak volunteer, he came right over to me. I know this guy was my savior, he talked to me for about 4 minutes I guess. Yes, I was falling way behind and that was not helping me deal with stress. He finally said to me, "we are watching you and you will be just fine." Hmm, I ended up swimming the rest of the way (1 mile) freestyle without stopping. Wow, that was wild! I did write an email to Pacific Crest to thank that volunteer for his help.

Out of the water at a blistering pace of 53:27 and onto the bike. Bikes? Umm, where did they all go? Wow! I have some making up to do. Took me 5:30 to get out of T1, but I think most of that was tying that damn plastic bag that I finally gave up on. (Note to self, take bag tying class in off season.) Then I see Sam coming out on his bike, cool I least don't feel all alone. Sam takes a spill just after mounting his bike which lets me catch up to him. We joke about how much fun we had in the water. It's time to go. Bike is going good, I passed alot of people. I could really tell all the good swimmers and fast bikers were way ahead of me. I passed a gal that had a chrome fender on her rear tire, I passed her early thank god. I pushed it pretty hard for me on the bike with an average 19.84 mph and off the bike in 2:49:33.


I hit T2. Drop grab and go - 2:04 for me. Wahoo! I saved some time there. I was going to need it for the run. Oh boy, it was fun trying to find my legs. I have always heard it takes about 2 miles to find them, not really sure I ever did. The Red Bull station at mile 9 was funny. I think those girls had about 10 apiece themselves, way hyper. They had good energy I needed that. Run was slower then I was hoping for. No shame in walking some I guess. 2:21:22 ouch. Beep Beep - I finished!!! Family and friends were there to greet me. I learned a lot. I learned that I better train harder and learn a lot more about nutrition for this sport.

Final # swim 53:27
T1 5:30
Bike 2:49"33
T2 2:04
Run 2:21:22
Total 6:11:58

Congratulations to the Brown, Barnes, and Moore families and all those that participated!!!

Scott - Half-Iron Tri
Sam - Half-Iron Tri
Kelly - Half-Iron Tri
Janice - Olympic Tri
Holly - Olympic Tri
Deanna - 10K
Kendra - 5K
Taylor - 5K
Gavin - 5K & Splash, Pedal and Dash
Sarah - Splash, Pedal and Dash
Hannah - Kid's One Mile Dash
Laura-Team Manager