Beech Mountain 5K

Race Report time! Yeah, so I'm writing a race report for a 5K. Races are few and far between for me right now (or really, nonexistent) so let me have my fun. On a related note, I'm actually not that burned up about not racing this year. Probably because I've been racing literally since I was 8 years old with only a few short breaks for some minor injuries. Right now, there are more important things going on with me and racing is not something that's near the forefront of my mind. I do still enjoy going out and cheering for everyone, and of course working out. I don't think I could never not workout.

Anyways, onto the race! Marty and I would be up in Beech Mountain for part of the 4th of July weekend visiting some family. Where is Beech Mountain? Next to Sugar Mountain. Ha, helpful, right? Sugar is near Boone so we were near Boone. But that only makes sense if you live in NC. Bottom line, we were in the mountains, and it was N-I-C-E.

My mom sent me a link to this small race and of course I knew Marty would want to do it since he loves doing races wherever we might be traveling. Since we were on a mountain, we knew it would be hilly. I've been to Beech Mountain a lot and couldn't really picture where we might run a semi-flat 5K, but whatever. I went on the website and they had some nice pictures of the race so I thought it would be all right. There was 1/4 mile that was flat and they took pictures of that 1/4 mile.

Liars
We knew the pictures were an exaggeration when we drove some of the course the night before. It was HILLY. Like crazy, wicked hilly. I've done hundreds of 5Ks (no joke) and this was by far the hardest course I've ever seen.

I was under strict instructions to keep myself under control. No problem. I have not been running very much (a 30min run is my typical jog at this point, and that's only 2, maybe 3 times a week) and absolutely no speed, unless you count the strides we do on Monday night. I promised Marty I would go easy. The hills were going to make my heartrate sky rocket and my plan was to jog up them and then fly down the downhills (most people don't know how to 'let go' on the downhill).

So that's what I did, and starting off slow worked to my advantage as almost all the girls who started off ahead of me (a lot) died a slow death and I picked them off one by one. Seriously, I was not running fast, the course just took it's toll on everyone.

There was this totally stupid steep hill on the golf course that had to be about a 20% grade. I baby stepped my way up and caught the 2nd place girl who had to stop and walk. And she was fit! I didn't actually know I was in 2nd place now and just kept it at my cruisey gear to the finish line.

Here are the results. So you see, I got 2nd place in a blazing time of 23:53. Not bad for 16 weeks pregnant! 7:41 pace in the hills and I felt fine. Not that Marty believed me since he was none too happy to see me finish that high up. I assured him over and over that I didn't push it, yes my HR was high but that was only because of the stupid hills and I wasn't overheating (the temps were very nice there).

Even the finish was a slight uphill

After Marty got done reprimanding me

The runners (this was my 12 year old niece's first 5K! Poor thing)



With our other niece Ashleigh, and her blue monkey

Contemplating something while holding the blue monkey

With my nieces (and Tassie in the corner)

And triathlons, take note: post-race they had pancakes (3 versions: plain, blueberry, and chocolate chip), bacon and sausage, several different fruit toppings and whipped cream, oj and coffee. That's a lot better than a bag of chips and some banana's!

It was a fun race with some great sponsors. They gave lots of goodies and the organizers did a great job for this first year event.

That night we ate barbeque and watched fireworks on the mountain with several hundred other people. It was great to sit outside for the holiday and not swelter. I was actually in jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt! The fireworks were fun but the whole time I could only think of poor Tassie and how scared she probably was. This is definitely her most hated holiday.

Yeesh

Another week gone by. My lack of blogging is not in direct correlation with my life being boring. On the contrary, I've been too busy! So to recap:

I've had trouble with my motivation and getting up at o'dark-thirty to swim at morning Masters, but I did manage to get over to Jordan lake on Wednesday for some open water swimming with friends.

Marty and I saw The Green Lantern on Tuesday. There were some bad fires over on the coast and our air was full of awful smoke so a movie was a good option. We had no idea that our local theatre has a promotion on Tuesday's called "Super Stimulus Tuesdays" where we not only got the matinee $5 movie ticket price, but also $1 popcorn and $1 cokes! What a deal! Oh yeah, the movie? It was comic book silliness. Entertaining, yes, which is what I go to the movies for. But when I accidentally let it slip to Marty that I thought overall it was kind of stupid, he looked at me like I had two heads.

I was in FAR training for 3 straight days at work. What is FAR? Federal Aquisition Regulation. I know, it's hard not to be jealous.

The Kure Beach Double Sprint was this past weekend, and it was sad not to be racing but I still had a lot of fun hanging out and cheering for everyone. Marty and I ran another open water swim clinic on Saturday before gorging ourselves at a yummy pancake shop. The gang hit the beach all afternoon while Marty went into Wilmington to buy a stand up paddle board! Can't wait to try it out! We had a nice dinner that night complete with the world's dumbest waiter. Here was one of the exchanges we had with him:

Bobby: "Do you have any microbrews?"
Waiter: "Micro whats?"
Bobby: "Microbrews."
Waiter: "Uhhhhh. I've never heard of that."
Marty: "Small commerically made beer from the US..."
Waiter: "Huh! I don't know what that is and I'm a bartender!"
Me: "Craft beer?"
Waiter: "Draft beer! Yeah! We have draft beer!"

The waiter was quite good looking and has obviously gotten through life because of it, I'm thinking.

The race was good - it started an hour earlier this year so it wasn't quite as death hot as in years past and the wind was negligible so overall it was pretty fast.

Pregnancy is progressing. AKA, Bri is getting fat.

Here is Tassie - I wanted to take a picture of her before her summer hair cut. She would only look at the camera if I also held her paw.

Boone Camp 2011

Boone Camp was slightly different for me this year as I'm not really 'training' right now. Just working out depending on how I feel, and it's amazing how much I can excuse myself when I don't have a goal in sight. Someone mentioned to me that I'm still working out way more than the average American, but it seems like nothing most times!

Anyways, we rented an even bigger house this year that had gorgeous views and allowed all 19 of us to stay together. Marty and Steffen did most of the cooking (thanks Steffen!!) Most campers got there Wednesday night and much wine and beer was consumed - a theme for the week :)

Thursday was a ride to the Viaduct - which I opted out of since I didn't think I could actually ride that far in that hilly of terrain and be even remotely close to everyone. So I did a shorter ride by myself where I proceeded to get lost and ended up using my phone GPS to get me back home. I also did much more climbing than the original route planned for. Ah well - still a beautiful ride in nice weather.




View from the Viaduct

My view

In the afternoon we went to a greenway that is the flattest place you will find in Boone. I got to catch up with Brian who ironically I hadn't seen since Florida camp even though he lives only 20min away from us!

Someone's got bunny ears!
Thursday night - yummy burritos and card games. We ran through 2 big containers of ice cream, too.

Friday was a hilly ride where I sagged for the group. A few miscues where the ride leaders forgot about me (let's hit the greenway....oops, what about Bri?) and a bit of cyclocross for the camp before heading up a nice climb near Valle Crucis. I was sore and tired after sagging which got a lot comments from people making fun of me to which I replied, you go drive a car for 4 hours going 15 mph!

>I swear there used to be a bridge

A view from the Sag Wagon

A nice swim in the afternoon and yummy chicken parm/lasagna washed down with birthday cake. Not that we needed an excuse for cake, but it was convenient that Lori's fell during camp.

Saturday we went to Moses Cone Park (awesome place to run!) and then hit Kilwin's ice cream which is now a tradition after the long run. We ate ice cream and pizza in the park right in the middle of Blowing Rock. Another gorgeous day.

Marty and me at Moses Cone

View from the Manor House at Moses Cone

These girls are fast!

Unfortunately, a big storm blew through which kept everyone from doing another swim in the afternoon -- okay, let's be honest, I wasn't actually planning on going anyways! Dinner that night was cookout food before half of us headed to a bar in Boone.

Lounging instead of swimming

Camp like you remembered - horseback riding included

It was convenient for everyone that I'm pregnant because I have no idea how they all thought they would be getting into town - DD for 5.5 more months! Before we left we took several camp pictures, some of which are not fit for the internet to see.

The group

Arrrrrrrr!

The real action took place at the bar we ended up at. While googling directions it was discovered that there was a women's roller derby competition that night and both teams would be partying afterwards at the bar! Cue raucous screams. As we were pulling into the parking lot we saw our first derby girl and lets just say the amount of screaming and laughing and pointing that went on led me to think there was no way we were walking out of this bar without at least one black eye. Marty had to calm us all down.

Pictures wouldn't do it justice, and frankly, we were all a little scared to be caught taking pictures, but let me just say this subculture of people was AWESOME!! Kari, Alysia and I also got some great ideas for our Doughman outfits next year.

There was dancing, shots, karaoke and conversations that cannot be repeated. Marty, Lori and sober pregnant girl (that would be me in case you're perplexed) all left at 11pm. The rest of the crew closed down the bar.

Yup. This ain't your run of the mill tri camp! Can't wait for next year!

Who did this?

Someone sent us this awesome gift basket - but there was no name on the card. If this was you -- THANK YOU!! So sweet :)

In other news, I have started wearing a heartrate monitor. That's right, just started. I've always been good with perceived exertion and since I'm typically training for short stuff, the HR monitor just wasn't all that necessary. But now it sort of it is and it's annoying! It doesn't help that it's super hot which causes the heart rate to be even higher....beep beep beep beep...yup, that's me!

In other, other news, Boone this week!! Can't wait.

The Word is Out

So as I mentioned in my last post, I actually announced something worthwhile in the post before that. But it was buried and I realize that not everyone wanted to read the epic novel that was that doughman report.

I'm pregnant! 13 weeks now, so that makes me due sometime mid December. Marty and I are excited, terrified, insert every adjective you want. So let's get to this bulleted list where I have random thoughts to post:

• We actually found out in early April. So I technically did that swim meet the tiniest bit pregnant. But that was not it's only race...


• The Triangle Orthopedic sprint was done at around 6+ weeks. I knew that it would be a cool day and since it was a time trial start I could hold myself back a bit and not go all out sprint hard. So to that person that came up to me after the race and said, "Geez, Bri, I can't believe you didn't win" I now give you a virtual kick in the shin.


• It was hard to keep this quiet from a lot of people we see regularly. Particularly with races coming up and trying to explain my lack of race schedule.


• I wanted to do Battle of Buckhorn the other week but Marty talked me out of it.


• It seems that overnight I've gone from running pretty comfortably and near my normal pace to S-L-O-W. Seriously.


• Still swimming and biking. We have Boone camp next week and I wanted to bike until at least then.


• I am overwhelmed and confused with what we will need to buy for this little person. I don't even know where to begin and all the helpful books and websites seem to make me more overwhelmed.


• We will definitely be finding out if it's a boy or a girl. Yes, I like surprises, but I can be surprised at 18 weeks just as well as I can be surprised at 40 weeks.


• I'm already annoyed with people who after giving their congratulations, proceed to tell me how hard and annoying labor/pregnancy/lack of sleep/child always getting sick, etc. Yes, we realize our lives will be changing. Positive advice is welcome!


• I didn't really want to do the whole facebook status announcement, so we've pretty much relied on word of mouth for it to get spread around. That has worked well :)

• Everyone is always interested in how the belly is looking. Truthfully, mine is not very impressive yet. I can certainly tell that there is a protrusion compared to my normal self (never to be seen again self?), and my waist is going, going, soon to be gone, but here's the best I got.

Old School

Had you actually read my previous blog post, you would have come across a bit of news buried within all those words. Guess you'll have to read it to know what I'm talking about :)

Last night was the first ever Old School Aquathon. Marty presented his idea for low key aquathon's to FS Series and they agreed to help out with them. We like the idea of bringing fun and different events to spice up the training and racing schedule for multisport athletes. And even better, at affordable prices. $20 until the week of the race - and we got lots of compliments on the t-shirt and generic soda and white bread to make your very own pb&j.

Last night's event was well attended and we hope everyone had a good time despite the horredous heat and humidity! I can sympathize as I was sweating all my fluids out manning the registration table and then at the furthest water station deep in the woods during the event.

I was armed and ready for the horseflies that like to come out in the summer months.



The next one is at Jordan Lake and consists of a 300 meter swim/1 mile run 3 times! I think that sounds like a lot of fun - come on out and join in.

Doughman - Bad Luck x2

Fundraising - we did it! The last little push got us the 6 minute head start! Thank you to all those who helped us reach our goal (some of you in a very big way). A week ago if someone had said we would reach the $1500 mark we would've said 'no way'. We were sitting at $900, but we literally worked our butts off to get there and even Friday afternoon as we pre-drove the course we still had donations coming in.

Honestly, none of us thought the time bonuses were fair. We all wished that raising money was tied to something different (like awesome prizes or something) - this race IS for fun and it's main goal is to help raise money for the two charities, but the competitors in us wanted everyone on level playing ground.

That all being said, we didn't exactly feel bad about getting the head start. They had posted these 'rules' way in advance and everyone had the opportunity to take advantage of it. We actually figured more teams would've gotten the big time bonus. In the end, most were at a 2 minute head start; there were only 3 teams that had the 6 minute time bonus. Both of the teams that beat us last year would be starting 4 minutes behind us.

This was huge because the team that won last year beat us by about 4:45, BUT the bike was a bit shorter this year. 2nd place was about 30 seconds in front of us last year and again, since their cyclist is a total stud, we thought the shorter bike would work to our advantage. The 2nd place team also had a relay member that wasn't super fast so that worked into our strategy.

Until we found out he wasn't racing - Oh no! We all shouted not very tactfully to his face (sorry about that, please don't take offense!).

No worries. We had our game faces on.
Back to the race.

It was decided for several reasons that I would do the bike this year. Brooke wouldn't be flying in until 11pm the night before, would be on a borrowed bike she wouldn't be able to ride until race morning, and wouldn't be able to pre-ride the course. This is key because the course is confusing and not always well-marked.

I don't have a road bike but borrowed Kari's (we're close to the same size) and was able to ride it a few times before the race. I was able to memorize the course and I'm pregnant. Yup, did I slip that one by you? :) 12 weeks - I was slightly worried about the heat and keeping my heart rate down while running, so the bike it was.



Race day dawns early and I think we were all so excited and nervous that none of us slept particularly well. Here I am pumping the ill-fated tires (that's called foreshadowing).

The line-up:
Brooke - corndog, 2 mile run, aquatic activity

Bri - 2 sweet potato tamales, bike 7.8 miles

Kari - Meatless Meatballs w/Spaghetti Squash & Vegetable Primavera, 2 mile run
Alysia - 2 lamby joes (sort of like sloppy joes), 2.3 mile run
All of us - 2 cupcakes, bread pudding, 1 loco pop, sprint to finish

The 3 teams that raised $1500 or more started. Brooke ate her corndog just slightly slower than the other two teams but caught both of them within the first 1/4 mile and never looked back. She did her aquatic activity and was then sprinting to me with raucous cheers from the crowd.

I ran to my plate and ate the 2 tamales in 1:08 (they timed me), then ran to Kari's bike before the next competitor had even come back.
I was off and then stopped at 2 stoplights feeling like such a tool just waiting for the light to change with no one around me. You are supposed to obey all traffic laws in this race - it's absolutely not closed and if you don't you can be disqualified. I have no idea if other teams actually obey them or not, but I wasn't going to risk disqualification for my team.

I twisted and turned my way through downtown before hitting another light (!) then making my way onto the American Tobacco Trail. There was a family of four right at the entrance with 2 little girls that had flags on their bikes, so I yelled that I was "coming through!" but had to slow a bit - I also hit a bump as I entered the trail - but I wasn't going that fast and didn't think anything of it.

As I was gunning it down the trail something felt off. I kept hearing a noise but wasn't sure what it was since I was on a borrowed bike. Did I have a flat? I kept looking at the back wheel but couldn't tell. Just go! You can't have a flat!

There was a hard right turn to get off the trail and I almost slid out - definitely had a flat. I'm surprised I actually stayed up right now that I think about it. I got off my bike and sure enough the back tire was completely flat. *!&@^(%

Wait. The FRONT tire is flat, too???!!!

I was stunned. TWO flat tires! What are the chances of that? I walked up the switchback trail to get off the greenway trying to figure out what I was going to do. I had no supplies - stupid, right? It wasn't something that had crossed any of our minds. It was such a short bike! Kari didn't even have a pack on the bike at all.

I just kept walking forward wondering how long it would take me to walk the entire course. I had probably only gone about 2 miles at this point. After awhile the 2nd place guy (Linus) came riding up. He asked if I had clincher or tubulars? Clinchers! I shouted. Those are the only wheels I ride, so he stopped. Yes, he actually stopped! And ran back everything he had, which was a small pump and one tube. His team went on to win and I'm definitely happy for that. Thank you so much for stopping for me!

Especially when the next 10 or so guys who went by didn't even do the courtesy yell of "are you okay?" as they flew by. Harrrumph.

I had about half of what I needed to change the tires. I'm not sure how long I walked - maybe 3/4 of a mile? After crossing a busy intersection, Team 7 stopped and asked if I needed anything. I said I needed another tube and some tire levers. He said, I've got that, and then decided to just hand me his entire pack before taking off. Score! I now had two CO2 cartridges which are much better than the the little hand pump. Have you ever used one to pump a flat tire? Takes forever and it gets very hard at the end.

A girl walking her dog stopped and said, "I don't know anything about bikes, but can I help you?" I chuckled and said, probably not." Then asked, "actually, do you have a cell phone?" She did so I called my sister who was at the race cheering and left her a message: "Shana, I have two flat tires, but I have everything I need. It might take a while but I'll get there. Tell the girls I'm sorry."

And now I get to work.

Front wheel off, tire levers shoved in under rim....dang these levers are dull. Must shove harder....need more leverage.....got it! I take the tube out and check for glass. Didn't find any. Inflate tube a tiny bit and get it around the wheel. Now comes the fun part, trying to get the tire back over the rim. Depending on the tire and rims, this can be very easy or very difficult. On race wheels it's usually pretty damn difficult and these were no different. I struggled and sweated and tried my hardest.

Now get this picture in your head. I'm on the side of the road in downtown Durham, wearing this ridiculous outfit with a thong over my bike shorts, argyle knee socks and a bow in my hair, aero helmet still on - sweating like a pig, grass, grease and dirt all over myself, and possibly leftover tamale stuck to my face.

Bloody stumped thumbs later (not really, but that's what they felt like) I finally got the tire back over the rim. Check for any pinching - looks clear. Grab the CO2 and attach to the valve...wait where's the valve? $%^^(##@! Of course, stupid! This is a deep dish race wheel and requires a long stem! This borrowed tube has a regular stem. Think think think. Oh! I remember Kari's back race wheel had an extender on it. The front was my 404 race wheel. I unscrew her extender and thread it through my rim to get it on my stem.

Now I can use the CO2. Why the heck why isn't my tire inflating?! It's then I realize that probably just putting the extender through the rim may not have worked and I'm going to have to take the tire back off, pull the tube out and THEN put the extender on. And I've now wasted 1 of the precious CO2 cartridges.

Cue mini tantrum. I throw the empty CO2 cartridge on the ground as hard as I can while screaming "SHIT!" Sorry to the few riders who rode by at that moment and had to witness that display of immaturity.

Breathe. Breathe. I take the dull tire levers and begin the process of getting part of the tire back off the rim. A minor struggle and it's free. I attach the extender. At this point, a man in a truck pulls up and asks if he can help. I think for a second and ask, "do you happen to have a bike pump?" He says, "I live two blocks away and have some there. I'll be right back."

Things are looking up. I can finish this front wheel, work on the back and then use a nice bike pump to refill the tires. I am not quitting this race. Obviously we're not going to finish anywhere near where we wanted, but we will finish!

Bloody stump thumbs later (again, not really, but close this time around!) And the tire is back on the rim.

Big breathe. One more to go.

I take the back wheel off, grab those daggum tire levers again that like to give me trouble.....and blink. No. No. Nononononononono! Kari's back wheel is a tubular.

Game over. Not only do I have no idea how to change a tubular since I don't ride them, I have nothing to change them with.

Up until this point I had held it together pretty well. But right then when I realized there was no way I was going to be able to ride this bike back to my team, that all of our fundraising and strategizing was all for nothing (well not nothing for the fundraising, but as far as our awesome head start), that Brooke had flown in from Colorado for this race, that this would be my last race of the year --- I started crying. And the poor man that went to get the pump happened to show up at this exact moment. I told him through sniffles that I couldn't use the pump because I had no way of changing the back wheel. He was a bit uncomfortable and kindly said, "Okay. Well, my daughter and I were going to go to the farmers market, so we can drop you off. I just need to run back home and get some stuff out of my truck and I'll be right back. Uhh, you get your stuff together and I'll be right back." I said thank you about 5 times.

He came back for me and dropped me off near the race site. I immediately ran into Angela (Tim was on Marty's team) and she gave me a hug. Apparently, almost everyone had heard what had happened. When Linus finished, he went over to Alysia and told her that I had two flats. She ran over to Brooke and Kari and relayed the message (I guess sort of loudly) because she said the whole crowd went, "Awwwwww!!!!" In the end, Kari and Alysia jumped back into the race so they could still participate. They all gave me hugs and told me not to be upset but I still felt horrible.

We ate our desserts and crossed the finish line together. (like the guy to the left?)


Next year it is on! Brooke promised to fly back. I promised to get back into shape post baby for Doughman. We will be back and ready to go and once again stick it to the boys!

We weren't the only ones who had bad luck (see the bad luck x2 title has a double meaning - clever, eh?). Marty's cyclist got completely lost on the bike course and ended up riding 15 miles (as opposed to 7.8!) He actually came in right when I was dropped off by the nice man - which was a REALLY long time later.


Next year has to be better!