Harvest Moon 1/2 race report

• Alarm was set for 4.30am - I got up @ 4.28.  Yeah, I didn't sleep much that night.
• I knew where I was headed, but forgot that my night vision was pretty poor, so I pulled over a couple times in the last few miles so that I wasn't leading a long line of racers in the wrong direction.
• Parked about 10 ft from bike exit/entrance - score!
• Racked about 12-15 bikes in from the bike exit/entrance - double-score!!
• Saw Tim Hola, again (it's like the guy follows me around to all my races), but luckily he was racing elite this time and not age-grouper.
• Started talking to another rack neighbour about the bike entrance... turns out it was Angela Naeth doing an aquathon training day (she started 10 mins behind me and passed me around mile 12 on the bike).
• Also saw buddy TR and know he is a great athlete and is training for IMStG - was just hoping I was going to be able to put enough distance on him on the bike to hold him off on the run.
• Water was chilly (67.8F) - I was glad I brought my De Soto Black Pearl 2-piece, as it's much warmer than the Orca sleeveless that I have borrowed indefinitely from GG.
• Swim started OK, but I quickly realized my left goggle was filling - swam single-eyed for a while, then emptied.
• Continued with goggle issues the entire way out of the out'n'back swim... had to stop at least 6 times and once was redirected by a kayaker as I was veering a little too far off course (apparently my single-eye, into-the-sun sighting technique is not so good).
• Finally got a good seal at the turn-around and swam hard and relatively straight back to the beach.
• Stumbled up the beach towards t1 and saw KN standing in his wetsuit cheering me on - huh?! (apparently his bronchitis got the better of him and he was helped out of the water by medical - too bad)
• Out of the water around 33 mins, but officially 35:01 with the timing mat at the entrance to t1.
• Took my time in t1 (1:41) and decided the weather was warm enough that I wasn't going to need arm warmers, but was glad I had my toe covers already on my shoes.
• Bike course had some rollers (more than I was expecting), but for the most part I was comfortable and was able to settle in OK.
• Got passed by some guys going a blistering pace, although a few of them were either relay or aquathon and did not have to run later (although some certainly did).
• Started to feel a bit wiped on the last 15 miles and the big rollers on the way back in, but managed to get through them without blowing myself up (I wanted to have some running legs).
• Turns out I only took in about 4/5 of my planned calories (had about 860 in my "energy" bottle) and only 2 extra bottles of water (started with 1 aero full aero bottle with 1 scope of EFS).
• Bike in 2:28:30 (22.6mph) - very happy considering how slow I dragged the last few hills and into t2.
• Hit t2 (1:11) and grabbed my Saucony A4 racing flats (hadn't yet ran more than about 10km in them, but I was feeling confident with my form, so...).
• Legs felt a little taxed, but I seemed to quickly get into the turn-over that I have been used to in training, so I figured I would just let the muscle memory do it's thing.
• Hit a porta-potty around mile 2 - felt a little too much sloshing than I was going to be comfortable with for the next 11 miles and of course I was going to be adding to the fluids along the way.
• Run continued solid and I mostly picked people off.
• Went through 2 gels, a couple cups of gatorade, about 6-8 cups of water, and 1 pretzel over the course of the run.
• Right when I was ready to pick it  up for a solid finish (mile 12), got a pretty nasty stitch in the gut and had to actually ease up a bit, which was disappointing considering I felt like I had kept a little in the tank.
• The excitement of the finish dwarfed the cramp in the last 100 yards and I hit the finish solid in 1:39:41 (7:37 pace).
• Total time 4:46:03 - narrowly beating my goal of 5 hrs. :-)
• Sprinted head-first into the slip'n'slide, which caused my left calf to cramp (I leapt off my left leg)!
• Grabbed some Wahoo's fish tacos and warmed up in the sun with KN (yes, I got chilled from the shower at the end of the slip'n'slide).
• Waited around for a massage from JS from Tri-Massage - ouch, that hurt more than any part of the race, except maybe the gut cramp.
• Very happy and felt great the rest of the day!

Sept. 1

Once again we're a little late on the updates. :-) We had company in August so we were a little on the "busy side". :-) I'll start with the rest of our road trip. We started August off in Battleford, SK for the Mitchell family reunion. We saw several of Ehren's cousins, aunts and uncles that we hadn't seen for a while. Our kids had a blast playing games, going on treasure hunts, and playing with their cousins that were there as well. We also got to meet Theo (Reid & Eric's boy) for the first time. The weather was great...in fact the best all summer! We went to Shellbrook from there and spent a few days there...with side trips to Waskesiu and Sturgeon Lake. We had fun boating, golfing and of course...flying with Opa! We had an uneventful drive home and made it back in good time.

Once we were back in CO we had about a week before school started. The kids had fun re-discovering their toys once again and then back to the grind! Emily in 2nd Grade, Jaelynn started K, and Evan started Preschool. All three of them did well, adjusted well, and are loving it.

The week after school started Lana arrived with Isabelle and Adam for 10 days. We had fun with them and spent time at the pools and parks. Isabelle and Adam had their first try at roasting marshmallows and eating smores. :-) Lana was between our house and the Landrigan household so she did a bit of house hopping...but adjusted well.

That's it for events. Ehren and I have been busy catching up with kids. Soccer and violin have started again and Ehren's full tilt into training. He spends his time trying to figure out how he's going to fit in his countless hours of training. I've taken a back seat and am enjoying the "slower" training schedule. My schedule will soon fill more with swimming and volunteer work in the kids' classrooms...the work is never over!