Here for the Beer

Memorial day weekend was a nice bit of some fun camping down at the Smith Lake Xterra in North Carolina. We arrived mid-day on Saturday, in time for a pre-ride of the course. We took it easy and calculated where all of the obstacles might be, we were surprised at how easy the course seemed. After the nice ride, we set up camp and went for dinner. The weather was beautiful, couldn't ask for better camping weather.

Sunday morning we had to rise early, this event was an 8 a.m. start. We got to the park in plenty of time and got everything set up. Shawn and I headed down to the lake to get a short warm-up in. The water was warm. In the swimming area they had one of those big blow up trampolines; I have always wanted to try one. I swam out to the lifeguard who was on a kayak and asked him if I could jump off. He told me, why not...we did it all day yesterday. I got up and felt like a kid, jumped around a few time and did a flip off into the water. What fun, I could have skipped the tri and done that all day. The lifeguard then informed me that he was a soldier, but could not swim, he was just assigned to work as the lifeguard there ... he assured me that was what his flotation device was for. Glad I could swim!

The swim went off, wetsuits were optional, it was warm, I opted not to wear mine. Two laps and a few of the wetsuits went ahead, but I managed to stay with the lead pack, I say pack because one guy went off on his own, he must have had a jet pack on - he beat us by 2 minutes. We had to run up a hill to transition, it went better than last year, I got on my gear and went out for the bike.

The bike was two loops of a nine mile flat, fast course. Shawn passed me about three miles in and I never saw him again. I knew the day before when we pre-rode that there was no keeping up with him on this bike. I got through the first loop in 46 minutes, fast and no problems. Then there was the second loop. Otmani caught me right towards the beginning after my first crash, he said he could see me for the entire second half of the first loop, but could not catch me. Once the tree stopped me, he was able to. That crash was not too bad. I kept going and felt ok, but decided I needed a Gu. I decided at the wrong time, once I realized it I tried to throw it, but that was a worse decision. The throw put me over my handlebars, going down roots, and bounced me off a tree. This shook me and took me a few minutes to recover. I did, but two minutes later a stick took my chain off. This stick was more like a log that I left behind in the trail, Mike and Sara thanked me for that later on. Making it through the obstacles on the second lap, I thought I was on my way. Just fast trail ahead, I pushed it, but along a corner the sand took the bike out from under me and I fell hard, without warning. Three times, on the easiest course, all on the second lap. Something like 54 minutes...Ouch.

The run was all sand. My legs could barely move, and all I could do was search out hard ground. I caught Otmani and we ran the majority of it together until the last hill. I had to walk and he ran on. We all finished with in a minute of each other, and overall had our best finishes. 1 hour faster than last year, two miles shorter. 1st in my age group, 6th female overall. 75 more points already, only one more first needed to get the most points possible.

45

Alicia Markey

59

29

6

14:26

1:27/100m

02:50

65

1:39:31

10.9mph

00:48

49

30:10

9:26/M

2:27:46

We got some food to grill up and enjoyed a memorial day feast on the fire. We were definitely there for the beer...the fourth leg of our quadathalon began....

Pig Iron Porter

Saturday morning we got up early to do a block workout. Shawn and I arrived at the Y at 6 a.m. and did an easy mile swim and transitioned to the stationary bikes for a short 40 minute ride. We got home quick and met Mike to go over to Newark for the Iron Hill 5k race. The registration was at the restaurant and we got there in plenty of time. Finding the start was another story. We walked and jogged for twenty minutes to the other side of downtown Newark and finally found the start on the campus of University of Delaware at 2 minutes to nine. We were not the only ones who had this trouble and the race started about 15 minutes late - which gave us a chance to run to the restrooms that were conveniently at the start line. We met two other friends at the start. The race went off and was pretty much down hill for the first mile - 7:09. Feeling very good because of the long warm-up I kept the pace as steady as I could, the second mile came in at 7:40 and it had flattened out. The third mile was flat and a bit uphill, but I was able to stay strong at 7:42. I could have done without the last half of the last mile, but a 5k is not a 5k without the mouth sweats at the end and a feeling of puking. It comes and goes within minutes of the finish. 23:20 was my finish time, my best 5k time by about a minute. The track workouts have paid off for my faster running. One of my track mates won the female race, I was 65th overall and 8th female. Shawn had his best 5k time and the others had good showings as well. The best reward was the Pig Iron Porter back at Iron Hill and their spread (sandwiches, salads, fries and cookies - all by 10 a.m.) + a t-shirt...we voted it "most for your money 5k." We went home for a nap and reconvened for more drinking by 3 p.m.

Xterra Uwharrie - Race Report

46

Markey, Alicia Newark, DE USA Mid Atlantic

Women 25-29 (1)

3:49:31 Details Hide Details Swim: 14:43 T1: 02:07 Bike: 2:19:39 T2: 01:33 Run: 1:11:27 Finish: 3:49:31

46th overall, 3rd overall female (out of 7), 1st in age-group

After a long ride down on Saturday we made it to the race site in time to pick up our packets on Saturday. We received our numbers and they must have assigned them alphabetically - Shawn and I were one number apart. Shawn is trained by now to check the number against the name and sure enough they had ours switched, in addition they had me as a male competitor. After promising the race director I was female, she promised to switch it by morning - so off to the campground we went to unpack.

As we unpacked we found no air mattress - we searched, and looked twice until we came to the conclusion it was not in the truck ... so far, not a great start. So we traveled into the town that had three restaurants, one of course was a McDonald's in search of dinner, we settled on an Italian place and had a nice spaghetti dinner. On our way back to the campground we stopped at the local gas station that was a restaurant/outdoor center all in one. In such a small town we were able to get our hands on a $16 air mattress! Unbelievable...things were looking up.

The rain came so we all retreated to the tents early, we shared a group campground with most of the other xterra competitors. The rain must not have been too bad, because I slept through most of the night, at 5:40 we all were awoken by our neighbors car alarm that would not go off, he even drove it out of the campground, came back with it off, got out and it restarted on him.

We had plenty of time, the pushed back the start of the open division to 10:30. With everything set up in transition, Shawn and I went for a warm-up swim. I opted for the wetsuit, Shawn opted to not wear his. The race went off and the swim was uneventful as usual. A few fast swimmers took off and I let them go, the others all fell behind me, by the time I rounded the final buoy the rest of the field was back at the last buoy. I got out of my wetsuit fast and never saw Shawn enter transition.

Onto the bike, nothing went well. My heart rate had spiked and it would not go down, I was working hard and could not get into a rhythm. The bike had no rhythm. You had to pay attention to every move you made, and the hills...oh the hills... The trails were rutted out from horse use, and rocky. The 29er performed like magic, and technically I did fine. On the first lap we came to a long uphill, no one could ride. As we were walking, Shawn appeared, then Otmani appeared. I was defeated, out of breath and ready to give up. I asked Shawn if we really had to walk this hill a second time - he replied yes (I knew this was the answer, I just wanted a simple glimmer of hope that we wouldn't have to.) I let them pass, told them good luck, got to the top - heart rate has now been in the 170's for 40 minutes, and I had not drank anything yet since it was all I could do to suck in the air. I stopped, took a Gel - the trail flattened a bit and we went in for the second lap. The Gel did the trick, I slowed a bit and got my rhythm a bit in the second lap, a few girls had passed and I had decided I was just there to finish. Throughout the second lap I made sure to eat and drink more and got through to the run.

At transition Shawn was just finishing up and leaving. We said a few positive words (even though we were both defeated by that bike) as he was on his way. I caught up to him shortly into the run, and told him to keep it up. The run was rutty and rocky as well, but pretty flat. I got to the first aid station and found Otmani, we walked the hill together and I went on. A mile or so later I took my first crash, my legs were done and were not reacting, every rock seemed to be a magnet. I made sure to take it easy for the rest of the run, I wanted to finish, but I wanted to finish in one piece. I did, the next competitor to come in was Shawn. Otmani was shortly after and Sara finished her first ever xterra. We all got big points since it was such a small race.

It was a fun event, very difficult to race on trails you have never seen before. After eating at the gas station/restaurant we went back to the campground. All of our fellow campers had left, we had the entire campground to ourselves for the night.

Trail Dawgs 10k - Training Race 4.26.08

The Trail Dawgs Triple Crown Race took place on Saturday. This is one of the only local trail races that I know about, and it is a lot of fun. The morning starts with a marathon, 5 minutes later the half-marathon goes off. When the half finishes they hold a 10k followed by a 5k. All in the trails of White Clay State Park, just miles from the house. For those who want to participate in the Triple Crown, you must run the half, 10k and 5k - almost amounts to a full marathon.

Last year we participated in the 10k; this year I had not planned on it since the half ironman was just the week before. Shawn signed up early in the week, so I decided if I am going to go and watch I might as well use it as training - so I signed up.

It was a pretty uneventful run, I remembered the two steep hills at the end and held back for them. I had a nice chat with a friend that was in the race, ran with Shawn for a bit, and sucked some wind up the hills at the end. I ended in 57:56 and Shawn shortly behind in 1:00 flat. We both dropped significant time off our results from last year.

Fortmann was running the 5k and they have a nice picnic throughout all the races so we packed our cooler. When the 5k went off we walked down to the car and rewarded ourselves with a nice ice cold beer, got some burgers - they even had veggie burgers - and waited on Fortmann. He finished in great time, and was very happy with his finish. We all shared some more beer and enjoyed the lazy afternoon to follow.

Next up - this weekend we travel to North Carolina for our first Xterra of the season.