Racing at "Home"

Last weekend was the Victoria 70.3 and sprint race.  In many ways it was like racing at home (ok, kind of literal as I live 45 minutes from the race site), but "home" as in how much the course and event feels like that home you grew up in but haven't lived there in years, and has grown a lot since you left.

In what almost seems another lifetime ago, my good friend Norm, myself, and a bunch of our friends put on the NewBalance Half Iron - a grass-roots race we poured blood, sweat & tears (all those things!) into for 12 years.  Then Norm handed it over to Lifesport, and a few years later it became a WTC event.

I have a lot of nostalgia for those old days (although I can't go back - there's no way I could do that much work again!), but I have to admit WTC did a tremendous job with the event.  I'm looking forward to having that event in our backyard for years to come - without personally having to carry hundreds of bike racks in & out of trailers...

As for the race itself: one of the highlights was having so many Betty teammates there!  Amy & Melanie from Calgary, Roxie from Bellingham, and Kathy from Phoenix.  It was a fluorescent Betty party, and believe me, we did not go unnoticed!  Perfect weather, camping at the park in the RV, the debut of my new bike, yet another age group win for Jason... fantastic weekend!

Team Betty! (unfortunately we were missing Roxie)

You know there's a lot of hills when my
power file looks like that!

I had a lead in my AG off the bike in the sprint race! First place
woman blew by but somehow I held off third.
I saw her at the turnaround and figured she'd catch me -
have to celebrate small victories!

Jason on his way to an age group win in the 70.3.

Second place W45-49 podium in the sprint race.

Meet The Newest Member of our Family

 A new bike wasn't really in the plans for me this year.  Then Jason started talking about getting rid of his Shiv and getting a Felt, so I started thinking about taking over his Shiv.  Then I saw a frame for sale that I absolutely fell in love with, and bought it pretty much on a whim.  Last night, Jason swapped all my parts over to my new bike, and I rode it for the first time today.  Love.

 

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream...

Now that we're into June, things get crazy busy at work.  Normally I have a 5 a.m. wake-up call once a week (and two 5:30's), but this week it was 5 a.m. every day as I had to get early workouts in because of evening work commitments.  Evening work stuff means I'm not going to bed early, which makes the morning alarm that much harder to take.  Plus, having a hectic work schedule, and trying to fit training, and dog, around everything leads to being a bit stressed, which for me seems to equal crappy sleep.

So. I am tired.

Jason's in San Francisco, and tomorrow he races Escape from Alcatraz with many of his Every Man Jack teammates.  I was looking forward to sleeping in (all I have on my schedule is a long run and some quality time with the dog) and then watching his race online.  The swim start is 7:30, so at least I get a nice, easy morning.  Hooray!  It's 7:30 p.m. Saturday right now, is it too early to go to bed?

If only I could crash as hard as Tiki can.
Lucky dog.