I know, not the most prestigious of names, but it normally draws quite a field and is a very well run and organized race.  This year would not disappoint and included the last two years’ champions who subsequently turned professional, Michael Gordon and Jeff Smith.

It was raining and cool, which I like.  Throw a little wind in there and I am pretty happy when it comes to racing.  Don’t really like to train in that, but I love racing in it.

The swim was a typical early season Pacific Northwest swim in a 0% visibility lake due to the runoff.  Or, if you raced at Nationals in Kansas City, MO, just like that.  I led the swim from the start and was first out and with a 30 second lead on second.  I love the new B70 Helix!  I never use Body Glide anymore and it even comes off fast.  I got to my Trek and threw on my Rudy Project helmet and glasses.  Now it would be about getting a larger gap on the bike.  Michael can run with the best, and has done so in both Oly races and IMs… I, however, have not.  And Jeff can ride well but runs similarly to me, so I needed a gap on him too.

The bike was solid.  The Bontrager Aeolus wheels sliced through the standing water on the road up a windy false flat.  I knew it was slight uphill because my watts were high and my speed was low.  Or my brakes were rubbing?  I hit the turnaround and took a split on 2nd and realized I was about 3 minutes up on 2nd… NICE!  But I knew on the way back it would be fast and the opportunity to gain the same amount of time was not good.  I maintained the same power and my speed increased dramatically as well, as did everyone’s.

I was first into T2 and it was solid.  I threw on my Zoot shoes, and I was off and running on a mud trail.  Since it had rained, this mud just stuck to the bottom of your shoes.  You could literally feel it stacking up on the bottom of the shoe.  I was running about 50 steps and then shuffling to wipe it off.  It felt like I was running with weights on.  But it was only for the first mile and the last mile.

 I just wanted to get to the turnaround and start running back.  I took a split on my TIMEX iPod watch… because it’s orange… as I rounded the cone and started back.  Up the road I could see Michael coming towards me.  It looked like he was flying.  Granted, he was running on a slight downhill and I was on a slight uphill.  But I am sure it looked like I was pulling an ox cart.  I had a pretty good gap.  One that would be tough for any runner to close assuming I could maintain.  I started down the muddy trail and knew I was within 1 mile.  Though he would have had to run about 4 minute miles to catch me, I still had to look back.  As I rand down the trail it was nice to acknowledge all the athletes that were on their way out that were cheering for me as well.  I was able to muster an exhaling ‘thanks,’ or a nod and a finger point.  I think it’s important to acknowledge people.  Especially when they are in the race too and make it a priority to give you a little boost.  I held off Michael and was the 2008 Onion Man Champion.  Which also yields a $100 bill too.  Just enough for gas to get me home.  A good day.

I have to wonder, what race names have you found that were a tad odd?

The race this year was a good one.  I really like where I am now after battling the flu a month and half ago.  I feel like I am coming right back into form.

I am going to start this from the pre-race.  For more details on the trip itself, go to roger-thompson.blogspot.com.  But it’s looong.  Anyway, I got down to transition in plenty of time.  But like in all races, that time seems to slip away pretty quickly.  I looked at my watch and noticed that I was about 15 minutes from the start.  It was time to finish up and get on my B70 Helix wetsuit…I love that thing!  I walked down to the water and was able to get in a 100 yard swim and was ready to go.  I normally feel quite nervous before a race… especially one of this caliber.  But I wasn’t.  Maybe it was the wave start and I knew that it probably would not be too crazy at the start… but I knew that the traffic that would be ahead in the water, and on the road, would be a little problematic.  But it would be the same for everyone. 

As I stood on the start line I could see some of my friends that had weaseled their way onto the dock for a prime viewing spot, as well as photo opportunity.  Again, nice to see faces in the crowd that you know.  With 15 seconds to go, I started my watch.  Then came the horn and bodies were flying.  I ran up to my knees and dove in.  Apparently I did not tuck my head because I got a little water in my goggles, but not enough to cause any problems.  I took off like I was being chased by sharks.  After about 200 meters, I was next to this guy that eventually got in front of me so I started drafting. Perfect.  Then, he swam away from me, not so perfect.  So now I was by myself swimming steady and maneuvering around the people from the waves ahead.  In doing this, I accidentally sighted off the buoys on the other side of the course which directed me ‘across’ the course.  Oops.  I was wondering why I was seeing so much open water.  Fortunately a kayaker got me redirected.  Probably lost 15 seconds… who knows.  It happens from time to time and you just deal with it.  I rounded the last corner, which always feels good, and started heading for home.  There were still so many people in the water in front of me that I had to get around.  I finally saw the boat ramp and started heading towards it.  I stood up as soon as I felt the ground and unzipped my suit. I heard my friends yell ‘you’re in 2nd!’  Whew, the guy that swam away was still the only one in front of me. 

I ran anaerobically up the ramp and into transition.  I spotted the red flag that indicated my isle and I headed down.  I knew I was near the end, but still would need to ‘see’ my bike.  Big problem here, I did not see my bike.  I ran back and forth again…and nothing.  I ducked under the other rails thinking that I might be an isle off… still no bike.  CRAP!  I asked some people that were staring at me where my bike was… no help.  So I stopped, stood there, took a deep breath and tried to relax.  I looked again and then I was able to locate it.  Someone had moved it around from the front wheel pointing out to the rear wheel which was my disc.  I was looking for my front wheel, helmet, glasses,… the image that I had when I left it there.  Still don’t know what happened, but it did.  No time to worry about it, I needed to get out of there fast.  I literally jumped out of my B70 suit, threw on my Rudy Project helmet and glasses, and was off. 

Finally, on the bike.  Immediately we headed up the steep 1 mile long 8-9% grade out of transition.  A tough climb on any account, but tougher when you feel like you are behind and then the guy you are chasing just was given a 40 second bonus.  I was passing people like they were standing still… some were actually :).  By the time the adrenalin wore off, I was still climbing and really needed to get things settled down.  There was plenty of time to make things up, or screw it up by blowing too much on this hill.  My mind was gently swayed from the pain in my legs when I saw 3 college girls dropping their shorts and exposing their rather ‘tan’ rear ends with something written on them.  Can’t say that I really noticed what was written, but if I saw those bottoms, I could probably identify them.  That helped me smile a bit and collect myself. 

Once over the top, it was all business.  I was wound up and was all about making time.  I was passing groups of people, individuals, everyone and anyone I could.  I was not saying ‘hello,’ or ‘good job,’ I was moving forward as fast as I could.  There were people that were riding 3 abreast and in packs… I was passing them on the left, right, yellow line, and in between.  Some I did not say a thing to when I came up to them because I did not want them to move.  But I think the sound of a thundering disc, thanks to Robin at Fitness Fanatics, kind of blows your cover.  This bike course is pretty tough.  I found myself using every gear I had.  From a 53×11 to a 42×25… I needed them all.  As I came back into the park, about 4 miles from transition, I could see that I was going quite well.  There were still quite a few rolling hills to get over, but I was riding well.  My bigger concern was would I be able to run well.  Did I put too much out on the bike?  My powermeter did not indicate that, but it’s hard to tell on a course that has so many ups and downs.  Very difficult to maintain a steady effort.  I came to the final descent… man that is fast.  I stayed in the aerobars and just focused on people in my lane.  I was actually more worried about the masses coming up the hill.  It would not take too much for a person to accidentally swerve across the yellow line and hit me going 45-50 mph.  And brakes were not an option on this hill.  Especially when you are trying to make up 40 seconds  :)

I leaped off my bike and ran it into T2.  Legs felt pretty good.  I racked my bike, threw on my shoes, grabbed my TIMEX visor and off I went.  There were still people leaving T2 from prior waves so the flow was good leaving T2.  One of the first challenges you face is a set of 15 stairs up a hillside.  This is a good place to see where your legs are and where they are not.  I took them 2 at a time and was ready for a quick turnover.  I was running well cutting the corners as tight as I could.  I saw the first marker come up and it was ‘1.’  Nice, that came quick…then 2, then 3…man, this run is going by so fast.  When I started this run I did not want to look at my HR or the time.  I wanted to run off of feel for a bit.  I felt good and was passing many people. But they all had younger age groups on their legs.  Still, I was passing people and that is always motivating.  Sometimes when I am running I wonder if I am really moving forward or just bouncing up and down.  This was proof that I was moving forward.  As I approached 5, I knew something was not right.  That’s when I realized that the run was marked by kilometers.  Crap!  I had to smile because if I would have looked at my watch at the first one, I would have known that.  But it did not matter… I was running hard and it felt pretty good.  I hit the aid stations fast grabbing as many cups of water as I could.  I think I avg’d about 4 cups per station.  Some went in, but most went on.  It was hot and it felt good.  So now I knew that I had about 4k to go…keep it steady and run with a purpose.  The last 4k has a lot of hills and is run on dirt trails.  The dirt was more of a powdery silt, the type that you would cringe at when training, or even avoid.  But in a race, you run the shortest line and land on whatever is fastest.  I finally got to the highest point on the course and was now ready to descend to the finish.  1 mile to go, and mostly downhill at an 8-9% grade… here we go.I tried to turnover my legs as fast as I could but man this is steep.  I know I was going fast, but I wanted to go faster.  I think I could hear bones cracking as each foot slapped down, but I needed to get to that finish line.  At the bottom of the hill it flattens out for about 400 meters to the finish.  I was running with everything I had wanting to get to that finish line asap.  As I rounded the last corner, and onto the blue carpet, I just started striding it out as much as possible.  I knew I was racing people I could not see, and every second would count.  I crossed the line and bent over… DONE!  I had a cool towel placed on my back and someone apparently placed a medal on my neck as well.  I guess I finished.  Now I would wait.

After all was said and done, I ended up 1st in my age group, 2nd amateur, and 3rd overall.  But the best part is this.  The difference between second place and me… 1 second.  I missed 2nd place by 1 second!  1st place was occupied by John Dahlz who is an ITU pro that was 2+ minutes ahead.  But 1 second to second place.  I bet the guy who got 2nd feels pretty good about that, and in all reality, so do I.  Things happen in races to everyone.  It just depends on how we choose to handle them.  Heck, the guy who got second might have had a flat?  Who knows. 

My splits were as follows:
Swim:  19.14
Bike:  1:04:14
Run:  36:50
Total:  2:04:41 

I am very happy with all my splits.  Transitions were a little funky, but easy fixes.  I am looking forward to racing some more Oly races.  Hopefully all will come together for Worlds in June. 

After getting back from the TIMEX camp, I found myself sorting through many magnificent items.  It took some time to find new little homes for all of the products that still had the tags on them.  I have been eagerly waiting to get them all out on the road, or pool, or… wherever each one belongs.

I have to say that I was most excited to test out the new TIMEX heart rate monitor with speed and distance.  What I like the most about all TIMEX watches is that they are so easy to use.  They practically have the owner’s manual built in.  This made it very easy for me to simply open the box, put on the heart rate monitor strap, and that was that.  Oh, ya, I also had to put the AA battery in the GPS sensor (battery included).  So I was off and running, literally.

One of my first runs was with a group of 5 people.  They wanted to run about an hour and half after a swim.  I thought it would be perfect since I had just got back from camp and had not really done too much running.  I got the watch and GPS synched up while getting on my shoes and was ready to go.  A couple of the people I was running with wanted to see the ‘new swag.’  So I showed them the watch and the sensor.  They loved how small the watch was and how it looked so ‘normal.’  But a couple of the guys were skeptics, and did not believe that it would be as accurate as their devices.  Do I hear a challenge?  I think so.

We all agreed on the rules.  We would let www.mapmyrun.com be the judge.  That is, we would go off what it said was the actual distance of the run.  None of us really believe car odometers.  We also agreed to run the exact same run.  No running back to get something, or off the road to pee.  If one did, we all did.

The participants names have been changed to protect their identity.  They will be known as the P-lar 6 series with the foot pod, and the G-min.  I think it’s important to keep their identity anonymous to protect their reputation.  We ran below big power lines, buildings, open areas, covered areas, lots of traffic, up hills, straight roads, and twisty roads.  But when all was done, we stood where we started, and the numbers were revealed.  They were:

TIMEX: 9.813 miles
G-min: 9.95
P-lar: 10.02

So a variance of about a quarter mile.  Not much to most, but to many, that’s a big difference considering we ran the exact same distance.

So now it was time for the judge, www.mapmyrun.com.  I traced the run and was as accurate as possible.  I zoomed in as close as I could so that I was following directly the direction we traveled.  After all was said and done, and I clicked the last leg of the run, the judge said:

9.81 miles

Now, I cannot be too critical of mapmyrun.com for not having the same 9.813 that my TIMEX had because it rounds to the nearest hundredth.  The TIMEX watch carries to the nearest thousandth.  So I say we call it 9.81 and say that mapmyrun.com and my TIMEX were the same.

Final decision… the TIMEX GPS system was superior in this test.  I am sure I will be challenged more in the future on this, so I will be prepared.  I have to say that I think all the products tested are good ones, just that the TIMEX was the most accurate and performed the best in this test.