Auburn

On Saturday I headed up to Auburn for a sprint distance race. Oddly enough, I was excited to race on tired legs to see how I would respond mentally and physically. The Auburn Half (touted the world's toughest half) was also being run on the same day. Since I am preparing for Honu 70.3 on June 5 I figured the sprint distance was the way to go. It allowed me to test myself on the challenging course, but would not render me useless this week for my final build into the Hawaii race before resting next week. However, I will say that after experiencing the sprint course I will make the Auburn Half a must do race either next year or the follwoing year. The scenery is beautiful, the course tough and I love the grass roots feel of the race.

Endurance Capital of the World---my type of place!

Downtown Auburn---it used to be the Capital of California and was the place to be during the Gold Rush.

$79 for a great hotel, love the smaller races!

Rattlesnake Bar---where the swim took place, picture does not do it justice.

American River Canyon, beautiful views during the run. A little known trail race, the Western States 100, finishes here.

The run, that's not me, I took a picture off the website. You get the idea.

I won the race despite losing 3-4 minutes running off course. I checked out the swim and bike course the evening before but apparently I should I have taken a look at the run course as well. No big deal, a little bit of extra credit running. I will tell you that it was absolutely FREEZING! I got in the car to park and then ride to transition and it was 37 degrees. On top of that, it was 7 miles downhill to the swim start. I had gloves but my hands were ice by the time I got to transition. I went for a run to warm up. The water was a balmy 64 degrees and it felt really good since Oceanside and Alcatraz were in the 50s. I wore my arm warmers under my wetsuit hoping it would help me out on the bike. The bike is uphill for the first 13 miles so I was a little warmer than freezing but any downhills were pure agony. I had to sit up and hang on instead of staying in aero because I shaking so much. I am someone who gets cold in 80 degree pools so you can only imagine how I was feeling. I was finding myself praying for big uphills and there were quite a few so that was great I was not going as fast. The last 5 miles into transition were a gradual downhill and I could not wait to get off the bike. I started my 7k (which I made about 8Ks) run and warmed up a bit while enjoying the trails and beautiful scenery. The end of the race culminated with a 1.25 mile climb up to the finish. The race had two separate transitions so I had to wait for my bag with my coat in it to arrive from T1. Luckily a very nice volunteer, Joan, loaned me her fleece because she noticed I was shivering and blue. I was so grateful. I stuck around, collected my award---a bottle of Mandarin orange Olive Oil---and then headed to breakfast.

Yummy, ollaberry french toast with bananas. The ollaberry is a raspberry/blackberry type fruit and tastes slightly tart. I drove the 75 miles back home, rested and then headed out for a 30 mile ride. Yep, race in the morning, another ride in the afternoon. I felt a little yucky at first but ended the ride feeling better than when I started and I feel a ton better today. I am so excited for Andy to arrive on Saturday and then we head to Hawaii on June 1. I would also like to add I am excited for a race that is going to be HOT! If anybody hears me say that it is too hot in Hawaii you can slap me. I am going to embrace the heat and humidity. That being said, I apologize to anybody doing the race in advance because I know that me wishing for heat and humidity will render this year's race the hottest on record---Murphy's Law and all.

See you next year Auburn...the only change I would make is that it be 80 degrees and not 40.