Oliver Race Report

The Okanagan Valley is beautiful and it was so much fun to take a trip to a new place. I got my Mom to go along with and we had a blast.

The day before the race was busy with the little swim, a ride, packet pickup, bike check in, and the race meeting. It was fun to swim in open water. First of the year and the course was very pretty. I rode and hour and rode up the one big hill to have an idea of how that was. We ate some early dinner and hung out at the hotel for the evening.

Race morning. I still wasn't freaking out. Felt very comfortable to do this race. Got to the transition and spent a lot of time in the bathroom line then went to check the air pressure on my tires. The pump wouldn't work and all the air on the rear wheel was gone. Crap. Luckily the Bike Barn was there and they filled my tire for me. The people in Canada were so nice. Even got a couple little packs of sunscreen.

Got over to the beach which was about 1/2km away. STart was fine. Did I mention the people were nice. This lady kind of cut me off in the swim and she apologized. In the swim!! I did notice myself losing focus on the swim and sort of forgetting to swim fast. I would just be swimming easy along. Then I would redirect and go faster again. Got out in my normal swim time. No suprise there, but I definitely wasn't all that tired. Could have kept swimming.

Made the long run over to the transition. Put on the compression socks (which took a minute) and headed out on the bike. For the first lap and little loop I focused on eating regulary and keeping a nice steady pace. Not too much extra effort up the hills and not coast downhill. Felt really good. Had a few annoying guys that were drafting that kept trying to pass me. Finally got rid of them. This is mean but there was this one guy witha muffin top, but he was way faster on the run. I kept thinking oh there goes muffin top again. Anyway, after the first lap I evaluated my time and decided I really needed to go faster the second lap so I pushed a lot harder. It felt good so I just kept going. Came in at 2:39. My PR and that is with the extra few miles. I was soo happy coming in for the run.

Got through transition fast and started the run. Kept it slow at first because it was getting hot and I didn't want to crack. On the second lap though I felt so good I picked it up. Took a sponge gel and water at aid stations and just kept cruising. The aid stations were so well stocked and had little kids saying "do you want a pretzel". So cute. Sweet. Was even smilingat the end I felt so good.

Finished 5:16 something. My best time and the course was longer. Also, I just felt great the whole time. Super happy with everything.

Went to a great winery after eating and cleaning up. It felt like Italy up there.

Thanks Elliot for suggesting the race. The people were awesome. The course was great. The race was so well done. I think that is the best half I have ever done.

Yeah!!