Sea Level Is For Sissies Race Report Part 1 - PreRace

PRERACE Report:

We arrived in Sunriver 3 days before my race. It was REALLY hard not to join in the fun, so you could find me poolside or with a single glass of wine in my hand during those days, but I really tried to take care of myself and stay hydrated and off my feet. Looking back, I see that I could have done a better job. Regardless, the family time was fun and the team time was fun...and funny. On Friday, the team gathered to caravan our bikes out to the lake. This race starts with T1 at Wickiup Lake - about 45 minutes away from Sunriver, where T2 would be. We got marked, set up our bikes...

And went for a quick swim...

Hopefully someone will post the pictures of us all doing synchronized swimming in the middle of the lake. It was hilarious fun and took some of the edge off.

We hung around making sure we had our bikes all prepped...

And gathered around for a group picture...

Before we rushed back to Sunriver for the Kids Splash Pedal and Dash where we waited in the hot sun, on our feet for FOREVER while the 600 kids that were entered in the race got to head off two at a time.

I have to stop for a moment to talk about the shirt I'm wearing here. I wore it all weekend and got SO MANY people saying they loved it. Of course it went over great at a triathlon event. I won this "On Your Left" shirt from Chris K's giveway last month through Juan at Triathlete Wear. It is THE MOST COMFORTABLE t-shirt I own. I received a white one and a blue one and I LOVE THEM. If you're into comfort and making new friends with strangers who will inevitably approach you to ask you where you got your shirt, then this is the shirt for you!

So...the kids raced their race and had such a blast. They now have new medals to add to their collection...

and then I rushed back home to clean up for the Pasta Party that TNT puts on...There was a lot of purple...

...and then back home to bed for a full 3.5 hours sleep. I could not fall asleep for anything...hmph...

Up at 4am and then Dad drove me to meet the team at T2 which was at the Sunriver school. We quickly set up our transition area and then caught a bus to take us out to the lake. There was lots of talk and race planning going on and the trip seemed over in a moment. We arrived to find steam rising off the lake. It looked cold. We found our bikes, set up our T1 area and then hung out for about 2 hours while the sun tried to warm us up while we pumped up our tires and ate breakfast and generally trying to keep away the nerves...

Ok...speaking of breakfast...I've got to eat some breakfast before I get into the meat of this thing...I'll be back...