What Happened?

Lake Tahoe decided to dump some really bad weather on America's Most Beautiful Bike ride.  When Steve opened the hotel room door at 5 AM on race morning, my first thought was "It smells like snow."  If you grew up somewhere snowy, you know that before it snows the air smells....snowy.  It's hard to explain, but it's a specific scent.  I was worried about Steve and cycle team  getting pelted by snow, sleet and ice as they rode 100 miles up and down mountains.

The team went out to ride and I went back to bed.  When I woke up, the weather was marginally better and much warmer. I decided to go for my planned 2 hour run.  I ran out past the finish line and spent the next two hours running up and down the last few miles of the course cheering for cyclists as they finished.  The riders were freezing, exhausted and filthy from road splash and they smiled to see someone cheering their efforts.  I was the only person cheering on that lonely stretch of  road - especially when the sky opened up and dumped freezing cold rain on me for 30 minutes.  The cyclists had appropriate rain/cold weather gear.  Not me, I was in tri-shorts and a sleeveless running dress. It was chilly, but I love cheering for people and decided to stay out to finish my run.  

After that run I felt confident.  I ran over 13 miles and I felt that my triathlon was going to be easy.  For some nonsensical reason, I've been really worried about the run portion of the race.  A solid, long distance run totally boosted my confidence.  Unfortunately, that confidence surge didn't last.  Since then I've had a bunch of lackluster workouts and my confidence is gone.  

Lake Tahoe, AMBBR and SAG

Lake Tahoe is absolutely stunning. I love it and I'm incredibly happy to have made the trip.

I was a little worried about the trip, not about Tahoe, but about being there for America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride. This was the 100 mile bike ride that I decided not to do. Honestly, I was more than a little worried that I'd be heartbroken and petulant all weekend. It's not my nature to sulk, but then it's also not my nature to be a quitter either.

In fact, I had an absolutely fabulous time the day of the race. My job was to help with SAG - that's either "Support and Gear" or "Sympathy and Gear" depending on your day. First, I met the team at Inspiration Vista above Emerald Bay. It's beautiful there as you can clearly see in the photo. At Vista I took the cold weather gear they needed to ditch. I also snapped team photos and did whatever the riders needed. Then I had a few hours off so I went for a run. (Oh, I ran three times in Tahoe. Chi Running is awesome.) Finally, I wrapped up my day cheering on the cyclists at Spooner Summit. This was toward the end of the ride and after the cyclists had finished a 9 mile climb.

In total, I spent about 7 hours and it was great to be able to help people succeed. I had never done SAG at an event, but I've always always appreciated it. There have been plenty of events where some TNT person called out "GO TEAM" and it gave me the push I needed to reach the finish. Last night at the victory celebration someone said that seeing me at Spooner was like a "Ray of sunlight. All the cheering is great, but when it's someone you know cheering for you it's a big lift." Her taking time to say that made my weekend.

It is a huge lift to see a familiar face along the course. I'll always remember seeing Coach Ellen at mile 19 of my first marathon and seeing Steve cheering at Nike Women's Marathon. I hope I was able to provide some joy to the riders along the course.

Hello From The High Sierras

The drive to Lake Tahoe from San Diego was nearly perfect. We had the lovely weather and we reached Tahoe just as the sun began to set. California is an incredibly beautiful state. Sometimes people think of California and they think about Los Angeles, San Francisco, traffic and smog. It's so much more that. It's beaches and deserts and forests and redwoods and mountains.

I snapped this somewhere along Highway 395. Instead of taking the slightly shorter trip on the 5, we took the rugged inland route through the mountains and the national forests. We were only a few miles from Yosemite and Sequoia, but I couldn't convince Steve to detour to let me see them. It would have taken hours and we'd have never reached Tahoe. On the way home, we're definitely going to take a quick trip to see Devil's Postpile.