Susan G. Komen's Race for the Cure 5K

This race was more than a hard run for me. It was for a cause that is very close to my heart and that of my wife's as well. A large portion of the race fees are donated to finding a cure for breast cancer.

You see, a very dear friend to us was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is currently fighting to save her life. We only found out about Erin's condition a few months ago. While my wife has been making meals and regular visits to Erin, I felt I wanted to contribute something myself. When the Race for the Cure was about six weeks out, I had in my heart that I wanted to race for a reason this time around. To show Erin our support, I designed a race shirt dedicated to her. I shared my ideas with my wife and eventually I had fifteen shirts made for other supporters of Erin.

I had also decided to make this race a priority to run my fastest and hardest in Erin's honor and to celebrate doing this for her on my 40th birthday. I'd even been cutting back on my unreal cravings for sweet treats in the weeks leading up to race day. If you know me, this is quite a sacrifice for me. :)

Race morning came and Natalie and I drove downtown to the race site talking about the cause, trying not to get teary. I got a good warm-up with some teammates and eventually stowed my Brooks warm-up gear and laced up my Brooks T6 racing flats and headed to the start. Standing behind the timing mat at the starting line with over 7,100 other participants, my adrenaline got going, heart rate climbing, signaling that I was ready to race.

The gun went off and I was out front with a couple of other guys in tow.

Snake River Triathlon

This is a unique race... Participants swim on Friday night in the Clarkston Aquatic Center and receive their official timed 500 swim results. The following morning, participants line up on the bike transition starting line according to how fast they swam the night before. When your swim time appears on the giant chronometer, you take off for your bike and begin the last two segments of the triathlon to ride and run.

On Friday, my wife and I drove down to Clarkston and arrived at 4:00 to do our swims. After a solid warm-up, I was ready to go. My swim was a 500 yard PR for me at 6:18, and I was pleased with the effort. After both our swims, we were able to hang out at the pool and cheer for almost 25 of our teammates. Eventually, we all convened at the local Tomato Bros. for a great Italian dinner together and then off to race prep and bedtime.

Saturday morning we woke up to drizzly rain and cooler temps outside, again typical spring in the northwest. When we got to the race site, only four other bikes were set up in transition and they belonged to some teammates of ours. So, after setting up a good transition area, I began my warm-up routine to ready for the rest of the race.

The clock counts upward from zero until the first place swimmer runs to their bike and continues until all participants have taken off. I was fifth on my bike and ready to ride. The ride is the same out and back 12 miles that I rode at the duathlon two weeks previous. Nothing changed, same rain, roads and scenery. After making it through this ride three minutes faster than the last race here, I was able get into transition and take off running.

I got my legs under me and felt pretty good heading out on the two mile run. I settled into my pace and ran strong.

Overall, I finished the race in fourth place and I was first in my age group. Our team did so well that we garnered the top 11 places and accounted for about 15% of race participants. This was a great day for Tri Fusion, topping it off with pizza at Fizarri's and a milkshake for the ride home.

Kinda seems like the training day could stop there. However, in true Ironman training form, we met up with some teammates when we got back to Spokane to run another 1:20 before finally resting for the day. No regrets.

Midnight Fools

At midnight on April 4th, Natalie, Nate, Merissa and I drug ourselves out of bed (not the same one:) and onto the streets of Medical Lake. The temperature was only in the early 30's, the night dark, but our spirits were lively and ready to run. Nate, Nat and Merissa decided to run for enjoyment, but I was racing this late night run. After a good warm up I changed out of my Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9's into my Brooks T6 racing flat and my (extremely warm) Brooks Wanganui pants into my Brooks ID short and singlet and headed for the start line. At the sound of the fire engine horn, we were off! The course took us through the residential streets of Medical Lake proper, where neighbors were whooping and hollering from their porches and yards for the runners.

I finished the run in fifth place overall and first place in my age group. We were glad we did this community event, as we've talked about participating in year's past. Honestly, I think all four of us were really looking for an excuse to eat breakfast at 1:00 am, which we did!