City of Portland Triathlon 2009

On August 23 2009 I did the City of Portland Triathlon, it is the last triathlon of the season for me and I decided to do the olympic distance this year instead of the sprint. This was going to be my first olympic distance triathlon so I was a little unsure. In true Portland style this triathlon is also called Freshwater Trust Portland Triathlon which brings awareness to trying to save our waterways. It is also the greenest race in the country and a very fun one.



The course consists of swimming in the Willamette River, riding through the city of Portland and running across the bridges that separate the city, it truly is a beautiful race and has a great cause attached to it.

The Willamette River over the years has had a bad reputation of being very dirty many people do not want to swim in it and when they hear that I will they think I am crazy but the river has gotten cleaner over the years and it has never made me feel so it is SAFE!

Overall it was a great race I highly recommend it. The volunteers and race organizers are great, all very enthusiastic and eager to help! I did very well except for a case of exercise induced asthma on mile 3 of the run.

These were my results:
Time: 2:59:21
7th in age group
swim:25:31
bike:1:30
run:58:56

Harvest Ride; Hillsboro, Oregon

Living in the Portland, Oregon area gives me lots of chances to do nice organized rides. The last organized ride of the season is called the Harvest Ride so my friend and I decided to do it we thought it would be a fun 45 mile training ride, its for a good cause why not we thought.

I woke up in the morning and it was cold 44 degrees and we heard there was going to be a 13 mph headwind later on in the day. My friend cam to pick me up to drive about an hour out to where the ride started we were a little early so we were feeling good. Next thing I know my friends says oops I think I missed my turn. Great I thought, we are on the freeway and had missed our turn, not a good sign it was a good thing we were early. We turned around missed our turn again (don't know how) and for some reason I look at the gas gave it was on red! We are going to run out of gas I said, out in the middle of nowhere with no gas station in sight. Oh I forgot to get gas last night my friend said, great I though.....

Then I saw our exit turn its our exit I exclaimed, we did and for some reason turned right instead of left and drove away from civilization with no gas once again. I asked where are we going I don't know my friend responded, turn around I said this is the wrong direction and we don't have gas! We drove for another 4 miles finally in the right direction and finally got gas and eventually got to the ride.

The ride was fun we barely made the start time it was cold but sunny with 10mph wind but all in all a well organized ride that was lots of fun. In the same way that we started we managed to take a wrong turn and ended up riding 50 miles instead of 45. I am really glad I was able to do it and make it there in time to start. I think I will do it again next year!

My First Triathlon: The Beaver Freezer

Once I decided that I was going to participate in triathlons I had to pick a race. So I looked for races around my local area and found the first race of the season, the Beaver Freezer, in Corvallis, I was in!

This race happens in april which means lots of rain and cold but I was ready to do it anyway. The swim would be 20 lengths in the pool so that made me feel a little more comfortable. I trained through the winter and before I knew it it was the day before the race. I drove to Corvallis it was a nice sunny day, this must be a sign I thought. Checked into my hotel and it was hard to relax, the nerves were getting the best of me but I kept thinking to myself it will be fine the weather tomorrow will be like today. At around midnight I finally fell asleep.

At 5am I was rudely woken up by the alarm to frost on the cars and then about half an hour later pouring rain, of course. I got to the course watched other people set up and did what they did, the atmosphere was great and everyone seemed friendly so I started to relax.

Once I started to swim that was it, I had started now I just had to finish, all I wanted to do was finish. I left the pool, ran outside into the pouring rain, put on my rain gear rode in the rain, overheated, then ran in the rain and finished right in the middle of the pack. Once I caught my breath I thought to myself not bad! I wonder when the next race is?! Thats when I became a triathlete....