Black Diamond Triathlon

 

Once again I'm in for the Black Diamond Long Course triathlon in Enumclaw, WA.

This year on September 10th.

 

I finished last year in 7:38:50

with times of

Swim~ 50:13

T1~ 4:48

Bike~ 3:39:38

T2~ 3:09

Run~ 3:00:59

 

All I have to do this year is beat each one by 1 second and I'll be good.

 

The next day is Tri Turtle Tri, our local sprint put on by Lisa every year; my fastest time on that was 2:00:26 so all I gotta do is beat 2 hours. This is weird, my fastest TTT was 2011, I also did it in 2013 but took 2 minutes longer and least year I was the bike in a relay team and I was still slower. Geesh.

Fort Ebey Kettles Run 13.1 Half Marathon

Fort Ebey Kettles Run 13.1 Half Marathon was the 2nd HARDEST half marathon I've ever finished, (1st hardest being Tacoma City half marathon, which was my first ever half marathon)

with 2750 feet of elevation gain.

This was all trails at Fort Ebey State Park, Whidbey Island, Washington.

 

Views of the beautiful Puget Sound and trees.

 

 

ALL UPHILL, all the way, barefoot, in the snow, hungry.

 

We rode the ferry over in the morning. This is the Kennewick, it holds 64 cars. 

 

Linda, Steve & Brayden

 

 

Before the race. Lan did the 5k, he was smart but he still had 660 feet of elevation gain.

(UPDATE: Lan finished 8th overall with a time of 37:23.8!!)

 

The weather said rain all day but we were so lucky and didn't get rained on at all. The trails were mostly all just wet and a little muddy, only 1 puddle we couldn't go around and it was at mile 1. I'm sure there are a lot of people with blisters from running in wet shoes for 12.1 miles, or the people who did the full marathon, twice on the same course.

 

Start of the race, big bottleneck because 200 people want to all get onto a single track trail. That's Linda in the pink.

That's Walking Stick Dude in the yellow. He wacked my leg with his stick cuz he was stupid.

 

See, UPHILL. Steep uphill.

 

And here is at the end, after we finished and DIDN'T GET A MEDAL because they didn't give any out. Maybe should have stated that in the registration process?? I mean, come on, I paid $42 just to race, didn't get a tee shirt either.

I'll never do it again and will strongly suggest no one else do it either but that's due to all the hills.

Oh, and no porta potties on the course, except the old shed outhouse near the very end of the course but none at the aid stations.

 

I did have a good time, got to spend 4hrs 28 minutes with my bestie. Who sprinted the last 10 feet to beat me but I still finished. And I had to wait 10 seconds for her to even cross the START line since she was tardy getting to it. so I technically beat her but if it makes her feel better...

and she did have to go slow for my sorry ass the entire second half.

Good Morning Horses

Spring Weather, Bike Rides

Today I had a fun ride on the mtn bikes with Leona at Banner Forest, about 6.26 miles in 1:40 hours. So much fun. Shes got skills and is about equal to me so we ride well together.

 

Here is her bike, leaning on a log. We had to climb over that sucker.

 

I've been asked to ride 32 miles tomorrow.

 

Going long.

 

This morning before I rode the bike I had a massage, she worked hard on my left shoulder and right hip. The hip is messed up because the shoulder is messed up, all aggravated by the accident. I have stretching exercises to do to help it get better and IF I JUST DO THEM it can only make me feel better.

 

I'd be able to swim faster too.

 

Horse news:

Joey is awesome.

Wifi is shedding, should be white soon.

Pigs

The pigs are getting quite big, growing like weeds, eating, like, well, pigs. I've stocked up on grain and every day when I go out to the barn in the morning I take them any scraps of house food there are. I bought a cheap bag of apples and if I have nothing else I'll cut up an apple to add to their grain.
I bought a water nipple for them to drink from, will be installing it into a big blue barrel for them today. They walk in their water and that's nasty.
I need to come up with another feeding option, they are dumping it and then have to go hungry. That's NOT an option, they are supposed to grow big fast so they can be butchered, fast.

Another Good Run

Today got another good 3.1 mile run in at Jackson Park. Love that running is finally happening for me again.

Its been brought to my attention that Sarah Goathouse has been blaming people for injuries happening to her own horse in the last few months. Since I haven't seen either of them in a year I have no idea what the fuck shes talking about but wish she could just accept that bad shit happens to horses and 'Someone better not be doing it to her horse' is BS. Sarah is a psycho that needs to be on her medication but self medicates, making her a worse person than if she didn't take it at all. I feel sorry for her oldest daughter that she hates, she gets so much crap and abuse from her asshole mother. One day I hope the daughter goes to the authorities.

My horses are turning in to art. Got these photos made into cartoon type drawings and printed out.

This one of Wifi is a fave of her, I'm picking up a 36x48 print to tomorrow. Its going to be made into wall art for our home.

Got to run today

After my chiro appointment I went to a local woodsy park and ran 3.1 miles in 40:39. I wasn't fast, first mile 12:05, 2nd & 3rd both 13:41 and the rest finishing up the 10/100th mile and a bit of walking it out. Its basically a flat park, just a bit of hilly spots but GPS said I had 190 feet of ele gain. hhhmmm...

Tomorrow morning I will run again at 10am at the same park. Its going to be a bit colder so I'll have my mittens on. Today it was about 44*, tonight its supposed to be low 30's.

Recovery

In triathlon, you take recovery very seriously. When you're training hard, 4-6 hours on an easy day for 6 days a week, you need to rest and recover. Sleep and down time. Then it's even more important when it goes up to a couple days of 8+ hour days.

Being injured from the car accident has been an entirely different kind of recovery. I am having a hard time doing it and I want to get back to training. Chiro and massage visits 5 times a week have gone down to 3 times and that makes it way easier to accept.

I have a half marathon in 2 weeks and I'm just not going to be ready for it. Its going to be extremely hilly, cold and wet. But at the same time, it will be a lot of fun. Its on the islands at Fort Ebey Kettles and the views there just can't be beat. Lan is doing the 5k and I will do the half with Linda; Steve and Brayden will do the half but finish way before us girls do.

The horses are doing well, finally. Joey is getting over the pigs and will now go out of the arena and back in much easier. Last night he still wanted to come in the back gate but at least he's coming in.
Wifi and Sunshower don't care about the pigs and are thriving. Wifi's butt is getting so big from walking up and down the hill in the back pasture, she's going to look amazing when she finally gets to go to her first show this year. She's also doing GREAT long lining and prepping for carting.

The pigs are getting friendlier. This morning the boy let me pet his back before he scooted off slowly. Eating is more important to him than not being touched.

I ordered an enlarged 16 x 20 print of Wifi from a show, a 3/4 view of her head looking away, on a bright sunny day. I've found another photo that I'm going to get made into a 36 x 48 watercolor of her and make into art for the living room. So excited for these things happening.

Made this sign the other day out of an old barn board:

I have so many more projects I want to do and with slow work hours I can do these at my leisure.