Since Dennis and I are so busy with all of the commitments we've crammed into our lives, it's important that we sometimes find a way to intersect our interests. He can talk me into almost anything as long as I can somehow fit my training in. So it wasn't such a tough sell to get me to join him at North Star in Tahoe where he would be volunteering to assist the Race Director with course set up and volunteer management for the Tour de Nez. The little carrot Den dangled in front of me? A night's stay at North Star, which has an Olympic size pool, lots of running trails, and a spa. Awesome! I should preface this entry by letting you know that Dennis used to race bikes at the semi-pro level. The first 2 years that we dated revolved around a lot of cycling events, so spending the day watching bike races was like kickin' it old school for us. But fitting in my training was a new twist. On Saturday, we left the house at 4:30 am in order to get to Truckee by 8 am. When we arrived at the resort, we found out that we were actually staying at The Truckee Hampton Inn. OK, no big deal. But Northstar wasn't going to let me use their facilities. No pool, no shower, no massage...wah,wah,wah. But I was more than welcome to use their running trails...eh.
I reluctantly put on my running shoes and mapped out where I was going. My plan was to do 16 miles. I'd have to do some loops so that I could replenish water and fuel. I could carry one bottle of endurance mix, electrolyte pills, and 2 gels. My plan was to run 5 miles out to a bathroom, where I'd refill my bottle, take a gel, and head back to the car. I really underestimated how I'd feel running at altitude. North Star is over 6,000 feet above sea level. My heartrate was high and I was feeling more winded than usual. The trail wasn't marked all that well, so I kept having to turn around and run back to forks in the trail. When I reached the bathroom point, I found a port-a-potty with no running water. Screwed! I had to ration my water for the next hour. After 10 miles, I arrived back to the car dehydrated and discouraged. I called it a day, 6 miles short of my goal. I still had time to catch the Pro Women's and Pro Men's bike races. At the after party, we had a great time catching up wtih old friends and talking about the excitement to come....
I reluctantly put on my running shoes and mapped out where I was going. My plan was to do 16 miles. I'd have to do some loops so that I could replenish water and fuel. I could carry one bottle of endurance mix, electrolyte pills, and 2 gels. My plan was to run 5 miles out to a bathroom, where I'd refill my bottle, take a gel, and head back to the car. I really underestimated how I'd feel running at altitude. North Star is over 6,000 feet above sea level. My heartrate was high and I was feeling more winded than usual. The trail wasn't marked all that well, so I kept having to turn around and run back to forks in the trail. When I reached the bathroom point, I found a port-a-potty with no running water. Screwed! I had to ration my water for the next hour. After 10 miles, I arrived back to the car dehydrated and discouraged. I called it a day, 6 miles short of my goal. I still had time to catch the Pro Women's and Pro Men's bike races. At the after party, we had a great time catching up wtih old friends and talking about the excitement to come....
On Sunday, we made a stop on the way back to the Bay Area. Lance Armstrong was racing at the Nevada City Bicycle Classic. This would be his last race before the Tour de France next month. He wasn't the only big name there, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner also showed up to ride. The course was a 1.1 mile closed circuit set in the cute little downtown. This race is actually considered one of the most technically and physically challenging in America. 130 Pro and Cat 1 riders showed up at the start and 127 of them were lapped at least once by Lance. I'm not a super fan, but I have to admit that I was in complete awe while watching him race. He looked superhuman compared to the rest of the field. Dennis took some really great shots of the race, but I asked him to get one of me with Lance in the background so that I could post it on my blog. Well, this is it. Me and the black and yellow blur in the distance. 
Condition: Not the best training weekend, but certainly an entertaining one
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