The Jive Turkey 1/2 Marathon was the inaugural event for the Underground Running Series. What is the Underground you ask?? It’s all here on their Facebook page. So go like them so you can see when the next event is. But they are all FUN, affordable, low-key, limited races. I got an email the day before the race which said where the start was going to be. (They all have to be within 25 miles of The St George Running Center). And we found out the course five minutes before the start! There were no bibs, no clocks and everyone is a winner. And it was ONLY $20 for a super sweet medal!!!! You bring your own nutrition and bottles. Though Will from High Knee’s Cycles brought out a bunch of gels at the start if you wanted one. This was an out and back course and my friend Shannon volunteered to help out at the water station at the turn-a-round. Her husband was running this one. She’ll be running the Baker’s Dozen 1/2 next month with me. Don’t we have awesome races out here in Southern Utah??

After the race.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to run this race because of my hurt foot from the SG Marathon. But four weeks off of running, Physical Therapy and new size 11 shoes I can run again!! Yes, I used to wear size 9 shoes, my whole life, but the Running Center said they were too small for running. And if I was wearing the right shoes for the marathon my foot probably would have been fine after. Errrrrr. Fortunately, I was still able to bike and swim so I didn’t lose all my conditioning. I ran 2 miles, 3 miles, 2 miles, 3.1 miles and 5 miles- these last two weeks. An easy 1/2 hopefully won’t kill me.

Michelle texted me and asked if I had any races this weekend. I didn’t think so. So I looked up what races there were and saw the Jive Turkey!!!! I told her if she runs it, I’ll run it with her. She signed up that day and so did I. Three days before the race!!! Now what to wear?? I immediately searched online for a Jive outfit. I watched Travolta do his strut on the Underground FB page and I searched 70′s makeup. I ordered an outfit. WooHoo! BTW, my husband thinks I’m crazy. Lol

Friday, the day before, I got an email that I was picked for the second draw for the Ogden Marathon! May 18th, two weeks after the SG 1/2 Ironman. I have until the 29th to sign up. I just deleted that race from my calendar yesterday and almost signed up for the SG Tri the same day. Hmmmm. What to do?? Shannon and Aimee are in. It’s only 333 miles away. Alright, back to the groovy race.

The race starts Saturday morning at 8:am at exit 27. I got up at 5:50 and turned myself into Marcia Brady when they were singers. and had some oatmeal. I picked up Michelle and Brittney and we drove through Toquerville to get there.  Which make me think of the Toquerville Trails Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day- that I still need to sign up for. Two years ago I did the 1.7 miler in freezing 20 degree, super windy weather. It was so fun! Did you think I was going to say miserable? I love all my runs! I just saw a photo on FB that said, I really regret that run. ~ said no one ever. And I think it’s true. But I do say I regret eating too much. Lol.  See why I need to keep running. This year I’ll do the 3.1 miler and then pick up my Smoked Turkey from Sonny Boys. Yummmm.

So we arrive to our destination and it’s surprisingly not that cold. Maybe 46 degrees. Yes, that’s cold to my CA friends. But perfect for running! Everyone is getting ready and we have a little meeting and learn our course. We run to Leeds, downhillish and run back, uphillish. The graph looks worse than it felt though. We take some group photos. Yes, we have an awesome photographer as well. Alex Santiago setup along the course and took photos of everyone. I tried jumping for a pic, I’m just a sad short white girl with no skills. Lol. His wife Cherie does great jumps, also Cory Reese has perfected them.

Corey. Not bad with the iPhone!

We walked to the start line that’s not really there because this is an underground race. And take off. I ran with Michelle the whole time, which is always nice to talk to someone. I stopped and took lots of pictures. And took a couple of bathroom breaks. Some girls stopped at the store and bought the last of the Hostess product they had. It sprinkled a little on the way out. We made it to the turnaround and I was hot and so were a bunch of other runners, and we all undressed, well some of our clothing anyway. I wore a warm long sleeve running shirt underneath and took that off. We headed back, uphill, to the finish. Then it started to sprinkle a little and a little more. The last three miles we got wet, but it could have been worse.

We sprint to the finish, well not really. And get our awesome medal that I have bragged about. I love it! Number 14 half marathon complete. AND….I won the Jive Turkeyette award. I got a bag with a St George Running Center visor and an UltrAspire bottle. WooHoo!

The Jive costume contest winners!

I waited for some other runners to come in and then we left. It was raining and I was getting cold just standing there. I went home and took a long hot shower.  Afterwards, my lower back was killing me and my feet were a little sore, the next day my hips were sore, but that’s about it.

I absolutely loved the race and the anticipation to find out where it would will be. Everyone is so nice and I’m glad Jason, who also put on my first marathon, and Lyle got together to create the Underground Series. I wouldn’t change anything. But I would suggest at one of the races to finish at a restaurant so we can go eat right away. I was starving after this race and wanted a big hot breakfast. Lol

There are a lot of events coming up in the next month. Toquerville Trails Turkey Trot 5K, Expedition Relay- 50 miles with four other awesome girls, Las Vegas 1/2, Jingle Bell 5K, Elf 5K in Springdale, The Dirty Dozen trail run on 12-12-12 for 12 miles, Bakers Dozen 1/2, The Mayan End of Days 1/2 on 12-22-12 (the next Underground race). And Connor will be 3 in 3 weeks, the boys have a bike race in Hurricane and then there’s Christmas. I need to find out which races have the kid races, Evan really wants to run some. He said he likes getting the medal, just like mama. There are even more races, I can’t do them all!  They are all listed at StGeorgeMom.com

Thanks for reading and enjoy the photos.

Amber

This is the inaugural event for HITS Triathlon Series in Lake Havasu City, AZ.  The full and half events are on Saturday and the Olympic and Sprint are on Sunday.  There is also an Open class on Sunday and it’s free for anyone that enters it. I think that is pretty awesome. The youngest were (3) 6-year-olds.  Next year I want Evan to do it. He just needs to work on swimming, like me.

The event takes place on the island at the state beach.  There are two playgrounds and a dog park.  Very family friendly. Friday I picked up my packet and at the same time they were having a meeting for the Saturday racers.  I happen to see a friend from the motorcycle races who was racing his first half.  He and his brother are also going to do the Ironman St George 70.3.  I checked out the swim start and transition area.  I also thought those buoys looked pretty far.  I’m about 99.9% sure I never want to do a full.  I think a marathon by itself is hard enough.  I’m not even sure about the 70.3 in May that I’m signed up for. But I have six months to train.

The race schedule for HITS was in one of my magazines and the Lake Havasu event happened to be the same time as my father-in-laws 85th birthday.  Who happens to live in Havasu.  So months ago I planned for the families to meet in Havasu.  One of Mike’s brothers flew in from WA state and another from CA.  We stayed at a vacation house so we could bring the dogs, BBQ and hangout.  The kids loved the sandbox and hammock.  The pool was pretty awesome, but a little cold.  Didn’t want to spend $600 to heat the pool.  Of course Havasu had been in the 90′s until we showed up.

Saturday I brought the dogs to the dog park and the kids played on the playground while Mike went to get a nail taken out of our car tire.   I also saw the first place guy finish the half.  I believe his first words were, wow. He finished in 4:36:12.  Here’s a pic I got with the kids.  Trixie wouldn’t just sit there.

Trying to get a pic with the dog.

Iron Cowboy. I saw a picture of this guy on FB who just had done one loop (56 miles), he was towing someone behind his bike. I followed the link to learn more info on him. He also swam towing him in a raft!! Yes, OMG! I can barely swim in a wetsuit.  This triathlon will be his 27th Ironman race of the year.  And once not to long ago he struggled to finish a 4-mile race!  Anyone can do it!   It just takes desire & discipline.

So….Saturday night I had lasagna and garlic bread. I also cleaned my bike, checked tire pressure, took off my lights and put it on the car. Debated if I should have my seat bag with a spare tube.  But thought- would I really be able to change it if I got a flat. And I had already put my number on my seat post and my bag would have messed it up. So no tube and hope for the best. lol.  I put all my numbers where they’re supposed to be.  Swim cap sticker on both sides, bib sticker for my race belt. Helmet sticker.  On the front I assumed, and I did google it too.  At dirt bike races it goes on the side.  I taped a gel to my bike frame.  I also set out all my gear and made sure I had everything and packed it all up in my Tri bag.  I went to sleep between 9 and 10.  Alarm set for 5:am.  I must have been a little nervous, I woke up almost every hour checking the time, ahhhhh!  I finally got up and got ready.  I had oatmeal and brought a banana in case I got hungry before the start.  Which I didn’t.

Race Day.  Since we have one car with us, Mike dropped me off at 6:am.  He was planning on coming back with the kids around 8.  When I thought I’d be coming in on a bike.  I walked my bike up to the transition area and setup my area.  I really loved how they had seats for us- with our name and number, the bike stands created boxes for our stuff.  It was so organized.  No one showing up at the last minute squeezing in and making us all move our stuff over.  Lol But someone on my row had a mtn bike and her tires didn’t fit in the box.  They leaned it against the fence.

Bike transition area. Should have had the step in it too. Oh well.

Did I mention it was freezing!  Well maybe 45 degrees.  I finally put on my wetsuit and warmed up.  We had to be out of the transition area at 6:40, head to the beach for a meeting and the men swim sprint started at 7:00 and wmn 7:03.  The Olympic start was about 30 minutes later.  There was also a 30 minute cutoff time.  I was a little worried, what if??  But later heard they weren’t very strict for not letting you continue if you exceeded the cutoff time.  I asked a girl to zip me up and walked to the beach.  Mark Wilson, the guy in charge, gave a speech with directions, etc. He said the boats had the right-of-way.  What??  Well not too many boaters are out at 7:am when it’s 45 degrees. And he said there were no issues yesterday.  All the men lined up and exactly at 7:00 they all ran from the beach to the water.  One guy ran in the water and went far right then started swimming with no crowd.  The water was perfect and no wind.

6:30 am. Notice the moon and star.

At 7:03 all the women started running.  I was definitely not going to be in the front row.  We all took off and as I entered the water I was like awwwwe, the water felt soooo good and warm!  I’ve never ever thought of Lake Havasu as warm, I never even touch the water with my toes because it’s always too cold.  But it felt like a heated pool.  I ran a few feet and started swimming.  The buoys were brought in half the distance from the day before and it didn’t look far at all.  The Olympic course is two laps.  Not sure how that works by the beach.

The Swim 20:00

So I clicked start on my watch, said ouch as I ran on the sandy, rocky beach with my aching cold feet and started swimming.  There were 31 of us. In the future I will have throwaway socks.  The swim seemed a little crowded at first.  There were girls everywhere, in front of me – in my way (if you can believe that) behind me touching my legs, crossing in front of me going the wrong way.  I was sighting a lot, but I also stopped a few times to catch my breath.  I finally got to the first buoy and turned left for the next.  I felt a little more comfortable as we spread out more.  The sun hasn’t come up yet, which was nice.  My friend who did the half had the sun in his eyes.  I could see the ground and plants almost the whole swim too.  Not sure if I liked that.  Maybe that’s why I seemed to swim straight this time?  We got to the next buoy and turned left. There was a sand bar and I kind of walked a little, didn’t know if this was legal.  Kept on swimming and tried to stay with another girl and not stop so much.  My breathing is finally under control just as I get to the end.  Maybe I will do better in an Olympic? The first 15 is the warmup and then I’ll fly?  I can dream.  I get out and everyone is cheering along the sand.  There were 9 girls behind me and 21 in front of me.

T1 3:33

I run through the transponder arch and start taking off my wetsuit.  Put my goggles and cap in my hand and slide the arm off with my gear safely stuck inside.  My physical therapist, Lance from Tri-Fit Therapy said he does that, and I’m not sure if I did it on purpose or not, but it worked.  I pulled off my wetsuit further, my suit got stuck on my watch and on my transponder, so that took a little longer than normal.  I sat down on the awesome stools we all had, put on my socks and quickly slipped on my shoes with the quick laces. I looked around and thought should I put on my long sleeve shirt??  It’s kinda cool, will I freeze?  So I decided to, I was still wet and it took forever to slip on- it got stuck on my back.  Put on my helmet and sunglasses and headed out.  I decided ahead of time no gloves to save time (Because it took forever at Kokopelli). I ran out of the transition area, passing a girl who was walking.  And saw another two girls mounting their bikes at the same time.  One girl had an issue clipping in.

The Bike 44:17

I start riding and I’m trying to figure out my watch- it says I’ve gone 1000 yards swimming now.  I haven’t done any brick workouts and didn’t read how to switch sports in the mutlisport setting.  So I wasted a couple minutes with that.  Finally got going up to speed and was right behind a guy and girl.  We all went back and forth for the first 6 miles. The guy slowed down asking the police officer if that’s where we turn- I told him no, on Smoketree.  We turn left and head uphill.  He was now gone as I slowly went uphill trying to stay with the girl. I rip my gel off my bike frame which worked prefect! But I have no pockets and didn’t want to litter, so I put it in my top.  Okay, I need some cycling clothing! I wore my St George 1/2 marathon top.  We make it to the turn-a-round and the volunteer was so nice and told me I did great up the hill and I need to catch them.  I was glad I had my long-sleeve shirt on but thought I would have been fine without it.  We head back the same way.  I lost the girl that was ahead of me with a couple miles to go. I should have tried harder!  This whole ride I was dreading the run up and down the stairs.  I don’t know why, I’ve run them several times before.  Maybe because I’ve run twice since the SG Marathon!!

T2 1:41

I come around the corner near the transition area and see Mike and Connor. I run in and waste time putting on my water belt.  It was so cold and I was so slow, I barely drank anything anyway.  I put on my number belt and visor.  Mike came over on the outside of the fence and asked how it was, I think I said the water was warm.  I head out to run my best race ever, NOT.

The Run 28:02 (9:02 pace) There were stairs…

I start running and immediately noticed my feet were frozen!  I knew they were a little cold on the bike but didn’t think twice about it.  I wonder if those hand warmers would have worked had I put them on the tops of my feet during the bike?  Or maybe those shoe covers I need to get.  Well I try to run and I can’t feel my feet.  I’ve run in 20 degree weather and have never had this issue.  I pass a guy along the channel and ask him if his feet were frozen and he said yes it was like running on clubs.  That is exactly what it felt like.  I hated it!  My watch had my pace all over the place,  I know I was never running in the 7′s. And my avg was in the 9′s!  OMG I’m so slow!  I never felt the need to walk though- maybe because I’m going so slow!  I come to the first set of stairs and run up them, make a right and head over the bridge, run down the stairs, go under the bridge, run up the stairs and go over the bridge.  Run out on the island to the turn-a-round. The aid station had all kinds of treats like pretzels, oranges, bars, gels, etc.  But I said no thanks and ran back.  Wow, I see people behind me!  I felt like I was pretty much in last place. I felt like I was doing terrible because running is supposed to be my best discipline and I was sucking!  Then I saw the girl that beat me on the bike running towards me, hmm I’m ahead of her!  I’m happy now.  Lol.  I run over the bridge, down the stairs, under the bridge, up the stairs, over the bridge, down the stairs and head back to the finish.  At the bottom of the stairs two girls running the opposite direction didn’t know where to go- there weren’t any signs or anyone to follow (when under the bridge), I helped them out.  At about 2 miles my feet decide to defrost and now are all tingly.  But I can feel my toes and it’s easier to run.  I tell myself this is a race and I should be trying harder.  There was a girl at the bottom of the last set of stairs kinda going slow down them and thought that’s the easy part, I went faster and past her along the channel.  I also past a guy and thought I should have ran like this the whole race!  I was mad at myself.  I sprinted across the finish, I also noticed there was no running clock with the time.  Why??  My watch said 1:37. Was that right?  Seemed to short.  Well I saw my family and got my medal.

RESULTS:  1:37:35  I finished 8th of 31 women. 41st of 86 overall. 1st in my age. (I was the only one.) Shhh.

Male Results
Full – Brian Folts (Phoenix, AZ) – 10:10:18
Half – Paul Amey (San Diego, CA) – 4:36:12
Olympic – Paul Amey (San Diego, CA) – 2:01:32
Sprint – Andreas Thallaug (Walnut Creek, CA) – 1:11:06
Open – Lee Schrank (Murrieta, CA) – 15:27

Female Results
Full – Deborah Battaglia (Salt Lake City, UT) – 12:20:05
Half – Ashley Paulsen (Orem, UT) – 5:13:12
Olympic – Dora Branyan (Houston, TX) – 2:36:48
Sprint – Lara Ray (Camarillo, CA) – 1:22:36
Open – Sahana Bojorquez (Las Vegas, NV) – 15:13

Hmmm, the medal.  Not too impressed.  Is it just me? There’s a generic HITS sticker on the medal and it doesn’t even say Lake Havasu or the date. The whole presence of this race is top notch, high class, professional and then this is the medal??  Oh well, maybe I’m just a medal snob.  I did like the red, white and blue ribbon though. (Veteran’s Day Weekend)

The refreshments.  There was yummy Greek yogurt, coconut water (I was afraid to try), bagels and fruit. I thought all tri’s serve lunch after.  No big deal.  They did have pasta on Saturday for the half and full racers.  It looked yummy too. (I saw from pictures).  We went to Denny’s and had a great breakfast.

I loved how low key the race was.  Maybe the promoters didn’t.  But since it was only my second Tri it made it less stressful.  Not really looking forward to the SG Ironman swim start. But I do have home court advantage.  Practice, practice.  I will definitely do this again next year and maybe the Olympic or half.

There’s also another Tri in Lake Havasu in March that I will be doing. We are there for the WORCS races and the last two years I’ve taken the boys out to cheer the runners on, now I will do it!!

My next race is this Saturday!  I signed up yesterday.  The Jive Turkey 1/2 Marathon.  I’m dressing up.  Can’t wait!  The custom medal is AWESOME.  I’m still waiting to hear where it is and what terrain!!  They will send us a secret email soon letting all the runners know. LOL

Thanks for reading and here are some more pictures.

Amber

The swim course, with the transition and some bike, then I figured out how to switch sports. lol

Bike course.

Run course.

Vender area. That’s about it.

The stage where packet pickup was.

I LOVED the tattoo numbers! Though they are still on! I scrubbed too.

Our new dog from the shelter. Her first road trip and we haven’t even had her a week!

The pool at our vacation house. The kids even went in a little, but it was freezing!

Jack loved having all the family visit.

Aren’t they cute??  Connor will be 3 in 3 weeks!  Evan is 5.

She’s probably doing the Olympic as we head to Denny’s.  On the famous London Bridge.

I read Captain Chas’ race report who did the half distance and his personal photographer took a ton of great photos.