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Donner #7, plus another 7

My seventh annual race at Donner Lake was fun! But, oh, did I mention? It wasn't my only race last weekend.

Some friends of ours held a little 7k race in Golden Gate Park on Saturday as part of the festivities surrounding their wedding, which was on 07/07/07. It was a perfect way to celebrate, as the groom is a track and cross-country coach. If memory serves, the couple met on the track. And we know them from our running circles.

So I couldn't very well not do this race, although I would have preferred a more restful Saturday. I took Friday completely off from training, and then tried to take it easy in the 7k. But you know what made it fun? Dave ran the race with me. Yes, my husband Dave, who has run marathons at a slightly faster pace than I run a 5k when I'm in good shape (low-7's per mile). Yeah, he is way, way faster than me. But Dave hasn't been running much this year after switching to bike racing. And all his old track buddies were there, talking trash. So running with me gave him a great excuse not to kill himself trying to keep up with them and their six-minute miles.

My time for the 7k was 41 minutes and change. Dave let me beat him by two seconds. This will probably be the only time I will ever beat my husband in a race. Unless I can somehow get him to race me in the pool. And that will never happen.

We had to leave before the awards presentation, sadly, to hit the road for Donner Lake.

We got up to the lake Saturday afternoon and I went for my traditional pre-race swim. It's possible I enjoy this part of the weekend more than the race itself. Perfectly fresh water, sunshine, clean air and mountains. That's all I really need.

Race morning I got up at 4am, ate, slathered on the SPF 45 and headed back to the lake. At 4:59am, I was the first racer into the parking lot. I think my obsession with arriving early may be out of control. But I like to get in, set up, and get out before the hordes arrive.

I got first choice of transition racks, so I happily plopped my bike into the first slot in row #7. That must be fate, right? Ah, no, because then I realized that row #7 was in the sprint section of the transition area, so I had to move to row #13, in the section reserved for international-distance racers. I consider 13 to be a very lucky number. Even if it isn't 7.

My early arrival gave me plenty of time to do a little warm-up jog, hit the blue boxes several times, take photos of the lake, go back and check my gear, and veg out in the peace and quiet of my car. And then I squished into my wetsuit and headed to the start.

I felt like I had a great swim, and indeed it was 10 seconds faster than last year at 28:25, even though I never found a good pair of feet to draft behind. My bike was 45 seconds slower than last year at 1:50:15 (24.8 miles, approx. 3,000 feet of climbing). I would have expected it to be faster, just since so much of it is climbing and I'm considerably lighter than last year. But then again, last year I had just spent a week riding in the Rockies, so I was probably much more fit on the bike.

My run was 3.5 minutes faster than last year, at 1:04:45 (they claim the distance is 6.5 mi; I think it's at least 6.7). I had to remind myself at mile 2 that I wasn't just going slowly... my lungs were working extra-hard to pull oxygen out of the thin 6,000' air. Everything is a little harder up there, but it's most obvious to me on the run.

Comparing my results, I see now that my transitions have been getting slower over the years. I was very proud in 2004 of my 52-second transition between bike and run, which included sunblock reapplication in addition to the usual shoe and headwear change. I think all my long-course racing has allowed me to get lazy with the transitions! Must work on that. Must save precious seconds. (To be fair, they have moved and reconfigured the transition area since then, and it takes longer to get into and out of now.)

I finished in 3:28:05. Out of my six international-distance finishes here, it ranks third. So, not bad, but not spectacular, either. (I count this as my seventh Donner race because I did the sprint distance once. It was my second triathlon ever. Ha!) For such a relatively short race, it's a damn hard race. It never does get easier. But it will always, always be the most beautiful race around.

July 17, 2007 5:58 PM