Wednesday, May 14

Today I am in Chicago.

Okay, more about the SB race. I got to Solvang around 6:20am and saw crowds of people lining the sidewalk. It turned out these were all people waiting to be transported to the start line! The last bus was supposed to leave at 6:30 and there was NO WAY all of these people were getting on that bus. We waited, and waited, and finally at about 7:10 the last buses left to take us to the start line in Santa Ynez (never mind that the race started 10 minutes ago...). We got to the start line at 7:20 and with very little fanfare I started off on the course. It was definitely a weird way to start, weaving in through the walkers and spectators. The lengthy wait for transport left me brimming with energy, and I was mindful not to go out too fast - it was hard to read pace, though, because a) I was passing a lot of people who I would have been in front of had I started on time and b) there were no mile markers. I reached the second water stop and heard we were at 3.7 miles- I looked at my watch and I was around 40 minutes....this didn't seem right but I figured it was better to be too slow at this point anyway.

The first few miles were rolling hills that wound through residential Santa Ynez. I kept thinking that you really have to make a choice when you live in an area like that - convenience or beautiful surroundings - because although it was very pretty, there was NOTHING around for miles except for a biker bar and a general store. Around Mile 6 we started up what was billed as "the short hill climb." This was a hill to rival the mountain stages of the Tour de France (and, as I learned the following day, Solvang was a Tour training site for Lance Armstrong and team for several years). I chugged my way up - it was a real struggle but I kept telling myself I wasn't going to walk and to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I finally made it to the top and fortunately there was a water stop so I could catch my breath before heading to the glorious downhill.

Here is a link to some photos:

http://www.fotojack.com/photo/index.htm?race=1020&val=1654

Will write more in next post.....