Pacific Crest Oly

It was HOT.  This was my very first Olympic-length tri (did all sprints last year), and I cannot for the life of me imagine how brutal it was for the 70.3's on Saturday (maybe someone can post?). 

The lake temperature was perfect, I thought -- 64F.

Whoever wrote the description of the bike route should be fired.  They mentioned a 400 ft climb about 12 miles into the race, for about 3/4 of a mile.  It wasn't a huge gain in altitude, but it was certainly a lot longer in length than 3/4 of a mile -- more like 2.5.  Too bad that area was clear-cut years ago, because otherwise the bike would have been a lot shadier!

The run is my weakest leg, and 95F heat + 4,200 ft altitude + probably going far too hard on the bike = a lot of walking.

I actually have no idea how I did, because I just wanted to get out of there, shower, and eat ice cream.  I may have even gotten DQ'd during the bike for blocking someone, even though I checked over my shoulder before passing someone.  The course marshall shouted something at me, but I couldn't figure out what he was saying.

I think this event is a great opportunity for people from all over to come to Central Oregon and basically pick a race (or more) and complete them.  They make it really easy for you to get yourself and your bike to and from T1 and T2.  However, in this first-timer's eyes, it seems super chaotic, what with all of the athletes, friends/fans/family members, plus the people who actually live in Sun River, plus all of the people who went there for the weekend, crammed into tiny Sun River.  That said, AA has been putting this event on a number of years (I believe), and they do a great job of wrangling the athletes and controlling traffic.  I could not have been more happy with the organization and volunteers at each of the transition areas, registration, water stops, and finish line.