Da Grind - OC Distance Race 08/01/09

After a week of scorching heat in the northwest, the fog was a welcome relief (albeit, temporary) in West Seattle the morning of SOCC's very own "Da Grind" distance race. A 2-lap course for a total of 10 miles with a bonus portion: a 1-person run up from the boat to the beach and back into the boat after the first lap.

Guess who was designated to do that in our boat...yup, that would be me. LOL!! After a 2-hour delay, we started in the fog which instantly dissapated about 20 minutes into our race. It was a grind, literally, for me anyway. I've been fighting a bug all week and with the heatwave, my body was completely lethargic. And, I had timed my caffeine and food intake for a 9:30 start - not an 11:30 am start (with some football tossing, burpees, and general horsing around in the sand on top of that to kill time). Yeah, we hadn't even made our first turn and I knew it was going to be a grind for me.

After the first lap, I disconnected my hydration pack and jumped out of the boat - and went face first into the water....exactly what Sabine told me NOT to do. Then, it was a run up the beach, around the cone (plus an added JRitchie Flair - a pirouette) and back into the boat. Sabine showed me how to do it (one hand on each side of the boat and then swing my butt in...well, all the adrenaline gave me a major brain fart and the boat was cruising by....so, I missed it. SPLOOSH! Face-first into the water and off I went to chase the boat. LOL! Nice! And, it's all captured on film by photos taken by Scott Moody from Kikaha OCC. Great.

We got 4th place in the Open Women's division and we battled it out with Mountain Home's boat the entire way. Sigh....it was a grind. But, we were neck-in-neck right from the get-go. In fact, we were so close around our first turn that we collided with their ama. In the end, they edged us by 10 seconds. Oh well...next year.

Good times for sure. The SOCC men's boat did well too! No huli! Great turnout from the clubs around the northwest I'm done for sure now....until later this month. Hope this lethargic feeling goes away soon.