Deschutes Dash Triathlon

Triathlon feet These feet endured almost 17 miles of swimming, biking, and running yesterday morning; a picnic and lazy afternoon at the park was well deserved.

For months our friends, Brian & Carrie, have been training for the Deschutes Dash, a sprint- and Olympic-distance triathlon in Bend, Oregon. I have been looking forward to this event all summer and was excited to go with them this weekend to support them and finally experience what a triathlon is all about, at least from the spectator’s point-of-view. I don’t know that I will ever be in a triathlon myself, unless I am part of a relay team. The swimming is fun, and I love being on my road bike, but running? Forget it! It’s boring and slow. I would much rather be pedaling, so that I can actually get somewhere. There are times a slow pace is necessary, so that I can take in the scenery and enjoy the wildlife, but that’s what hiking is for. Even worse than running, is having to save the running for the last leg of the competition.

So I give Brian and Carrie a lot of credit for pushing themselves so hard in order to accomplish such a feat. Rigorous daily workouts and a lot of hard work, persistence, and planning paid off as they crossed the finish line on Sunday morning, against a stunning backdrop of the Deschutes River and the Central Oregon Cascades. What an incredible day! It all began at 7:30 am with a 1500-yd (1300-yd for the sprint) swim downriver in 56-degree water. Joel and I, with dogs in tow, staked out a spot on the spectators’ footbridge and attempted to identify our friends among the splashing arms and pink and green swim caps. The swimmers exited the river just downstream of the footbridge, and peeled off their wet suits as they ran towards the transition area to hop on their bikes for the next leg. The bike course took them uphill toward Mt. Bachelor, then back to the river for a total of 25 miles (12.5 miles for the sprint). By this time the high desert air was warming quickly. We watered the dogs, applied sunblock, and waited anxiously for our friends to return. Brian arrived first. We could see his orange helmet from a good distance and snapped pictures as he came to a halt, hopped off, and ran with his bike towards his running shoes and hat. As soon as he was off and running, Carrie came zooming down the hill on her bike. How exciting that they were so close to each other! The run course was 3.1 miles; the Olympic triathletes were to run 2 laps, the sprinters just one. Since the run course passed our footbridge twice, here would be the best opportunity for photos, and luckily by now Joel and I had our spotting system perfected: he kept an eye out with the binoculars while I stood ready with the camera at the edge of the course. In a few minutes, Brian and Carrie emerged from a tunnel, running side-by-side. They looked strong and smiled back at us as we screamed out to them. They crossed another footbridge downstream and headed back towards us and the finish line. Brian still had his second lap to go, but Carrie’s sprint was done, and she turned left and ran through the cheering crowd at the finish line. Just after 10:00 Brian finished too. I cannot imagine the sense of relief and pride they must feel. I just know how proud I am of them for enduring such strict training schedules, jumping into that cold river, toughing it out for miles and miles of intense physical work, and reaching their goals together as a team. Well done, guys!

Triathlon swim