Moving fast. Pay attention! The road to greatness

It is springtime and athletes are lining up at starting lines all over the countryside with races happening at every turn of the road from Idyllwild to Miwok.
Here are the cast and characters from the last few race weekends

An Ultra Rock Star

This past weekend, Karyn Hoffman completed her second ultra run of the season, the Miwok 100K. Karyn always finishes what she starts and ended this race of up to 10,000 feet in cumulative elevation gain along the Marin headlands with a bloodied right leg and the attitude of a champion.

This crazy friend of mine, literally never stops. She jets all over the country with job related adventures nearly every week and finds great places to run. Karyn has already participated in the Way to Cool 50k and Sonoma 50 but her big race for the season will be the famous Western States 100 miler, which takes place the last weekend of June. With a start up at Lake Tahoe and with runners from countries such as Australia, Latvia, Iceland, Bolivia, to name a few, this race is truly a world class running event. I so hope to be at the finish of this one, cheering on # 234, the incredible Karyn Hoffman. http://westernstates100.com/

Queen of the Mountain

Cycling on nearly every level is still such a male dominated sport. I am always in awe of the incredible women out there holding there own like Allison Mann- pro lady MTB cyclist. Allison took the #1 spot, this past weekend at the Idyllwild Spring Challenge. Allison is sponsored by Rock N’Road Cyclery, Ergon USA and Cyclops and was happy, as am I, that the pro purse for this event was equal payment for the men and the women.

Allison is married to Justin Mann and together they are one of the most passionate cycling couples I know. If you are seeking inspiration or just want to learn more about Mountain Biking, check out their blog - The Mann Adventure, at mannadventureblogspot.com. A good recent posting, April 10th "Crash plus one week" tells about Justin's terrible recent accident yet ends so sweetly in regards to this couples devotion to each other and to cycling. Allison wanted me to mention that Idyllwild is one of the best MTB courses and if any of you visit Southern California with a mountain bike, you may want to include plans to ride there.

Love and inspiration

One would think that after so many years, so many long days waiting at the finish line I would by now, be able to contain my emotion when my son Luke races. No such luck. Luke completed another Iron man race, this past weekend, an inaugural event in beautiful St. George, Utah. http://ironmanstgeorge.com

Before the race, I listened to the pros talking about the course being one of the toughest out there with potentially the hardest run course because of the numerous hills. Luke finished in excellent time and shape. While glued to the online athlete tracker for Luke’s last six miles of the run, I anxiously waited. With wishful tears welling up in my eyes, wanting so badly to be there to see that moment, I finally got the text message from my daughter in law that I had waited all day for. Luke finished strong, healthy and happy.

Next up for Luke? Luke will be here in Sacramento later this month for the “Worlds’ toughest half iron man” in Auburn and then in July will participate in the (do not like the name of this race at all) -The Julian Death Ride. A MTB endurance race ride that covers 129 miles with 15,000 feet of elevation over five mountains passes. http://julianactive.com

One Committed Runner

Tamara Geary is one of those really with it runners, participating in race events nearly every weekend. Tamara represented Team Lucca in Nashville two weekends ago and then ran in the American River Parkway Half this past weekend. Tamara comes from a strong family of runners. Her father, Jim, just got back from the Boston Marathon which he has participated in many times. Tam has great stories to tell, by the way of the crazy pending storm and hurricane warnings on race day in Nashville. http://nashvillecompetitor.com

Fair Oaks Sun Run

Many thanks to Julie, Eric, Jessie and Alan for representing Team Lucca at the hilly Fiesta Sun Run up in old Fair Oaks on Sunday.

Speed

Two weekends ago I was riding down the trail when I came across a race in progress. Soon enough I see blazing down the trail runners #1 and 2 and not far behind a brown team Lucca jersey worn by Andrew Naverette. Out of close to 500 runners running the River City Half marathon, Andrew Navarrete of Team Lucca came in at #11.

And finally, two Sundays ago. I participated in the “Breakaway from Cancer” ride out of Santa Rosa, sponsored by Amgen, the same group promoting the Tour of California.

Here is a brief telling of my crazy day –

As I am playing with Lucky in Juilliard park, Ron yells, “Terri, I think your race just started”, geez, pay attention!

I throw on my helmet, clip in my shoes and race off to catch the two old guys at the end, riding through the start corral.

A police escort leads us out of town then I see everyone ahead start to stop and am hopeful that I can now catch up.

It is discovered that the police escort took us the wrong direction, completely opposite of where we need to be.

Approximately 50 of us navigate our way back through crazy busy intersections, under a freeway exchange, across multi lane highways, all hanging tight, moving slowly back in the right direction.

Finally we arrive in the pristine, bucolic gorgeous Santa Rosa countryside filled with fat sheep, sleek cattle and even a few hairy yaks.

Onto Coleman Valley Road for our “big” climb. Okay - for me it was big.

After triumphantly arriving at the top I make the stupid decision that will affect the whole rest of my day.

Often when riding along the river, I will climb down to the banks to sometimes read, think, just check out the scenery, while also knowingly trashing the cleats on the bottom of my shoes.

So it is at the top of this hill I decide to unclip my right foot and see if I can turn it over while staying upright on my bike to check the trashed out bottom of my cleat which felt slightly off on the climb up. Bad move, really bad move, stupid beyond belief.

My bike leans hard to the left. Instantaneous panic sets in to protect the previously broken left elbow. I twist and hop and manage to stay on the bike. Happy about that, I look down and see a black grease mark and a little blood.

Riding on.

Two cyclists come up behind me “Do you know you are bleeding?"

Me – “yes”

Cyclist #1 “It looks bad, you're leaving a little trail of blood’

Me- “It doesn’t hurt, I’m fine”

Cyclist #1 “ let’s pull over and look at it”

Me thinking – let’s not, I’m just fine

Be Polite and stop to check, Cyclist #2 - freaks out, feels sick

Both offer to take me back down the hill to the EMT station. I assure them they should just go on and finish.

I race back down the hill for my moment of speed and glory and for the most fun I will have on that day.

The rest of the story – 4 hours waiting in the ER, more stitches, still love cycling.

May is National Bike Month. Bike often.

Stay tuned for the upcoming excitement of the Amgen Tour of California.

http://amgentourofcalifornia.com