5.25.2008

Memorial Weekend 2008

After work on Thursday, I headed up to Priest Lake for our yearly Memorial pilgrimage up to Kalispell Island. This is my third year joining our group. We usually try to head up early to make sure we get Silver Cove. These camp spots are located on the south side of the island so you are protected from and of the wind and waves that are pretty common up on the lake.
Thursday evening was spent setting up my tent, TWICE. The first time I guess I set it up pretty close to an ant hill and before I knew it the rain fly was covered with these little red buggers. I am personally not a fan of waking up to having ants crawling all over me so I decide to completely tear everything down and move it. Apparently after setting it up and getting my tarp tied down for the second time I still hadn’t moved far enough away. I decided to stick it out because as far as I could tell they were only on the top. That night we headed over to Hill’s for dinner and all I can say is that it was GREAT to be on the lake.

We really had no plans for Friday since there were only 4 of us up there at this time so we spent the day working on the boats and just hanging out. The evening started with the arrival of 5 more people and now the campout had officially begun. We ended the night once again with a little bit of drinking and some dancing to the live band at Hill’s Resort.

Every Memorial Day Coolin, a small town on the south end of the lake, has a parade and craft sale. We usually head over for the noon parade and hang out a bit checking everything out. Before I headed over I picked up Mari, Scott (his first ever camping trip) and Trish. They really liked to idea to come out and enjoy such a beautiful area and get away from Spokane. It was awesome to run into a few of my Tri-Fusion group members Jim and Claire Powers. I swear we are everywhere.
After the parade we headed up to Elkins for the infamous Huckleberry Daiquiri and just spent the day floating around the lake. The weather wasn’t great but overall is there really every a bad day at the lake. That evening everyone was able to talk Trish into staying, so this too became her first every time camping. I personally have been camping since before I was one so it amazing me that there are people who do not camp. It was great they came up and hung out.
The night finished off with the starting of the fires we built earlier in the day. These fires are definitely not the most efficient fires but they are sure pretty cool to look at. The forest service actually encourages you to cut up the down trees for your firewood but I am pretty sure this is not what they had in mind. After running my three guests back to their cars on Sunday morning, that was all the camping they needed:) I headed back down to Coolin for their yearly fun run. I am not sure how an 8.2 mile run is real fun but it was great to see a few more Tri-Fusionites, Dave and Terri Orr along with Jeff Blackwell. I had been talking with Jeff the last few days and my plan was to run with him for part if not all of the race.

Once the race started I had a feeling that trying to keep up was not an option. When we passed the first mile maker my watch read 6:08. I knew at that moment that this was going to be a long day. There was definitely no way I was going to be able to keep up that pace for much longer. The next few miles were between 6:30 and 6:55, so I was still pretty excited about the pace. Then the turnaround came and all the hills I have been descending hit me like a ton of bricks. I had a few 7:30 miles and I think even a 7:55 mile but not sure. Overall I finished the race in 57:28 on the course that was actually 8.11 miles. That figures out to be a 7:05/mile pace. Not bad after a long weekend of letting loose and focusing on just having fun.
The rest of Sunday was spent completely relaxing at camp and in the early afternoon the sun finally came out. I decided to head home early to give myself an extra day to get ready for my trip next week to Boise for my race.

3 comments:

jessithompson said...

This looks like such a blast. Glad you had so much form and in true triathlete style (you know you're a triathlete when...) you even manage to squeeze a race in there!

Glad the R&R was a much needed break from the stress of life in general. You're smiling more since you've been back!

Tiffany said...

Sounds like you had a great weekend. I'm really impressed that you were still able to get a race in, even when you were surrounded by people who weren't doing it. That takes some serious motivation!

Good luck this weekend! I'll be thinking about you! I'll be an Iron Eagle when you get home, which I'm sure you will be jealous of, but I guess finishing a half IronMan is pretty cool too. :)

Trish said...

Nice job on your race! I can't believe you actually ran after all that beer :) I am proud of you!

I am glad that you enjoyed your weekend with your awesome friends! Thanks for letting me hang out and for encouraging me to bite the bullet and spend a night in a tent! My friends can't BELIEVE I did!

And of course...good luck this weekend! You are going to majorly rock it! And when I get tired of biking into the wind or running up hill during my race, I will think of you and say to myself, "Quit complaining Trish! Steve has GOT to be more tired than this!" It will help me finish!