A getaway weekend with extra bonus summer!

We finally made it over the pass and into Eastern Washington.  Ok, we didn't go too far but it was still far enough to see the dramatic difference in weather and landscape.  Dry and warm and perfect for growing apricots, cherries, applies and wine grapes!

Chelanman is a multi-sport event with many options for triathletes and runners to do a very fine event.  We went over with a group of coach Lesley athletes and had such a great time.  We set out from Seattle and it was cold and almost drizzly.  As soon as we hit Snoqualmie Pass, the clouds parted and it was sunny.  Soon it got pretty hot.  what a change.

Chelan is about a three hour drive from Seattle over the cascades.  Lake Chelan (Chelan is the town sitting at the south end) is a 55 mile narrow lake.  The southern end is accessible by roads but the north end is only reached by a ferry.  It reminds me a lot of Albuquerque but with a huge lake!  Dry and warm and windy.

I'd originally planned on doing the half marathon run portion of a half iron as a relay.  But at the last minute, we could not switch the registration from an individual bib to a relay.  No worries.  I'm in physical therapy for the hip and not supposed to run longer distances right now.  And Chelan was going to be hot so I was happy to switch to the 10k run only.

Coach lesley and group had a number of condos rented and we had a group dinner before turning in early for bed.  Those triathletes had a very long day ahead of them!  It was pretty interesting to see all the prep work which has to go into doing a triathlon.  Bike check, body marking, setting up fueling, bib, etc, etc.  Truthfully, it just confirmed that I'm not all that interested in doing a triathlon for a lot of different reasons.

That does NOT mean I wasn't so impressed and inspired by what I saw this weekend.  There were a lot of people who were doing their first time at the distance.  It was a huge deal to see their accomplishments and I'm really glad I got to see that.

My run?  Did I mention it was hot?  The course is an out and back on a rather rolling course.  Exposed and it was into a strong breeze on the way out.  With the heat, I planned on a slower pace but the heat still got to me even with that.  It was pretty brutal for me and I have no idea how people in most of the rest of the country (slomo!) deal with it.  Typically for a 10k, I wouldn't take any water.  By mile 2, I was ready for some and on the way back was asking for a spray down from the water guns they had along the course.  I felt shivery and ill and did a mix of run/walk the last couple of miles.  Tough run!

Surprisingly I still ended up 3rd in my age group and got a very cute little mug.  I ran well enough evidently!  K and I hung out at the event to cheer for everyone.  And then went off for a little wine tasting.  yes, this is wine country!  We happened to pick a winery which had it's tasting cafe within view of mile 10 of the half marathon.  So I'd sip and then spot another coach lesley athelete coming along and dash down to the road to cheer. It was great!

K tired an open water swim in the lake the next day even though it was even windier (white caps) on the lake and I went for an easy jog around the town.  Chelan is a nice place to visit.  We really look forward to going back with our bikes!  I'd love to do some trail running in the area and we only hit two wineries so lots of options there.

And we stocked up on cherries and apricots on the drive home!