American Zofingen/Chris Gleason Memorial TEAM report
First, let me say that I haven't had that much fun thrashing myself and doing something so incredibly stupid in a looooong time. I'm pretty sure Chris G would have been proud of all of us! The weekend was filled with so much fun; TJ's airport limo service, late nights around Tuckers Kitchen Table, the boyz crashing the Chica's room for a pajama party the night before the race, lots of beerz drank in Chris's name, skeeeeered looks on everyones faces when they drove the bike course, tons of trash talk from everyone, too many desserts eaten under the guise of celebrating Beth's birthday, emotional National Anthems, emotional finishes, and, oh yeah- the race!
I think we had something like 13 or 15 EN members at the race when the final count came in (several folks had to back out at the last minute as most of you know- SUCKERS- you missed a party! 
) Anyway, I'm sure each of the members who raced will want to write their own individual Race Report with all the gory details of their particular day (watts, pace, nutrition, blah blah blah). But I'd like to use this thread to collect the shared Team experience from the weekend. Lots of folks took pictures, I'm hoping we can collect them here in one place
So let me try to get the ball rolling! The New Jersey Mafia (er, um, let's call them a super cell shall we?) did a fantastic job of taking care of the out of towners. We were set up with borrowed bikes, transported to/from the airport, brought to/from the race, and fed wonderful food and beverage. In fact when we got inside JT's car, he had individual little water bottles for each passenger and reading material in the back seat pocket with the channel guide to the Sirius Radio station! HA! Nice Limo service!
Dinner Friday night was at a Brew Pub with Beth, Bruce, JT, Tucker, Pete, and Nemo all in attendance. Great food, lots of drink, and JT forced us all to order the S'mores fondue dessert which despite lots of protests managed to disapear when it hit the table. Beth's luggage was lost by the airline along with the IPA beer she had packed for the team! So of course, all we could do was go back to Tuckers house (along with the growler Tucker purchased) and stay up all night waiting for the luggage to show up! Well, I don't know how late everyone else stayed up, I crashed at a little after midnight!
Saturday (Beth's Birthday) was a late rise for everyone and thankfully Beth's luggage fairy had arrived while we slept. After a leisurly breakfast (including Scones, it's not a Chica get-to-gether without Scones!) combined with Ironman Texas Tracking (yes- we tracked you guys all day!) we headed out to New Paltz, NY (but not until after we stopped for some NJ Pizza- my requirement!)
Several of us drove the bike course at various times on Saturday, but we all seemed to have the same take-a-way after seeing it. HOLY CRAP!!!!! Tucker, Scott, Beth, and I took a moment to get out at the top of the "big" (7 mile) climb and pull out the Beerz for a Chris G photo op:
And for those of you interested in seeing the profile and Route, here's the link to my GPS file from race day (Sorry, no Power data- I was on a borrowed bike)
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180735527
After checking out the course we headed over to the bike shop for packet pickup. Tucker used his sales skills to convince the guy there to let us pick up packets for everyone we knew would be coming to dinner that night so we could save everyone a trip. Note to anyone doing this race in the future- DO NOT BOTHER WITH THIS STEP!!!! The race organizers were so stressed out, it was as if packet pickup was one more thing freaking them out. The bike shop is really out of the way (several folks mentioned hearing banjos) and what we learned was that there is so much time (and much more relaxed atmosphere) on race day that getting your stuff that morning (which is just a shirt and bib number) is really a much better option.
A quick stop at the local grocery to pick up some race morning food and then back to the hotel to check in and wash up before dinner. Oh yes- and for us out of towners to receive our borrowed bikes! When Mike G arrived with my loaner I jumped for joy and did a happy dance in the lobby of the hotel - it had a triple!!!! Woohoo! A few quick spins around the parking lot, a few adjustments to everyones bike, and we were ready for race day.
Dinner was in New Paltz (someone please fill in the names of these places!) with 11 EN Teammates. The first thing we did was raise a glass to toast Chris Gleason and Mike reminded us that Chris always said 3 beers the night before the race would give you a PR. So that was everyones goal for the night (except me- I drink wine
)
We rolled back to the hotel and all agreed to meet in the lobby at 6:00am to drive to the start. Beth, Michele, and I were just finishing up brushing our teeth and setting out our stuff when we heard a knock on the door. The next thing we know the boyz (who had the adjoining room next door) were all inside for a late night slumber party! HA! We sat around chatting about triathlon, careers, life, kids, and of course, Chris. I think we finally kicked the boyz out a little after 11:00 and quickly turned the lights out!
Sunday was race day!!! Everyone does the same 5 mile run and 28 mile bike course, it's just the number of times you do it that differs in the races. The run is all on trails and there are some HUGE hills back there (walking is just as fast as running). The bike course has 3 big climbs and lots of rollers. We had 2 folks doing the Half Iron TT (two loops of the bike), five brave souls attempting the official Chris Gleason Duathlon ("middle distance") consisting of 5m run/ 28m bike/ 5m run/ 28m bike/ 5m run, and the rest of us doing the short course (aka "Canadian women's division") consisting of 5m run/ 28m bike/ 5m run. Now that I have done the short course- I'm here to tell you that the middle distance is legit hard ballz stuff only reserved for nutbars. Those wack jobs doing the "long course" (5m run followed by 3 loops of the bike (84m) followed by 3 loops of the run (15m) should be put in a rubber room!
The winner of the Chris G race has their name engraved on a plaque that sits above this amazing trophy that the organizers made. My understanding is the trophy will live at the Gleason's house:
When they played the National Anthem, the director pulled out his bagpipes and told us the story about how at the race the prior year he had forgotten to bring a flag for the playing of the Anthem, so Chris ran to his car and pulled out a giant stars & stripes umbrella he had in the trunk! So instead of a flag, Chris's wife, Jenny, raised that same umbrella while the bagpipes played. It was a pretty emotional moment for everyone.
The weather was perfect! Well, ok, maybe not perfect 'cause it got freaking hot. But there wasn't rain and it wasn't cold. So maybe it was perfect for me
. And Moo Jo was there too to keep an eye on all of us during the race!
The Middle Distance guys started at 8:00 and the Short Course folks started at 8:30, which meant us shorties would finish before the middle distance guys even got off the bike for the second time. This format worked out great because us short course kids got to to cheer on our teammates as they rolled through transition or into the finish line gazebo. To that end, here's what finishing the middle course looks like:
(John W above, Tucker below)
And here's what celebrating while you wait for your teammates to finish looks like
That's me with the Thompson brothers holding our Age Group awards!!! Yup, Team EN came home with several AG awards this past weekend! For those of you who know me, I am not a beer drinker. In fact, the last beer I had was over 25 years ago. But I decided that in Chris's memory and honor, I'd drink one, just for him:
(FYI- I still don't like beer)
Chris's wife, Jenny was at the race along with Chris's sister and several friends. Chris had apparently registered for the middle distance race before he died and the race director worked with Jenny so that they could do the race as a relay team with Chris's bib number. In some way- it was letting Chris finish the race one more time. When that team crossed the finish line the cheering just wouldn't stop and it was really hard to fight back the tears.
The whole day was simply an incredible way to remember Chris. If any event captures the true spirit of Chris Gleason, this is absolutely it. I plan on making my way back there again to attempt the middle distance. It would be a significant challenge worthy of attempting for myself, and for Chris's memory.
Comments
Put this one on your list....even if you are under trained - it is a great way to help get in shape and have a great time.
Nemo - It was great to meet you, race with you and party with you. Thanks for coming to the race and capturing the spirit of it in your wonderful report. It was indeed a fun weekend combined with a tough as nails race (gotta love a bike course with switchbacks on a 7 mile climb). Cheers!! If you keep coming back to the AZ Chris G race, we'll make a beer drinker out of you yet.
Looking forward to seeing you at other races. Good luck to you and the Chicas in the Miami-Key West ragnar race
Great recap Nemo.
A photo of the Beth displaying her birthday cake while surrounded by fellow EN Chicas.
I didn't take real attendance but I believe the following EN'rs attended dinner at the Gilded Otter:
Nemo
Tucker
Michael Graffeo
Keith Wick
Beth Schwindt (Birthday Girl)
Michelle Cellai
Scott Dinhoffer
JT Thompson
Bruce Thompson
John Withrow
Pete Joachim
Cary Blanco
At the event the next day:
David Martin
Kevin Lanahan
Keith Buell
Please forgive me if I forgot anyone.
Awards:
Dave Martin won his AG - with a puzzled look look on his face - "I kinda won my age ground" he said embarrassed about the whole thing.
Nemo took 2nd in her AG
Bruce Thompson 2nd in his AG
JT Thompson 3rd in his AG (six weeks post shoulder surgery / stroke!)
I had an awesome time up there despite DNFing the middle distance and will return next year to make things right.
A picture of many (but not all) of Team EN with Jenny Gleason after the race. I know we also got a picture with her at the start (minus Michele and Mike who did the TT because that start is at a different location)- I'm hoping someone will post it here.
Here's a link to all of my pics from the weekend if you want to actually download any of them: http://pix.kg/p/606467580508:1701576867/scl
But here are most of them in low-res form...
Looks like a GREAT weekend to honor Chris' memory!
And I'm getting a few ideas for what we can can do at our 1st Annual National Rally
if you can get to NYC next May, team EN will take care of you. This is an epic good times race, lots of fun, lots of camaraderie on a great course that will challenge the heartiest....
who's in for 13?!!
Lots more pictures of AmZof posted here by the race director:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gunker...238054786/
The new EN Jersey's are easy to pick out
thanks for writing it Nemo.
sounds like you guys had a great weekend, great comraderie (sp?), great racing.
and just like G was always pointing out, all in the name of fun.
WTG all!
lastly, pray for a warm non rainy day...