- My first 5k -- on April 25th I did my first 5k road race. I managed to run it in an official time of 23:03, which was good enough for 3rd in my age group and 20th overall (out of over 300 folks). Not too bad. Unfortunately, running on pavement did not agree with my body and I ended up with tendinitis in my feet for a few days, which worried me a bit for my next event...
- May 3rd -- the Mudslinger mountain bike race. For the first time in 20 years, I competed in a mountain bike race. I last did this when I was 19, and it was also a Mudslinger event. For this one, it had rained non stop for the three days leading up to the event, so there was definitely plenty of mud to be slung. The terrain was fairly treacherous due to that, and I've never seen so many crashes and the resultant pieces of bikes littering the sides of the trail. Thankfully I stayed on my bike and it was lots of fun. I ended up 9th out of about 30 in my category (Cat3 Men, age 35+). My new bike did very well too.
- May 16th -- 27th annual Oregon Homebrew Festival. For the first time in several years, I entered one of my beers in the Oregon Homebrew Festival. I happened to have the timing right to have a beer ready for entry, and decided to put it in literally at the last minute -- I bottled it from the keg and took it down to the brew shop on the final day the entries were allowed. I'm glad I did -- I won the category! It was a Northern English Brown ale, and it won that category (English Brown Ales). I won the same category 9 years ago with a very similar beer, so it's nice to know I still have the skills even though I don't brew nearly as often as I did back then. I didn't find out until last week that this event was one of only 17 in the country to act as a qualifier for the "Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing" -- essentially the national championships of home brewing. So, by winning at this event, I have qualified to enter a beer in that category at this national contest in early 2010. It's very cool to be able to do that and it should be a great experience.
- Upcoming -- 8k trail run race, May 31st. On Sunday I'm doing an 8k trail race. This should be more suited to me, and should be quite fun. I doubt I'll be competitive, 'cause there are some crazy fast trail runners around here, but it's for a very good cause -- the entry fee goes to the local trail maintenance group. I'm actually heading out today to pre-run the course as my last longer run this week.
I hope to get in a few autocrosses this year, probably one or two down in Eugene, and a couple of Oregon Region SCCA events at the great location they use in Packwood, Washington.
Thus ends the ridiculously long competition update.
Sean
