Pac Crest Day Two: Start Wearing Purple

Day Two of our Team in Training event weekend dawned bright and early as we started loading the bikes to take up to T1. In this event, the first transition area is at the lake, while the second area is in town, so most people rack their bikes the day before and take a bus up to the swim start on race day.
Our mentors, Mike & Jeannette found these gorgeous purple jackets and had them screen printed with the TNT logo. We didn't get to wear them very long this morning as the day was heating up fast! As we got into the cars to head to the race site, I popped in a CD that the Portland TNT team had made of their favorite songs. The song "Start Wearing Purple" by Gogol Bordello had us all cracking up, and it became the de facto theme song of the weekend.

Once at the race site, we cheered all of the TNT Half-Ironman competitors in Saturday's race out of T1 and onto the bike course. Although our Eugene TNT team was small compared to this year's huge Portland team, we made up for it in energy and enthusiasm, cheering right up until the last competitor came out of the water. The transition area and cheering sections were all but emptied out, but we kept the enthusiasm up for each and every racer.





Now comes race numbering, and Steve demonstrates his best yoga stretches after getting his numbers on his legs.

Then it was time to enter T1 and rack our team's bikes. It's still pretty empty with just the TNT racks filling up.


After heading to the race finish for a couple of hours of cheering the Half-Iron participants in, we headed back to our condo for a pizza bake. I think we made enough pizzas to feed a small army!


After dinner, the team members got all of their gear ready. Our mentors had brought fabric paint, and team members wrote the names of cancer survivors on the backs of their race singlets, a reminder that this race was about more than miles and time, but about reaching for a greater goal.













Asa volunteered to paint everyone's fingernails and toenails purple for the occasion.

















We wrapped up the night with strawberry shortcake, last minute gear checks, sitting around the table and talking, trying to calm those pre-race nerves. Tomorrow: the big day.












If you haven't heard this song yet, give it a listen. Our weekend theme song: Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello: