XTERRA - Eureka Springs, AR -

Jeff Hansen and I cruised down to Arkansas for the Lake Leatherwood XTERRA in Eureka Springs AR. I really like this course...It's real low altitude Mountains. This year as opposed to last year it was dry and the course was fast. My heart goes out the the campers lost in the tragic flooding that occurred near Mena, AR on Friday not too far south from Eureka Springs. Sad indeed.

I captured a few pictures of Eureka Springs...Its mostly a tourist driven community from what I can gather...also a retirement destination. I can see the attraction...Especially for the motorcycling community that finds it's way here to enjoy the twisting mountain roads. Looks like fun. Not to sure I'd want to road bike around here though, the roads are twisty and narrow kind of dangerous. Would be fun to do some back road exploration though on a bike. Maybe someday. The Old town itself must be pretty old, the business area shops houses and old hotels line the narrow streets. The buildings all conform the the curvature and topography of the lot with lots of odd geometrical shapes. Makes you want to get out and cruise around on foot and explore for sure... but not this time...never enough time.

The race for me is one of the best XTERRA courses...Lake Leatherwood is a fairly clear lake, water temp was 80 degrees. No wet suit allowed and not really needed. I actually had a good swim knocking a couple minutes off of last years time. Maybe all those intervals in the pool last winter are paying off? Transition out of the water is a couple hundred yards. The bike section is basically a two loop course, (different loops) for 13 miles. There are 3 longish climbs, loose gravel, dirt, shale ledges, slick rock, tree roots and a bit of asphalt trail to tie it all together. Had a bit of a mechanical again, throwing my chain over the big cog, twice...jamming the chain between the spokes and cog set. ROOKIE mistake. Jeez Darin, why didn't you tell me to fix that when it happened a month ago at the old man climbing park? Still had a good ride though and was fun. During the bike the temps starting creeping up, I'm sure near 90ish and super humid...this is one of the characteristics of this race...it is Arkansas in June.

Off the bike, the run sends you on the first loop of the bike section for five miles. Two climbs during the first half of the run and then slow decent to the finish with a nice creek crossing with 1/2 mile to go that makes you just want to lay down and relax in it...but no...you must finish with heavy wet Squishy shoes.

Ended up 5th this year - 2nd age group...I mean come on...what's up with all the old fast guys? Time of 2:24 and change...Good job Michael Carter from Texas finishing 1st in my age group in 4th overall. Another Texan won the race- Garjado, with Tige Lamb of Kansas pulling off a 2nd place.

Hansen would go on to finish 25th overall and 5th in our age group. This is pretty sweet considering the guy doesn't even swim. He played it smart, taking it easy on the swim, had a nice bike time and put those running legs in gear chewing up the field and clawing past folks as the race finished.

A final note. The HyVee triathlon is happening this weekend. My kids were signed up for the Youth distance this year, 400 meter swim, 10K bike and 1.5 mile run. I was really looking forward, as they were too, to see how their results would shake out. There were 800 kids signed up for all the youth / jr events. But, all the kids events were cancelled due to weather yesterday. Something about getting the transition zone cleared out for the age groupers and elites showing up yesterday afternoon for the race today, the window closed as the rainy weather continued wave in. This race has gotten huge...HyVee has done a great job. Heck, even the kids swag was impressive, they got jersey's, back packs, sunglasses, visors, and food stuffs. Hmmmmmm...