Vancouver USA Marathon: Day 1

Right on the heels of writing about not traveling and the experiences of being at home with the kids for ten days, now I'm off for a short trip.  I'm here in Vancouver WA, which is not to be confused with the city of the same name north of our border and also not even close to that more famous spot.   In fact, we're directly across the river from Portland, OR and therefore at the southern most part of Washington state.  

But why?  Well, to run, of course.  Some time ago, Alex and I started talking about races for 2015.  He eventually suggested Vancouver USA.  After doing some research on where exactly it was, having the chance to hang out with Alex for the weekend along with a beerfest happening on the grounds of the finish area, I quickly bought in, but only at the half marathon distance for me.  While he committed to the full, I just wasn't going to start my training in the middle of winter.   And besides, a half ends up being a good warm up for a full later in the year.

But just before the trip, Alex calls me up earlier this week and asks if i wanted to go to the US Open.  Whaaaa?  Well,  as it turns out,  it was being played just two hours north of here just south of Seattle.   And as someone with PGA credentials,  not to mention contacts, he could get us in free.   Watching golf isn't the most enjoyable thing, but it would keep us from walking all day and out of the breweries.   So, why not.

After a good flight out, a flight made better by getting a free upgrade, I made it to Portland.  I retrieved the rental car, then retrieved Alex and Steph, and then without wasting any time, we headed straight to the course. 

While I've only been to one golf tournament in my life, I have been on plenty of golf courses.  And this one, Chambers Bay,  was one of the more unusual.  Right on the sound, it had the look of a British open. Dry, brown, long grass, no trees and lots of undulating hills.  But with those hills came some great views overlooking the whole course as well as the harbor.  The free tickets we got hooked up with were for something called the Trophy Club, but is was on the opposite end of the course and up a big hill.  Gazing out across the dusty paths winding through the course, we just couldn't stomach what was likely a mile plus walk.  Perhaps if we had gotten there earlier and we're allowing ourselves some beers, that would have been a great spot to sit on a porch and overlook the whole tournament.  But this was, after all, supposed to be our down day, so that amount of walking was voted down.   Instead, we found a perch above the eleventh faraway to watch the last five groups come through.  Nothing notable, but it was relaxing.  In fact, the most notable thing about the whole afternoon was the commentary on the course.  

Looking out over the 11th fairway

What's going on here!

We actually stayed a little too long, not driving out until 6:30 and still having to eat.  We debated on where to stop, needing to balance speed with a good pre-marathon meal.  We settled on Red Robin, which while not great, was good enough.  After polishing off our sandwiches, burgers and bottomless fries we finally started our two hours drive back at 8:30.  The drive was fine, although we were all pretty pooped by the time we got back.  

We accomplished our main goals for the day though: we mostly stayed off our feet, we skipped the temptation of Portland's huge brewery scene and got to see a US Open.  And so with that, we were off to bed to rest up for the race.