The Good, the Sad, and the Ugly

Race Recap - 10 mile Pear Blossom race

The Good

• Was able to connect with other runners in the race using Twitter. Extra fun - a local news station reporter set up a time to interview me via a tweet. (No, I didn’t get my 30 seconds of fame.)
• Maintained my half-marathon race pace to discover I had lots of steam at the end.
• I was dressed just right! The weather was perfect for running!
• Lots of police on motorcycles controlling traffic.
• Enjoyed seeing old buildings in the city.
• A young girl was handing out Twizzlers at the 9 mile mark.

The Sad

• The race organizers did not time the 5k entries. There were over a thousand runners.
• I did not sleep much the night before – despite bringing my own pillow.
• Discovered the lotion I used at the hotel, to massage my feet with, was hair conditioner.
• Witnessed an expensive iPod skip across the asphalt. I wonder if the guy had to run the rest of the race in silence.
• Spotting the halfway mark in the far distance, after climbing up and over the hill.
• The post race raisin bread – had no raisins just cinnamon chips. (But still tasted pretty good.)

The Ugly

• Despite maintaining my half-marathon pace and coming in sooner than expected, I felt deflated when seeing the final race results. I wasn’t even in the top half...

Swag

• Bright orange hand towel.

Fav T-shirt Words

“Paris Rome Frankfurt” For that international flavor.
“That’s How I Roll” Possibilities - roller derby gal, a pastry chef or a pot smoker?

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10 Miler

A few pictures I took along the way.

1. I tuck my key under my shoelaces. I know there has to be a better way.
2. I tried out this drink from Odwalla --> “Protein Monster.” I cut it with soya milk because it was too sweet!
3. I see a Ferris wheel in the mall parking lot.
4. On the first lap, there were a lot of runners. I figure they were with some running group – not a race, as they had no race bibs on. A few had CamelBaks on – so I guess they were out for awhile.
5. My little white truck – to take me home!

Thankful For:

1. No rain.
2. Seeing other runners – I run alone.
3. The cheery disposition of the RunRunLive podcast. Thanks Chris
4. The Americano on my way home.
5. My body – for taking me again, on another journey.

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Pear Blossom Run

All the arrangements are made - dog in kennel, Hotel reserved, new Nikes, for the 10 mile Pear Blossom run!
It takes place in April; just 3 short weeks before the Eugene Half-marathon event. Crazy? Noway – it has actually revved up my current training. They posted last years results and there were only about 30 in my old age category. That is incentive to finish in the top 10. (There were a total of 989 runners last year.)
The 10 mile is a new race distance for me. But I can easily incorporate it into one of my training runs. Perfect!
I’m looking forward to the travel also – Medford is about 25 miles north of the California border. So I expect sunny skies!!!

Race Logo:

EVERYONE'S A WINNER!

Anyone else entered in a new race this year?

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