Oregon Fun Run Race Report

On Friday, Mike and I took a big bike ride in the country, our regular route around Afton and back. I call the route "The Black Angus" owing to the fact that just before we turn onto Plymouth Church Rd, there is a big farm with big black cows/bulls all over the field, I assume they are black angus cows, but I am just guessing. Not really significant until you know that I spent an entire afternoon riding up and down that area of the country this past spring (like for HOURS) all by myself trying to find "that one farm with the big black buffalos". Somehow I remembered the big bulls as buffalo and wasted most of an afternoon looking for them on my bike. There IS a buffalo farm on River Rd, however the pasture is out back and you can't see them from the road anyhow.

But I digress...... Mike and I rode the Angus route Friday after work. It was hotter than snot outside and it felt good to get out and make our own wind. We rode hard and fast and it was super fun for me. It took me a while to figure out what Mike was doing. He would blast past me up the hills (unusual for him) and then coast down the other side while I attacked on the downhills and flats, breezing past him. Finally he told me he was working on hill climbing and not worrying about the downhills, since he knew how to do them.

We worked out Friday night to go to the Oregon Fun Run Saturday morning with my sister and her husband and family. We got up bright and early and drove to Michele and Jeffs. Jacob decided to ride in our car and so we set him up with his seat and his DVD of one of the Star Wars movies for the ride. When we arrived in Oregon at the town shelter, we got registered quick. Race fees were CHEAP again - $12 including late entry fee AND a tshirt. And what a shirt it is. My favorite so far, cotton candy pink, with artsy runners all over it. An odd choice for a unisex race, but I am totally digging it.

First up was Jacob in the kids 1K. He took off fast and was bumming a little when he got back, but he did just awesome - I was very proud of him. He got a medal and a tshirt. Then he drank the strongest gatorade ever made and said "If I ever want to run a race again, tell me no."

In a few minutes, Mike, Jeff, Michele, and I were up to start the regular races. Michele had registered for the 5K (her second race) and the rest of us were registered for the 10K. There weren't many runners at this race and they both took off at the same time. All the rest of the 10Kers were out in front of me fast, except for one old duffer who was just a couple steps behind me. I could tell quickly I was probably looking at DFL and psyched myself out a bit. I decided to stick with Michele and run with her in the 5K, do it together and keep her company. That was after all why we registered for this race, to do something with my sister. We were pretty much the back of the 5K pack too, but at least we were last together and we weren't too far off the rest of the runners. We ran fartlek style with just a few short walk breaks for Michele to catch her breath. As we moved past mile 2, we started to notice a guy up ahead also run/walking. He would run as far as he could, look back and make sure we were far enough behind him and start to walk. When he heard us start to run again, he look back and start to run again. Seemed like he was just trying to make sure he was not going to get chicked. So we decided on a sneak attack with him as our goal guy to beat. We ran as quietly as we could when he was walking and tried to stop to a walk when he looked like he was going to look back to see if we were walking so he wouldn't start to run again. That worked pretty well and we finally ran past him and got ahead. We got to the last couple hundred yards to the finish line and all of a sudden we heard him behind us picking up speed and Michele took off like a shot, I couldn't catch her and neither could stealth guy. We crossed the finish 1-2-3, with stealth guy taking the DFL title.

Once Michele can run non-fartlek she is so going to kick my butt on the runs. Even with all the walking, we still averaged 12 minute miles, which is better than where I was at that point in my 5K career last summer. I so need to turn 40 so we are in different age groups. (I cannot believe that thought crossed my mind....... funny).

On the way home, I was mad at myself for chickening out of the 10K, so when I got home I decided to run the other half of it, just to prove I can. I paid for a 10K race, got a shirt for a 10K, and I felt like I cheated myself out of what should have been out of vanity. I took off by myself and ran down by the hospital and up Bond for a 4.08 mile run, a total for the day of 7.33 miles, a 10K plus pennance for splitting it up. There, now I feel better. And not like a cheater.

The pictures I got of Mike are awful - blurry and unfocused as usual. I was excited to be at the finish ahead of him so he would have pictures of him for a change and they turned out like crap. I decided I have taken my last blurry action shot, so we went to get an updated camera with some image stabilization. Yeah - new stuff!