One of the many things I love about the 50@50 Project is that the events we do are quite often in some very pretty locations. This weekend we are doing four races: last night we did a 5k on the beautiful campus at Clackamas Community College; tonight is the Twilight Run 5k at the Tigard Balloon Festival in Cook Park; tomorrow will find us on a 30-35 mile bike ride through the gorgeous wine country south of PDX.
And this morning we ran a 5k out at Hagg Lake. The event, number 23 in the project, was Running For Risa. You can read about Risa Whittaker, her family and why this race got started here: www.runningforrisa.com/about-risa A tragic story no doubt - but sometimes these things bring about something good. In this case, last years' run raised enough money to cover the medical expenses incurred by Risa's family. Proceeds from this years' run will go to Angels Making A Difference, one of the sponsors that helped get this event off the ground. They do great things in Oregon in support of cancer patients and their families, helping them cope with this most dreadful disease. Read up on the work they do at www.angelsmakingadifference.com
As you recall from the previous event post, running at night feels weird. Camera Crew and I acknowledged that we felt much better this morning than we did last night. It felt normal to get up in the morning, get our gear together, eat a little something for breakfast and drive somewhere for a run. That said, we have to leave the house in a few short hours to go do another 5k this evening!
Oy.
I know everyone is most concerned about The Lip. Rest assured that CC has been applying Ora-Gel non-stop to keep it numb while it heals and that she vows it won't stop her from completing this weekends calendar of events.
Back to this mornings run...
Hagg Lake was beautiful this morning! Blue skies, calm waters, perfect temperature. The last time we were at Hagg Lake was for XDog's Dirty Du - the one that almost did me in. I fought the 'fight or flight' instincts as we got closer, relaxing only when we pulled into the parking lot and there was no sign of the XDog crew or their trailer. We got checked in and were ready for our 9 AM run start. Then we noticed the sign that noted our run was starting at 9:45. Oh well - like I said, it was a beautiful day. Plus it gave me time to buy some raffle tickets to drop in for drawings on a bunch of items I just KNOW I'm going to win. Just you wait.
The half-marathon got started, then the 10 milers, then the group doing the 10k. Finally it was our turn. We (briefly) considered switching to the 10k but common sense won out, seeing as how we're doing four events in about 36 hours. The course was a simple out and back along the paved road around the lake. The 'out' was mostly a gradual uphill grind - fine by me. That meant a nice quick downhill most of the way back. We actually finished up a full minute faster than last nights flat 5k, so that was way awesome.
We hung around after the run just long enough to stretch. With another run this evening we wanted to get home to eat, shower and chill prior to having to do it all over again. We drove out in a clockwise direction around the lake so that we could honk and wave encouragement to those brave souls who were doing the longer distance runs. Having done many races at all of these distances (and longer) I know from experience that the support is appreciated and keeps you motivated.
Home. Food. Shower. Blog.
I'll check in later, after the next run!
No comments:
Post a Comment