All Evened Up - Finally!

As you loyal followers know, Camera Crew has been ahead of me by one event for some time now.  This was caused by her doing an event when I was in Guatemala and the time of my make-up race being moved so that I couldn't make it.  So, for a while now, every time I announce an event, she has piped up with 'event +1'.  Review any of the last 6-8 videos and you'll see what I'm talking about.

"Welcome to Event 28 in..."  "Twenty-nine!"  

Grrr...

But finally - redemption!  We had signed up for the West Linn Trail Run Series, a set of races to be held on weeknights over the summer in nearby West Linn, a 'burb of PDX.  The races are only $5 so they are a great deal for us, since we've been dumping quite a bit of money into this project!  We'll take the bargains where we can get them.

The first of these races was last night.  But Camera Crew had a dilemma.  She isn't high maintenance - she can do a muddy trail run in the morning then dress up for dinner and the opera that same night.  I love this about her.  But one thing she has grown to love is her massages.  Several years ago I got her a gift certificate for a massage - nice gift, right?  But she put it off for a long time - she'd never had one before and wasn't sure she would like it.  Well, she finally went and - wow - now she loves them!  So last night she had a massage appointment and we had this race.  She really wanted the massage and after a short discussion, it was decided that she would go to her thing and I would go to the run.  This would get us all evened up again in the event count!  Hooray!

The race was being held in Mary S. Young State Park.  I had never been there before and, being a weeknight, rush hour traffic was horrendous.  Still, with a race start of 6:15 and me heading out at 5:10, I figured I was okay.  Man oh man, I barely made it.  Seriously, I do not know how people do this type of drive every day.  I couldn't deal with it.  So I'm stuck in traffic watching the minutes tick away toward my start time.  I was 99% sure I was not going to make it.  But I did - barely.

I finally arrived at the park.  Looked like a neat area.  The land was given to the state by Thomas and Mary Young for the sole purpose that it be used as a park.  It was dedicated to Mary on August 7th, 1973.  The park is roughly 113 acres in size.

I parked the SUV, shot a quick intro video, then jogged over to the race area.  I just had time to get my bib number and use the little boys room.  In fact, as I was in the restroom, the guy is announcing "One minute to the 5k!!".  Yikes.  The check-in table didn't have any safety pins and I didn't have time to run to the car to use four of the 600 or so we've accumulated from other races and stashed in the center console, so I folded up my bib number and stuck it in the little pocket of my water bottle.  

Checking out the competition, I realized that the participants were mostly high school track and cross country teams along with their coaches.  There were a few adults, parents of some of the high schoolers.  And me, a big kid from the city.

"Three, two, one - go!"

Aaaagh!  Not ready.  But whatcha gonna do.

I ran.

The course consisted of two loops around what I guess is the soccer complex located within the park.  I never had time to explore or check out a map prior to showing up, so can't describe where within the park I was.  Anyhoo, feeling a little frantic from the drive and being rushed, I covered the first mile in under 10 minutes, which is waaaay too fast for me.  So I slowed myself down a little, gathered myself and my breathing then settled in.  It was a good run, mostly dirt paths, some wood chip and a short section that was blacktop.  Very slight up and down elevation changes, barely noticeable.  

With all the high school speedsters, I am still trying to figure out how I never got lapped.  The race started in the middle of the soccer fields, we ran a cross the fields to the wooded path, then did two loops, then back onto the fields to the finish.  I figured I could stay ahead of them for the first lap but I kept waiting to be lapped at some point on the second.  It never happened.  Oh well.  I didn't have to trip any punk kids!!  See, it all worked out and I didn't get arrested.

I finished up and felt pretty good that I was finally in sync with Camera Crew!  Thank goodness she likes her massages!

Next up this Sunday:  XDog Events McCubbin's Gulch Scramble, somewhere on the east side of Mt. Hood or east of Mt. Hood or something like that.  I have no doubt it will be very XDog-y.  Which reminds me - I need to clean up my trail shoes!