Butte to Butte 10K

In the old days I would register for races well in advance and have my calendar pretty much constantly booked. 2013 is my "rest year" where I'm not forcing myself to run all the time and I'm only registering for races as they come along if I feel like it. With the Butte to Butte 10K I procrastinated like never before, registering less than 24 hours before the race!  I had done this race before in 2010 when I was still very much a race newbie, so I knew what I was getting myself into with this registration.

It was on the Fourth of July and we were up early, on the road around 5am to get to Eugene. I easily found a place to park and hopped on a bus to the start line. Getting my bib was a cinch, and I was left with plenty of time to hang out, people watch and use the potty. Eventually they started the race and we were off!

For those of you that aren't from around here - this race is not exactly the easiest thing. I told Man Friend that I consider it a 2 mile race with a 4 mile stroll to the finish. Mile 1 .... uphill.  Mile 2 ... downhill. And when I say UPhill I mean it. Here, let's see the elevation chart, shall we?

This year I ran farther than in 2010 before I gave in to walking. I think I got to .7 this year, only walking the last 2/10 ... ie. that ridiculous steep part. I kid you not I wanted to just stop and quit right before that first mile was up. 

For mile 2 I then pushed it as hard as I could, and that felt great. For the rest? Yeah - um, I just didn't even care. We were enjoying being in a holiday race, people watching, treating it as a training run, and being lazy. It was so flippin' hot for this wimpy girl, so my strategy became "walk in shade, run in sun". And that's what I did for the majority of the race.  I did get my second wind near the last couple of miles and found myself determined to not let the overweight wiener dog beat me. *I DID beat the dog, phew!

"Tew Legit" - every couple has their own team name, right??

Not much to report really, just an enjoyable race that I'll probably take a couple years off from like last time.

At the finish it was chaotic trying to find water, and I was thrilled when I finally did find it. I found my way to the merchandise area to buy myself the race shirt since I wasn't able to during my late registration. It's nice I think, I haven't tried it on yet.  We wandered back over to the main stage area where they were giving out awards. At the conclusion they had random prizes... I was on high alert! Nobody was celebrating a birthday that day, so they brought up how it was the 40th birthday for Butte to Butte and asked if anybody was 40. They barely had "forty" out when I was raising MF's hand and pointing to him. I told him "We need to do this race for one reason, it's 40 and so are you!" So.... for no reason other than his age, Man Friend again won a post-race price - another "shoe bag"! Yay!!

I won nothing.

And that's my report. As for now I have nothing on the calendar until Disneyland Half Marathon weekend, but I am eyeballing a 10K in the future. We'll see. I'm kind of pre-occupied with life right now, so .... we'll see!