Little Fruit Fly in Rainbow Colored Socks: Butte to Butte 5K

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Butte to Butte 5K - Take 2!

Fourth of July means there is a strong chance I'll be in Eugene running the Butte to Butte ... and sure enough, I was back at it, repeating the 5K with my stroller as I did last year. In 2016 I was a brand new mom, pushing a 4 month old girl who had her own race bib. This year that little girl got to sit facing forward and be part of the action with her second year in a row of "running" this really fun race!

This year I went with a "Patriotic Pirate" look. Part of my prep work was panicking, trying to find my pirate bandanna since I am certain it is key to successful running. Relief set in when I had it in my hands. Phew!

It has been nice racing since giving birth. I have pretty much zero stress when it comes to the running. Now my focus is on making sure I have all my stuff, and then more importantly making sure Katura has everything she needs. So with little ado we were easily on our way to Eugene around 5:30am. We had gotten our packets a couple of days earlier, so this time we just had to show up, go potty and get in the start area.

When I race with a stroller I typically put myself at the back, trying to be courteous to fellow runners that don't want to try to zig and zag around me. For this race I clearly started too far back. I was the one trying to zig and zag my way around walkers. During the first long stretch I had to keep reminding myself that this is a fun event for families and I am with a lot of people that don't typically go to a race and are not aware of runner etiquette. With that mind set I steadily found openings, sometimes not as wide as one would like, and was able to get myself out of the slow cluster and instead a steady pace with fellow runners.

My legs felt AWESOME! I felt like Forrest Gump, I kept running and running and running. The only reason I had my first walk break was because the course got so narrow that we were all on one small sidewalk and I wasn't going to be a jerk trying to run by people pushing my stroller in the grass or diving off the path. We were in a great pocket of people, chatting with other runners and feeling no sense of rivalry or competition. I love that! I did have "little dude". I kept telling him he was my pacer and not to leave me behind. For the record, as predicted, with less than a mile to go he got faster and I lost my new 7 year old friend!

At the finish line I had a plan. Maybe I will push Katura to the side of me so my bib crosses just before hers. Last year she beat me. She ALWAYS beats me. Yes, her bib always crosses the start and finish before me, but when it is chipped time it doesn't matter. Our time starts when we cross. Theoretically if we are always together at the same pace, we should tie. But it never fails, she and Shawn always finish faster than I do. So in that final stretch I worked on my strategy to try to beat the 1 year old. It was going swimmingly. I was doing my final sprint to the finish line and side by side with her. I was going to win! Then her stroller seemed to catch and edge and started drifting. Dang it, I had to get fully behind her and get her heading the right way ... and there went my lead. Again the baby beats both of her parents!

Post race refreshments were awesome! I can't remember the name of the vendor, but they had this awesome bread with cinnamon chips in it. They always had whole wheat honey bread, which Katura was a fan of. We also scored with chocolate milk from Umpqua Dairy, cookies and grilled cheese from Franz, and a couple other sample products. There was a group of musicians playing by the 5th Street Market, making for a lovely morning. All in all, this was a fabulous run! I felt great, the people we ran with were friendly, the weather was perfect. I'm already excited for next year! Who knows, maybe next year I'll make my return to the 10K distance of this race and tackle the infamous Donald Street Hill that we all dread!