Bloomsday weekend

Howdy all,

Yep, I'm back to give you a recap of this past weekend's activities, which included a trek to Spokane to take part in the annual Bloomsday road race. I mean, I would have posted this yesterday, but I only today have been able to get up our stairs to the 2nd floor to the computer.

I kid, I kid. But seriously, nothing like a nice 7.46 mile (12k for you metric lovers) run to remind me I'm not a high school cross country runner anymore. In fact, this was certainly the first time in about 13 years that I've run that far at one time.

Jamie and I have walked/jogged the course before, but this was my first time really running it, and running it with a goal. To get into the first wave of runners, you have to run faster than 1 hour and 12 minutes sometime in the last 4 years of the race. So for next year, I had that as a goal. Although my longest training run to this point was about 5.5 miles, I felt like I could run quick enough to get under the necessary bar.

Of course I forgot the difficulty of the course.

Check out the graphic below for effect. Basically it starts out flat, and after the one mile mark drops downhill for the 2nd mile. That lulls you into thinking you're going fast. Then you hit the hills. The 3rd mile is basically all uphill. Then of course after another downhill, you hit Doomsday Hill. Fun.



So in the end I ran a good race. I started off slow intentionally, trying to save some energy for the hills. Especially on the downhill parts - I was getting passed left and right, but would blow past a lot of people on the uphills. That included Doomsday Hill, which was a killer, but I didn't stop or walk. I managed to slug through mile markers 6 and 7, and finished at about 1:06. 8:53/mile pace, so for my first long run in 13 years I was pretty happy!

Now, lest you think I left my wife in the dust....well, I did, but she wasn't alone. No, the other fun of the weekend was travelling to Spokane with our nephew Markus, and Jamie's brother Kelly and his son Parker. Yes, the mom's in question here (Lindsay and Beth), stayed home and we took the 3-year-olds on the road!

Jamie and her mom decided to walk the race, and push the little guys in strollers. They had some other family along as well. While I was clearly too fast for my image to be captured on film, Jamie snapped some pics to share.



Here's everyone at the start line. In the back, Jamie's cousin-in-law Shandra and Mary's sister and Jamie's Aunt Sandy. And of course Mary and Jamie. Shandra and Sandy had 3 kids to track - Molly, Abby and Jake. Finally, Parker and Markus, in their stylish visors.



The two boys test out their legs on the course. Running in the street is fun!



Post race stretching. I mean, you gotta stretch after you run! Have to teach them while they're young, right?



The gang after collecting their Bloomsday finisher T-Shirts. It took about 2 and a half hours, but they made it.

So it was a fun weekend, which I celebrated with a softball double-header last night. Kelly and I of course had our best hitting performances of the year, which meant lots of running the bases. Go figure.

Alright, time to head off and ice my legs...