A lot of things could be better. Sitting in a jacuzzi. Reclining on a beach. Walking in the desert. Notice how all of these sound warm?
A disclaimer before we go any further. I picked up a cold at some point over the weekend and I probably was being needled by the tip of the sick iceberg when I ran so keep this in mind as you read on...
The best thing I can say about the hotel we stayed in the night before the race is that it wasn’t the worst hotel that we’ve ever stayed at. That award is still firmly grasped by the America’s Best Value in John Day, Oregon. We have stayed in much better Best Westerns though. After not getting a good sleep the night before for a variety of reasons we made our way over to the starting line in 30 degree weather.
Angie was off first at 6:45AM for the 5k, I hung around for a bit and then got into my starting corral for the 15k. I didn’t have time to ditch my fleece jacket like I’d planned so I dragged that along with me. The race course was great with a lot of interesting sights and a portion of it went through the route 99 tunnel which was pretty cool.
I completed the course in just a little under 1:17 which was a bit better than I was anticipating with an average pace of 8:15/mile. The chocolate after the run was good, but seriously not what my body wanted at that point. Of course I did my best to not let any chocolate go to waste, but I ended up tossing some of the hot chocolate because it was a bit too rich for after that level of effort.
I might do it again if it came to Portland, but I’m not traveling to it again.