Impulse race
A week ago I saw a listing for the Tualatin River Trail 10 Mile run. I’d been feeling like I haven’t been running enough lately (I barely get up early enough to get in 3 miles before work in the morning and didn’t do a long run last weekend.) The race sounded pretty and, more importantly, it’s limited to 250 people. I don’t think I’ve ever run in a race of less than 1,000 people, so I was curious.
It was a lot of fun. Since I haven’t been running a lot, I wasn’t sure if I’d need to walk some of it, but I did fine. We ran through various parks and neighborhoods in Tualatin/Tigard, and it was very pretty. After about the first 2 miles, the crowd really started to separate, and there were very few people around. I was following one woman for most of the race – she’d be about 20 yards ahead of me, then I’d reach her or pass her on an uphill, and then she’d pass me on the downhill. But around mile 7, there was a long incline and I passed her…and she never caught up again. By the end I was the only runner for probably 100 yards – that’s how spaced out everyone was. It was a fun little event, and generally well-organized.
And I now know that I’m in good enough shape that I can sign up for a 10-mile race on a whim, and do just fine. Last year at this time I was training hard and nervous about running 6.2 miles, and now I can do 10 without any sort of preparation. I want to stay in this kind of shape!
That’s awesome. That’s not that much shorter than a half marathon, you know. You rock.
Thanks.