Junction City Scandinavian Festival 5k Race Report (#10/14)

Race #10 of our 14 in 2014 Race Series. Time: 39:18

 

Race number 10! We got here so fast! My friend Sarah and I made a goal earlier this year to run 14 races in 2014! It's been really fun, and we've traveled all over the state of Oregon running! We've each done a couple on our own, and the rest together.

 

I want to write more about this later, but I want to at least touch on this so everything is chronological. My best friend Kristin's dad was diagnosed with cancer about 6 weeks ago and was sadly told it has progressed too far before they caught it. It was his second battle with cancer, and he went downhill very rapidly. The night before the race I talked with some of Kristin's family, and Kristin and they didn't think he'd made it through the night. Sarah and I ended up staying up until 1am the night before the race working on some things for the family. I left her house after that, slept until 4am when my phone beeped with a text message that Jerry had passed away. I'll go into more detail on Jerry's story in another post. Honestly it's too overwhelming to write about yet.

 

I got up about an hour and a half later and picked up Sarah at 6:50am to drive to Junction City. We got lost on the way there, but we made it by 7:30am, got free street parking (yay!) and got our race packets. No swag this time, but I decided when I got up that morning that I wanted to "Jog for Jerry." I made a silly little sign, and asked Sarah if she thought it was dumb, but she didn't, so we pinned it on my back. 

 

 

Because I know someone is sure to ask, NO that is not my bra hanging out in the back. That is the design of the back of my support tank, which is two-tone. I usually wear a shirt over my tank, but the last couple of races I've gotten a little chaffing from running in the heat in my shirts, or my shirt has ridden up and obscured my bib. The tank is really, really supportive, and almost compression style, which I really love. It's really difficult for me to find tops that fit that I can comfortable work out in. This tank was from Old Navy, but unfortunately, they don't make it anymore. I plan to wear it until it shreds.

 

The race started at 8:15am sharp and we were ready to go! I ran my fastest mile (by ONE second) the first mile, and jogged the first almost 5 minutes solid. I have finally established a fairly predictable pattern the last few races. I typically run the first .5 mile, which takes me about 5 minutes. Then I start intervaling. Because of this, my first mile is always my fastest. If I start slow, it doesn't seem to change how long I run (yet), so I'm going to stick with this method as long as it works! Mile two is my slowest mile, and then once I hit mile 3, I speed up again, usually sprinting into the finish.

 

This course was really great. It had some mild elevation changes, which gave it variety, nothing remotely challenging, but just enough to encourage you to run the downs, and the "hills" mild enough to trick you into thinking you could run the whole thing. I don't know that I am walking less on these races, but I am running faster. Whatever works I guess!

 

 

I was pretty deep in my thoughts during the race- so much so, I never saw Sarah pass me on the out and back even though she tried to get my attention. For a few minutes I almost thought she had dropped out or something because I never saw her. It's more likely though she passed me when I was thinking about Jerry, and trying not to cry. (I was only moderately successful at that challenge.)

 

Because I had finally met my 5k goal (a sub-40), I wasn't too stressed about over reaching for any improvements on this one. I wasn't worried about PR'ing. I understood my running routine and just kind of generally hoped to stay under 45 minutes because that's been pretty consistent for me these days.

 

My last race at the Eugene Marathon 5k in July was a 39:53, but today I whupped that and got a 39:18! Amazing! Thank you for running with me Jerry- I felt you with me the whole way!

After the race, I was pleased to see the water and snack stations were easy to find and very accessible right at the end of the chute. (Unlike the Eugene Marathon.) I was less pleased to see after I stopped my Garmin that it had only register 3.08 miles instead of 3.11. I almost wanted to scream. I would have restarted the watch and finished the last .03/.02 but I didn't recognize the deficient until the moment the screen was clearing as I saved the data. D'oh.

We walked back to the car, hung out a bit, freshened up, and then walked around the fair!

We scoped everything out first, but then I headed straight to the Swedish pancake booth to get some pancakes and lingonberry jam! It was great!

Close up. I grew up on these. My mom's side is 100% Swedish, and we often had Swedish pancakes for Christmas breakfast. If you haven't had them before, they are like a very thin crepe.

Sarah opted to have something called a Aebleskiver, which is a Danish donut hole type thing that you dunk in jam. it was very good too! Here are the ladies making it. It was very fun to watch!

After that we checked out all the booths, walked around, took our picture in front of the giant Dala Horse, and finally settled on lunch. We both got Swedish meatballs with white gravy, which was amazing. I also got criss cut (waffle) sweet potato fries with a lingonberry ketchup. All was excellent!

All in all, it was a pretty great day! I'm so grateful that I have been able to make a friend who has similar interests as me, likes to spend time together and do fun things that are good for our bodies- like eating treats!