Ridgeline Ramble by Level 32 Racing on 5/24/14
Saturday, May 24 was supposed to be another typical day in the life of Jessica. Earlier in the week, I was gearing up for the Ridgeline Ramble race, getting more and more excited about racing by the day. The weather was expected to be great, and everything was feeling good with the legs. So, what happened?
Without boring you with all the details, I’ve been in the market to purchase a new home. There were four houses I’d been biting at the bit to get inside of and check out. The realtor informs me the one and only time to get into these houses is Saturday morning. Yes, Saturday, May 24 … the morning of the Ridgeline Ramble. The look of horror, that two competing priorities in my life were butting up next to each other, was evident on my face. So, what to do? Well, home viewing is was.
A colleague and some running friends of mine were all registered to participate in the Ridgeline Ramble, so I quickly contacted them at the end of the race to get the low-down on how it went, and find out all I missed, which was a lot.
The Ridgeline Ramble presented runners the choice to participate in a 10k trail race, 20k trail race of 20k relay trail race. I was registered for the 10k, but all my friends were registered for the 20k. I have been participating in the Level 32 Run Big Trail Series short-course option, so I didn’t want to race in the 20k and miss points in the short-course standings. Participants parked at Lane Community College, where they picked up their race packet and event shirts if ordered. Parking was easy, packet pick-up lines were expeditious, and the shuttles that took participants to their appropriate start line left within minutes of the stated departure time.
The 20k’ers were treated to lots of beautiful trails along Eugene’s Ridgeline Trail system. A handful of road crossings occurred through the race, but all were really pleased with the course overall. I asked how the aid stations were, as this seemed to be a potential issue when looking at the pre-race information. All agreed the aid stations were excellent – stocked with what they needed (water/electrolyte and occasional nutrition at select stations) with uber friendly volunteers. And, they all made sure to note that there were plenty of aid stations, too. Always nice!
The last 10k of the race had more road racing than the first 10k, with participants running on the side of a two-lane road and into a gated community to get back to Lane Community College. One colleague said that if they would have registered for the 10k, instead of the 20k, they would have been slightly disappointed, as it would have been more of a hybrid trail race than a “trail!” race. The final 10k of the 20k event was the same course that the participants registered for the 10k option traversed.
All were glowing about the post-race refreshments, and ease of getting out of the parking lot and back on the road to home. I am truly disappointed that I missed this race. When looking at the results for both distances, there were some SPEEDY racers out there! Great job everyone! And, a super big kudos to Level 32 Racing for putting on another incredible trail event, number three of six in the Run Big Trail Series.
So how did this decision end up for me? Choosing to miss this awesome race and go home viewing instead? All four houses we viewed were definitely not the winning choice we thought they potentially could be. So, I missed the race, went home shopping for nothing, and felt pretty poopie because I missed the run. When prioritizing home shopping versus racing in the future – I strongly advise to choose racing.
