After missing this race last year, I was fortunate enough to not have any vacations planned this time and was able to run the half marathon. Last year they combined the ever popular High Street Hustle with the Spirit of Oregon run and continued that tradition this year. I was especially excited to run this race as a gear junkie because last year I had to look at everybody’s super cool long sleeve shirts they…
The Lincoln City Half has made it’s way onto my ‘must-do’ list a few years ago. Occurring on March 3rd this year, the small but fun race at the coast stood out with the coolest race bibs I have ever seen. With a light blue color featuring an orange octopus peering over the bottom, it will be added to my large collection as a standout piece. After years of enjoying the half marathon course, this…
Honestly, when it comes to racing around here in February, it’s a mixed bag. We can see temperatures from the teens to near 50 and any form of precipitation. The only thing we can do as runners is pack the right gear and hope for the best. Surprisingly this year on February 17th we woke to clouds (of course) but it was a dry and relatively warm morning in Hillsboro, with temps a bit over…
Of all the places to run a race, Central Oregon is definitely one of the more scenic. Within Central Oregon there are many backdrops for the truly epic event, and Sisters is definitely one of those. For yours truly, living a mere 25 minutes away from this little town has afforded me the opportunity to run here on multiple locations, including for this particular race. Two years ago, I ran my first Sisters Better Half Marathon,…
Traveling to Scio on February 3rd, I was excited to make the most of a mild morning. With a dry forecast and little wind, the weather was perfect for a half marathon. Not looking for a full race attempt due to not training strenuously, I was approaching this relatively flat run as a mild tempo long run. In other words, I planned on getting a little sore, but not a full effort race. The Roaring…
We runners are living in a golden age of races. Every weekend it seems there is a bounty of races to choose from. It’s getting harder for an event to stand out from the crowd, so when I heard about The Oregon Trail Game 5K, based on the classic text-based computer game from the early 1980s, I was intrigued. I wasn’t sure how “gimmicky” it would be, or how much of the race experience would…
It was a wonderful fluke to be able to experience the ORRC Champoeg races as my first 30K during a period of unseasonably dry and warm weather at Champoeg State Park. This 18.6 mile run was to be a tester to gauge fitness before Eugene in May. When I signed up last month I had my fingers crossed it would not be a chilly downpour. While a beautiful place to run, the couple of mile long…
Early spring in Oregon has some tricky weather, especially on the coast. Forecasts are generally not to be trusted, and Mother Nature tends to be a bit moody, having the ability to change in fifteen minutes. That being sad, it is rarely a good sign when it is necessary to scrape the ice off the car’s windshield before heading to a race. As I headed to the coast, the temperatures rose with the sun and…
The Heartbreaker Half is quite the epic event. Everything, from the location to the planning, is incredible. What wasn’t incredible was the lessons I had to learn the hard way that day. If all conditions were optimal, this would have been an incredible day, as the event is top-notch and the run absolutely beautiful. A clear day with temps in the high 40s didn’t hurt either. What did hurt was the approximately mile long climb…
Personally, I find the ideal races are the ones that my whole family is happy to attend. My wife runs, and the kids are always begging me to tell them when the next kids race is. Due to its location at Mary S. Young Park and late start time, I was hoping that the weather would cooperate and make it possible for the whole family to join me at the 2015 FCASuperFan 5k.
