Hot Buttered Run (11/30/14)

Remember when we all won stuff at the October's Discovery Run?  Part of Brad's prize was a free entry to the Hot Buttered Run on Nov. 30. There's no way we're passing up a free race, so for the second time this weekend, we laced up our shoes, pinned on our bibs and headed for the starting line of a holiday-themed race (my favorite!)!

Saturday's packet pickup was at Fit Right NW in Vancouver. When we got there, it was SNOWING! That was a first for me. We also scored some killer deals at the store.

It was supposed to be CRAZY-cold Sunday morning. We saw predictions of a 9-degree windchill temp in Vancouver. Fortunately, the east winds didn't crank up until later in the day and it wasn't too bad - especially in the sun and when we were running west.

The 12K, which started and ended at Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver, was a new distance for me. Energy Events organized the race and did a terrific job, as always.

My foot felt totally fine after Thursday's race, so I decided to go ahead and run this one casually,  planning to pull back at the first sign of trouble. I told Brad if I didn't cross the finish line ~10 minutes after him that I was probably walking.

Well, I never felt my foot! I did feel the below-freezing air burning my lungs, but that's another story :)

I ran the whole thing, minus the big railroad overpass at mile 6. I didn't want to push it with my foot, so I walked the hill. Then I booked it a little to the end, picking off the two women I'd been leapfrogging for a while. I left them in my dust!

Brad was waiting at the finish shoot with my warm jacket. I love that he finishes first and brings me warm clothes :)

Brad did very well, hitting his goal exactly - a 7:30 average. I was very happy with my own race, which I paced perfectly and did a 9:14 average including the hill walk. I finished in 1:10 and came in 176 out of 437 and 22 out of 64 in my age/gender division. Not bad for not racing!

Just to make sure my head didn't get too big, I did have a moment of hilarious humbleness at the end:

There was a very small guy running ahead of me - I guessed he was 6 or 7. He was wearing neon yellow and trucking along like a pro - all by himself. I passed him on the pedestrian overpass just after mile 2 and congratulated him on running so well. I chuckled at his seriousness and then never gave him another thought.

Well... 5 miles later as I was just steps from the finish line, that little guy zoomed right past me and beat me! He was so fast that I couldn't even react to try and keep in front of him. So he actually caught and passed me in those last miles. (I actually had a faster time because he started in front of me... but still!)

I looked at the results and he's 6!! His 7-year-old brother came in 3.5 minutes faster than me! That is insane. I've never seen ids that young running that kind of distance at speeds like that. Amazing.

Brad folks met us at the finish line and took us to lunch at the Subway across the street. That egg-and-cheese sandwich really  hit the spot!

After the crowds dispersed, I did grab a quick photo with Santa:

We never would have done this race had we not had the free entry. But Brad and I both agreed that it was a great course, we liked the 12K distance, and it was a fun event overall. Maybe we'll add this Christmas-kickoff race to our annual tradition :)