"Stub" Stewart Park and Run Like a Girl!

Busy weekend!

On Saturday afternoon, we took the Pathfinder kids from church up to "Stub" Stewart State Park -- and it was beautiful! It was hot, and not easy for everyone, but just gorgeous up there.

The flowers were amazing! Daisies were everywhere. Foxglove, like the above pic, taller than me! Went to bed early that night, for the next morning was Run Like a Girl 10K!

Run Like a Girl 10K had a start/finish at Lower Macleay Park, same as the 50K end of May. I got there almost an hour early, so got some prerace pics.

After picking up my bib and goody bag, and taking it back to the car, I had time to go up on the bridge. Got some pics looking down at the pre-race stuff, plus some pics of the view to Mt. St. Helens.

This is an all-women race, sponsored by Montrail and Portland Running Company. Paula (from PRC) is a wonderful race director -- http://www.runwithpaula.com/ is her website. They had an early start for hikers, and for the main race, there were 11 waves of 100 women started every 90 seconds. Very organized! I was in wave 10, and when our wave got to the start, I got a picture with Paula.

And we're off! This was intended as a fun run, for I knew the first part of the trail (same as the first part of the 50K) and how long we went UP. It was beautiful out there, and with the trees, even though it was hot it was not unbearable for running. I was glad I carried my own water, though, for it was a long way between water stations! :) The trail went up for about 3 miles, then down another trail to join a fire road, then along a short street section to pick up the next trailhead, then UP to where we met the first trail, then a wonderful downhill cruise to the finish. Lots of fun!

Above is the best cheerleader out there! She was the volunteer at mile 5ish, at the top of the last steep hill to where we joined the trail to go back to the finish. She did a super job of calling us up the hill - I bet she had no voice by the end of the morning!

At the finish, there were buckets of ice cold water bottles, plus samples from Jamba Juice, Luna, and the usual bagels, cream cheese, candy, post race. And a bluegrass band that was very good - before the awards, they played a piece called "Military Breakdown." It was the theme songs from the different military groups played bluegrass style, and was very fun to hear.

A busy weekend! And a good one!