Sneaky as a sage rat

Saturday morning, I was a rogue runner in the annual Sage Rat 12k Road Race. By rogue runner, I mean I did not register for the race—I just showed up and ran it for fun. I missed the early-registration discount and it didn’t seem worth the late fee. So I just snuck into the race. [Confession: when I saw the sweet race shirts, I did wish that I had registered for it]. Two of my adventurous, fun friends from our ward here also ran the race. It was 7 .5 miles of sunny, sweaty, sneaky fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The before picture: Ashleigh, me, and Alisha. Yes I stole this picture from your blog, Alisha.

Here I am about a mile from the finish. This is Jeff’s new favorite running picture of me. heh.

The race ran from Grandview to Prosser along the flat, shade-less paved bike path. Thank goodness for my visor! I was surprised at how good I felt during the whole 7 + miles. The farthest I had run before this race (since Rose’s birth day) was 5.5 miles. During the whole race, I kept expecting my body to hit a wall, but it didn’t happen. It was great! I felt invigorated! Powerful!

For you runners out there, I ran the 7.5 miles in 61:39—that’s an average of 8:16 per mile! I honestly don’t know where that came from. My daily runs have been around an 8:50 mile pace. Oh well, it was a pleasant, big surprise!

My favorite part of this race had to be the posters with quotes on the that were posted along the course. There were inspirational ones like the classic Prefontaine “Some people run a race to see who’s fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.” And some goofy ones like Alice in Wonderland: “Some days I believe in as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast,” and “I like a nice warm pig for my sore feet.” (the Queen of Hearts)

I was trying to wave to Jay.

With Ashleigh at the finish… she did great too! It’s fun to have buddies who run too. We all got sunburned. I had no idea that I’d get burned so badly after a mere 2 hours outside! As I may have mentioned, the sun here is fierce! But then again, it’s been a whole YEAR since my skin even saw the sun.

No race number…oh well! I was planning on just veering off to the side at the finish, but there was a lady announcing the finishers on a loudspeaker, and she was talking to me, so I figured my best bet was to cross the finish line and then explain my…rogue behavior. They didn’t care. I don’t think.

Surprisingly, this was the most painful part.

By the way, this is a sage rat. They are all over the place around here.