UPCOMING RACE SCHEDULE, MAY 2014 EDITION

These posts are really for me because I use my brain as my scheduling assistant and am not the best at remembering things sometimes. I should really fire myself. That might be a PR mess though. Anyways, since I am now done with the cycle of races I laid out in my last schedule post, it is time for a new one!

I present to you, my post Vancouver Marathon race schedule:

May 25th, 2014 - Rum Run 10k
Year three of the Rum Run. Unfortunately, this course is actually around 10.2k. I even pinged the race company on Facebook and asked them if they were going to fix it... indeed, they unveiled a new course(!)... that was also identically long. WTF guys, seriously? Oh well, it's a fun event and I might still set a PR in the process, but wish they knew how to measure.

June 7th, 2014 - Soles2Souls 5k
Late addition to the race schedule. During my little "break" before I have to start training for Portland again I wanted to try and set new PRs in the 10k and 5k. This is a small, local, chip timed race that goes to a good cause. It's also on the Fanno Creek Trail, so I'm familiar with the course and it should be flat and fast. Only concern is organization but for $12 it's worth a shot!

June 21st, 2014 - Bald Peak Half Marathon
Not a course to set a PR on, so I'll be taking this run for fun. It was pretty cheap when I signed up, something like $45, and that includes a tech tee and pancake and bacon feast at the end of the race. Yum! In addition to a 1,164 foot climb over the first few miles about half of it is also ran on gravel. Will be kind of nice to run it semi-hard but without PR pressure.

July 5th, 2014 - Stars and Stripes Half Marathon
Finally decided to do the Stars and Stripes again over the Foot Traffic Flat. Foot Traffic lost out because of the larger price tag and notorious traffic fiasco. I just would really rather not wake up at 4am and battle traffic when I could sleep in until 7:30am and drive two miles the next day for half the cost. Technically I will be defending my title but I'm sure local fasties will notice the lack of speed last year and sign up hoping to win, so no repeat is in the cards.

July 13th, 2014 - Outdoor Sunday Evenings 5k Fun Run
I already signed up Brandon and his dad for this race again, so it should be fun times. This is the "only $5 but we are going to jam your race packet with a Jesus DVD" race put on by my local church. Preach away for $5 though! Great deal and a good community event that has a free BBQ dinner afterward. Super good deal. Likely won't be running this one fast as I'll be pacing Brandon to a new PR hopefully!

August 2nd, 2014 - Crawfish Crawl Half Marathon
Excited about this one! Just signed up a few days ago. This is in my hometown of Tualatin. There has been the Crawfish Crawl 5k to go along with the Crawfish Festival for years, but this year they are adding a 10k and half marathon to the mix. I decided to sign up for the half. I don't know the course yet, but it should be a fun race and another chance to hit one hard if Foot Traffic doesn't go great.

September 7th, 2014 - Pints to Pasta 10k
Excited to run this race again. Hopefully it won't be the day after a twenty mile training run like last year, but my marathon training schedule will take priority. I'd like to run this race someday super fresh... the downhill course really lends itself to a 10k PR. It should still be a solid opportunity to set a PR, considering my only other 10k will likely be the long course Rum Run.

September 28th, 2014 - Corvallis Fall Festival 5k
Where it all started. This will be my FOURTH year running this race. Holy cow! It will be the weekend before the Portland Marathon again, so it will be a little tough to juggle my desire to run hard with properly tapering and staying fresh for the marathon. I'm thinking about picking up a cheap, local 5k sometime during the summer (later edit: done, Soles2Souls), but if not, this will be the only 5k I'll race to date in 2014!