Bridge to 30 Minute Line to Brews Run

This morning I ran in the Bridge to Brews Run 8k. The main attraction of this run is that you get to run over the Fremont bridge, which you aren’t usually supposed to do because it’s a freeway bridge. I love running on places that I’m usually only allowed to drive.

The weather today is great, and I ran with my friend Chris from the zoo, so it was a pretty good time. It was also a pretty weird run. Essentially the Bridge to Brews Run is a 10k, with an 8k thrown in as an afterthought. There were probably only a few hundred people in the 8k, and with an exception of a few, they all seemed to have the intent of jogging the run. I’m pretty sure a lot of people signed up for the race with the sole intent of taking pictures from the Fremont Bridge. Not only are you not allowed to run on the bridge most of the time, you’re not allowed to be there at all unless you’re inside a car, and stopping on the freeway when you’re in your car is discouraged as well, so I guess I see why people thought this would be a good time to take pictures. This also further proves my theory that the places where people like to run are the same places that people like to take pictures. I actually just made that theory up right now, but it’s based on past observations.

One of the most exciting parts about the run was that the Read It and Weep boys took my request to do a live podcast for me during the marathon seriously, and showed up to practice during my 8k. It’s a good thing they did, because it didn’t go so well. Chris accidentally signed up for the 10k, Alex was whining about his ankle, and Ezra was nowhere to be seen. I’m sure they’ll have their act together by the time the marathon comes along.

I don’t really know what my time was, the clock said 38:2? when i crossed the line. Or something like that. I was happy that it was under 8 minute miles because my legs were really tired, and after the first 15 minutes I caught up with all the slow 10k runners, and running amidst tons of people running really slow doesn’t motivate me to run fast very well. In the future I probably won’t do a 20 miler three days before a race. It’s not like I have to go super fast every race, but it’s always more fun when I feel like I can perform my best. And beat everybody.

We were promised a snack and two beverages at the end of the race, but by the time I finished and tried to get my post-race beer, the line was basically longer than the race had been. So I got root beer, which I don’t usually like, but tasted super good for about one minute, and then got gross again. I still don’t really want beer after running anyway, but I do like the concept of going running and then drinking at 10AM. I guess I could really do that anytime I wanted though. I’ll have to try that this week.

I almost ended this post without including the most important part: Running Skirt Count. As you will recall from my post about the Shamrock Run, at that race 0.00057% of people were wearing running skirts. Today the number of running skirts shot through the roof in comparison. I saw a total of 12 running skirts, in a race that capped at 4,500 people. We’ll go ahead and assume everyone came, which means that 0.0027% of people were wearing them today. Again, I’m also assuming that I saw every single running skirt being worn. Possible factors are the warm weather, the fact that we were starting in NE Portland instead of downtown, or perhaps because it’s Independence Day in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately it’s impossible to tell, but I’ll definitely be continuing this study to gather more information.

Miles run this week: 5
Miles run in 2010: 324