Race Recap: Eugene Half Marathon

I don't usually post on the weekends, but I am bound and determined to finish my outstanding race recaps before Disneyland.

Eugene Half Marathon
July 27, 2014

State: #18 (Oregon)
Lifetime: #46

 The race started very early - almost Disney early!  The race started at 6am and since there was no parking at the start, we had to get on a shuttle in Downtown Eugene.  We left pretty early since we anticipated some traffic.  Luckily for us, there was no traffic and we parked quickly.  There was a minimal wait for the shuttle as well. 

The race started right outside Hayward Field.  It was a short walk from the shuttle to the start (we did make a pit stop at baggage first).  The start area was pretty uncrowded - the race was smaller than I thought. 

It was a good temperature, a little chilly but that was prefect for race day.  The race started right on time and off we went.  The course went throughout downtown Eugene and the surrounding area.  It was flat with some rolling hills, a couple bigger but nothing major.

Since I was only 1 month out form Grandma's, I wasn't racing this one.  I was keeping the pace easy and tried to enjoy the scenery.  The second part of the course was in a nature preserve and part of Pre's trail.  It was gorgeous!  I didn't stop for any pictures as I was in a nice groove.

The race finished on the track at Hayward Field and as a running nerd, that was amazing.  When I turned the corner and took my first step on the track, I got goosebumps.  It was incredibly cool run on the same track so many incredible athlete's have run before me.  It was worth the trip to Eugene just to experience that!

Crossing the finish line, I felt good.  I wasn't feeling spent and not too sore.  For my first race back, I thought that was good!

They had a great finish line area with free pancakes for the athlete's, yoga and stretching, plus a beer garden! 

After getting taking the time to fully stretch, I got my pancakes (they were quite good!) and took some photo's with the University of Oregon mascot (a duck).

 

Once the other girls had finished, we celebrated with some beers in the beer garden!


Results
Official: 13.1 mi, 2:04:45, 9:31 pace
Garmin: 13.25 mi, 2:04:467, 9:23 pace