God Bless America.... or at least Birch Bay, WA
Birch Bay Road Race15km -- Blaine, WA, USA
April 2, 2016
We started our day off with an early call time; I was up 5:15AM to get ready for Alison and Mark, fellow Phoenix Running Club members, to pick me up at 6. Fortunately I wasn't a stranger to waking up at ungodly hours from years of early swim practices, and was able to bounce out of bed.
Before saying anything about the race, I need to thank my ever-supportive parents, who woke up even earlier than me to a) wake me up and b) make breakfast for me (I know you probably think that's ridiculous but having my Mom's oatmeal is my go-to pre-race meal ritual. It has nothing to do with the fact my very limited cooking repertoire could very well allow me to be a contestant on 'America's Worst Home Cooks').
Around 6 my parents wished me good luck and goodbye along with the usual comments -- i.e. make sure you eat after the race, did you take enough GU, do you have extra socks? etc. etc -- as I was greeted by Alison and Mark bearing fresh coffee (thank you!!) for our trip down to the border.
My past experiences with the Alison and Mark had been limited; although we train at the same club once a week we all run at different paces so I don't see much of either of them. None the less I knew they were both humorous, kind-hearted and dedicated runners -- my type of people.
The car ride to the border was filled with jovial chatter, many jokes and even more laughs. Our topics varied from running to bird poop stories (Alison takes the crown for best story in that category). I can confirm the ride home had equally as entertaining topics and discussions. I think it's safe to say my friendships with both of them grew today as we shared a fantastic experience, all competing in our first races hosted on the American side of the border.
Not too long after crossing the border, and with minimal GPS malfunctions, we pulled up to a water-slide park that from the look of the rust along the slides had seen better days. This peculiar and forlorn little slide parking lot also happened to host the parking for our race. After collecting our bibs we headed out for a warm-up which gave us a glance at part of our race course -- a beautiful shore line that stretched as far as the eye could see. To make it even more picturesque, it was clear, sunny blue skies accompanied by a cool ocean breeze. I was tempted to forget racing at all and just spend the day at the beach...
At the race start I ran into my friend Reza, and had just enough time to say happy birthday. Reza had celebrated his 65th just a day ago on April 1 -- and no 'april fools' on that even though I know we're all thinking the same thing -- that he runs like he's not a day over 30.
As the gun started the race and I started my Garmin (does a run really count it your Garmin didn't document it??), we began the run on the shore line. On one side we had the ocean lining our view, and on the other there were quaint bed and breakfast's, motels and shore line eateries. The next portion of the race took us through Birch Bay State Park, which was filled with evergreen's and cheering volunteers. It wasn't hard to take my mind off the race momentarily to soak in the atmosphere.
The race itself was a 12km out and back, plus 3km added on at the end. I'd say the last 3km was the toughest because of the headwind and a surprise steep and hellish hill in the last 600meters of the race. Overall, I was fairly pleased that I was able to keep the relatively the same pace throughout the whole race, and was happy to be able to finish strong, in 1:07:09.
Not long after I watched Reza come in, winning his age group. Following him was Alison finishing what was her longest race to date. Mark came in at a fantastic pace, winning not only his age group, but also as the first overall 30km racer.
The race ended in high spirits, each of us respectfully accomplishing what we went there to do. The day was a success, filled with the things I enjoy most -- friends, running and stunning scenery.
