Published February 16th, 2010
And in the beginning…
If Sunday’s race portends what’s to come in my “13 in 12” streak I’ve got a LONG road (and sometimes trail) ahead of me.
As I was putting together my list of 13 races (marathon distance or farther) I gravitated toward the free ones. After all, I’ve already shelled out a bunch of money for Boston and Big Sur (not to mention the Goofy Challenge), so free or almost-free were ideal. So when I saw the Poulsbo Running Club was hosting the free Fishline 50K on Valentine’s Day, I knew it was the race for me. How better to celebrate the Hallmark holiday than running the trails with my sweetie?
The race is held on a privately owned tree farm in Port Gamble on the Kitsap Peninsula. We had run a similar course in August for the Port Gamble half marathon, however, this race started at a different point. It’s moderately challenging with a mix of single track and forest service roads, with a few hills thrown in (most are fairly runnable).
While we’ve been having some great weather of late, the week leading up the race was quite damp. In fact, I got caught in a squall while running around Green Lake two days prior (at one point the wind and rain were so strong I could barely move forward). In addition, my work week was particularly busy (regular clients Monday-Friday, Valentine’s dinner Saturday evening) so I wasn’t as well-rested as I would have liked. Still, I was looking forward to hitting the trail.
The morning got off to an interesting start. We’ve been having to give our kitty subcutaneous fluids — not an easy task by any means — but by doing it ourselves we eliminate the traumatic trip to the vet. While I wrapped her in a towel to keep her from squirming too much, my darling readied the 18-gauge hypodermic needle. Just as he was about to stick it into her she managed to free her front paws from the towel. As we once again attempted to get her confined I felt a sharp pin-prick on my left forefinger. Yee-ouch! (My darling hadn’t placed the cap back on the needle while I was re-wrapping kitty). As I fished through our first-aid kit for the antibiotic ointment and a bandage, I noticed two spots of blood on my finger. Turns out the needle had gone clean through! (Medical professionals, we are not).
We took that as a sign to abandon the task until we returned from the race and got to packing our race gear. I also packed a cooler with the fixings for chicken Caesar salad wraps to share afterwards (along with a couple of beers, natch). I also tossed in a 1-pound box of Sees nuts & chews and a bag of salt & vinegar potato chips (we figured we’d burn our fair share of calories on the trail).
