Butt to Butt 10k: Part Deux

Today's Butte to Butte 10k brings my race count this year up to an astonishing three. I do believe that's a record! I signed up yesterday on a whim, reasoning that it was the only way I'd get my ass out of bed before it got too hot for a longer run. I was also curious to see if this year's shirt would be as blatantly racist as 2014's:

I'm still convinced it was unintentional, but come on! How did this get approved?! I'm sure it's pure coincidence but 1862 is the year that Oregon banned interracial marriage and started charging people of color a $5 tax, because racism.

I'm happy to report that this year's shirt is just a picture of a shoe, similar in concept to the Eugene marathon logo.

Anyway, the course is meant to connect the two buttes in Eugene, Spencer and Skinner, although really it's just a run through town. Honestly, the route is not remotely scenic but there are a decent number of spectators, which kept things interesting. I particularly enjoyed the guy handing out tequila shots at the top of "the big hill." 

The race is also really well-organized: shuttle departures every five minutes and porta-potties as far as the eye could see. It made me laugh to think about the lone porta-potty at the start of the Ridgeline Ramble. I didn't stick around for the post-race goodies, but I remember having some awesome chocolate milk the last time I ran it.

I loved watching all the runners do their pre-race thing (despite running for eight years and having a freaking running blog, I still don't really consider myself part of that crowd. It might just be denial). It seemed like everyone was running, even forty-five minutes before the start. I was particularly amused by a few people who were looking around in confusion while doing hesitant knee lifts, seemingly unsure if that's what you're "supposed" to do before a race. As for me, I just sat on the grass and listened to music.

Before I knew it, we were off! They didn't have any corrals or signs with expected pace (or whatever systems are typically used to group similarly-paced people together) so the first few minutes were pretty slow, but after that I rarely felt as though other people were affecting my pace.

Speaking of pace, I'm very confused about mine. I don't know what my Garmin thought I was running, but it wasn't the Butte to Butte. Check out the data from this year's race versus the (nearly identical) course from two years ago:

I am the queen of shitty screen shots. 2016 on the left and 2014 on the right.

The elevation numbers are particularly confusing, as is that 9:53 mile (whose pace felt much more like miles 4 - 6 than 1 - 2). A Facebook friend did the race as well and recorded 6.4 miles, so who knows. I'd like to see the route Garmin recorded but for some reason there's no course data for my past three runs. Has anyone experienced this before? Any suggestions on how to fix it?

My official pace was an 8:45 (61/178 in my age group and 1/4 in the "people named Jean" category), which is fantastic if it's correct. I've been in vacation mode since the solstice, spending ten days in Alaska (pictures to follow!) and taking it easy since I got back to Eugene this past Friday. I was reasonably active back home although my runs over the past two weeks summed to a whopping 5 miles. I wondered whether I'd lost much running fitness but it seems the speedwork I did this past spring continues to pay off! This despite the fact that I'm 5 - 7 pounds over the weight I've been for basically 10 years now (which, even though it shouldn't, really irks me).

----

As promised, pictures from home! It was such a fun trip. The boyfriend came along and we did a lot of cool things.

Beluga Point 

Seward, where we camped for the night.

More Seward. Really gross beach, to be honest. There was slimy shit all over the place. 

Lost Lake! I kind of unknowingly (knowingly?) deceived my boyfriend into thinking it was a lot shorter than the fifteen miles it turned out to be. Whoops. I was pretty shocked to see snow at the lake, which looks a lot different in August.

Downtown Anchorage

Learning how to play cribbage was a good move.

We got to go on a glacier/wildlife cruise for free, which was SO cool. I've always been a bit snooty about touristy things like that but boy, was I wrong. Definitely worth the $150 price tag, in my opinion. Plus we got to drive to Whittier, a place you can only access through a 2.5-mile, one-lane tunnel and where nearly every resident lives in one building. It's a pretty wacky place.

Glacier.

More glacier.

Happy 4th, everyone!