And now the REST of the Story. (Hat-tip to Paul Harvey)

So, when we last left our intrepid runner, he was just clearing mile 8 with a new running partner, and was heading up Terwilliger.  Lets pick it up from there...



The young lady who was flagging in energy just a few short minutes earlier had started to keep up, and was plugging along up the hill.  We were passing and being passed, but we were keeping our pace and staying steady.  We had passed the 90 minutes running mark, and I felt pretty good.  We had a nice short 2.5 miles to climb to the top of the hill before we could begin our final decent into Portland and the finish line. 

We were chatting and moving along, she had almost not done the race as some of her coworkers had bailed at the last minute due to lack of training, and I told her about my ankles.  We both were happy with our decisions to run that morning.  The course left the road proper towards the middle of the climb up, and we followed the paved bike/pedestrian path through some lovely trees and wound our way up to the top.  Once there, we both knew it was all down-hill from there.  Mile 10 was past, and we were headed back into downtown.  My concern was that the downhill was putting extra pounding on my heels and they were starting to complain a bit.  By the time we hit mile 11, they were giving me a bit of grief, but not enough to cause me to stop.

Mile 12, was a nice sight, we had been "joined" by another gal that was concerned with her pace, and started pacing off of us.  She somehow missed the large 12 at the last corner, and my partner and I chuckled a bit when she asked if how much farther.  We let her know that we were under a mile left to run, and we had both picked up our pace a little just for knowing we were that much closer.  I was also wondering how my Mrs. faired in her first 5K, which ran the last 1.1 miles along the same path.  Hmmm, I shouldn't see her, she should be finished by now.

We got to mile 13 and as we cleared the final corner, I turned to the young lady and suggested we pour on the juice to the finish.  When we cleared the line I turned around and gave her a high-five.  She said that she finished 10 minutes faster than she thought she would.  I didn't want to tell her that with both of us talking, that we could have pushed a little harder than we did.  But, Hey!  This was a victory for both of us.  We finished the race running, and neither of us walked even the shortest bit of it.  We walked through the shoot, to the folks handing out the finisher's medals and we parted ways.  I went looking for the folks I came with, she went looking for her hubby and kids.

After a couple of laps of the grounds, I got into the water/ banana line and sent a text to the Mrs. to see where she was hiding.  There were scads of people everywhere, every thing had a line, the porta-potties, the water, the food, the beer, the clothing pick-up everything.  But, since I was the last of the party through the gates, everyone else had divided the labor up, and after I got my 1/4(?) of a banana, and my 2 oz of electrolyte drink.  I headed to the beer line where the Mrs. was waiting.  I was quite happy I had brought my own water while looking for her.

I got her tracked down, and they (my wife, and our neighbor who ran in place of someone else) had a plate of food they were working on.  I cut about 20 minutes off my wait for a beer by joining up with them, and with a beer in hand, we went looking for her sister.  Her sister had jumped into the clothing check line, and we still had a 20 minute wait to get our stuff out.  By that time I was cold from the wind that was blowing across my wet clothes, and from being tired.  My ankles and my right knee were also explaining that "gently cramming" was going to cost me today.  As I drank my beer and inched closer and closer to a dry shirt, my right knee stiffened and complained.

We finally got our clothes and I changed my shoes and socks, and then my shirt.  Damn, in all the fuss of tearing up the floors, I had had to move my shoe bins, one of which is where I store all of my running gear, and right at that moment I was lamenting the missed step of Body Glide before hitting the door.  It has been over a week, and the nips are finally not scabbed over.  Sorry, for the TMI, but hey, this is a running blog after all.  Changed into dry clothes, we decided it was time to head for home, and warm showers, and cold beer.

On the drive home, I asked my wife how her race had gone.  The course was a bit hillier than we thought it was going to be, in fact there was one VERY steep section of about a block that she walked up because there was no reason to run up it.  She got smacked on the arse by her sister, who passed her shortly after the 12/2 mile markers.  She said she had a lot of fun, and felt like she could have run it a little faster, but wasn't too happy or sad about it.  She isn't completely hooked yet, I'm still working on that.

Overall, I think that everyone I know that ran, had a good time in spite of the rain.  The party at my house after was a blast.  We tapped our keg of Mud Shark Porter, and got to easing the pain in my ankles and knees with beer right away.  By the time folks really started to show, I was limping pretty good.  My right knee had all but said it was retired from the sport (fortunately, it thinks it is Brett Favre, so it has since changed its mind) and I had a hard time getting up and down the stairs in my house that afternoon.  We ate, we drank, and we stayed up 'til midnight.  Oh, and I didn't get that nap that I really wanted.  But we had a great time, and I think we will have to do something similar next year for a different race.  We will have to see how that plays out.

Final results:
Me:...........................................2:19:07        10:37
Sister-in-Law:..........................2:02:39          9:21
Neighbor who ran Pikermi:....2:01:17          9:15
Mrs. 5K time:...........................0:36:48        11:51

So everyone ran in a good time, well, I could have run faster, but I think I would have been hurting more.  I wish I could say that there were awesome pictures to show of my efforts and of the event, but alas, I think they hired the worst "professional" photogs, and we didn't take any either.  We were all focused on getting back home to the hellions and the food and beer.  It's OK though, I'm not much to look at anyway.  I also, now have a baseline, which I plan on crushing at my next Pikermi.