YMCA Six Hour Fund Run

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Change of plans for this Saturday. Usually I run the GBRC's Run for the Honeywagon 1/2 marathon this day, with a friend of mine. It's a favorite, up in little old Everson, near the Canadian border. However, I've been fighting colds all February, and my running isn't quite where I want it to be. And I still have a cold, with the dry mouthroof and the green nose stuff. It's not that good. But I need miles, and so I opted for Kendall K's YMCA benefit run in Snohomish instead. My favorite thing about this race was the pulled pork sandwichs at the end. I told the office I was going vegetarian this week, and then he serves up something like that. They were really good sandwichs, but then again, after running six hours, I'm probably not hard to please. But these were good, I'm sure of it. I've done long hikes, after which PB&J and top ramen have felt like some sort of manna from heaven. I think manna was supposed to taste good. I hope so--those folks circling around in the desert wilderness supposedly ate it for forty years.
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So my run....I sucked, because I was sick. But I ran the whole six hours, except for occasional walking and change of clothes stops. I totaled out at 32.5--if I was healthy, I would've been good for more. The course was flat as flat can be, making the miles easy. It was on a rail trail, called the Centennial Trail, out by Snohomish. You go 2.5 miles one way, turn around, come back, do it again, etc. Most of the usuals were there, and it feels like a while since I've seen them. The course design led to hellos every 2.5 miles--"hey good job!" "Looking strong!" "Good job again!" "Hey, what's up?" "How you doing?" Or then there was the tactful finger wave--lot of waving and head nods. Maybe it was just me. I like to be friendly, but 14 hellos per person was kind of odd, but better to be friendly than not. Encouragement is good. I changed my clothes three times, because the weather was all over the place, with wind at times, rain, etc. I really didn't have my clothing dialed in. I listened to six hours of music. One really cool thing about this race is its a fundraiser for the YMCA, which besides being a song and a gym, is a terrific community organization. I give every year to the Whatcom Y, where I'm also a member. This is the first race I've done where my race fee was tax deductible! Props go to the race organizer, Kendall.
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Tonight my family's coming up! Very cool. Huskies are about to win the Pac 10 for the first time since the 1950s or something. Also cool--I'm a UW grad, as are my parents. Tomorrow I'll probably trot around Blanchard, and then I have to draft a team for The League, my fantasy baseball league which is having its 25 year anniversary this year. Looking to be a good weekend.