NW Adventure Chics: Viking Fest 2010

Saturday, May 15, 2010 - Sunny skies greeted us the morning of the Viking Fest Road Race here in Poulsbo, WA. Our family has been participating in our respective home town fun runs for many years now and this year was no different. Our younger two children were all set to run the 1 mile, one with a buddy, the other on her own. Their grandma was waiting for them with the camera poised at the finish line down on Front Street. We saw many friends, neighbors, schoolmates and team-mates lining up along with us at the start lines.

Elisa was out on the 1 mile course with her two older boys, along with many other families, while my husband and I opted to run the 5 mile course. I have mentioned before that I have been rehabilitating from an injury for the past year, so this was a good test to see if my body could handle the intensity required of a road race. I've been mainly sticking to swimming pools, bike rides, dirt trails and low key social runs for quite some time now, happily I might add, but I did relish the idea of really gunning for a best effort in a foot race.

Warming up prior to the race start near Lion's Park I felt pretty springy and that seemed like a good sign. Unfortunately, I had to pee, but the port-o-potty lines were too long and the race start was too near, so I just had to wait until after the race - darn it! Oh, well, I didn't have to got that bad.

Once the horn sounded, we were off and fast. It is a downhill start and a mostly flat course along the beautiful shores of Liberty Bay, with a nice steep downhill before you round the bend and head straight down Front Street to the finish in front of the famed Sluy's Bakery (think Poulsbo Bread).

I tried to stay comfortable for the first couple miles, and soon found that I was passing people steadily. I looked for the ponytails, they were the ones I was competing with after all (although I did get tricked by a few long haired men!). According to a couple helpful gentleman that I passed, I was the 6th place woman, so "go get 'em!" they said. I tried. I did catch a couple gals, but then was caught myself by a young lady with a lot of gas left in her tank on the straightaway to the finish. I didn't have my usual kick, but felt very happy to see my time - 35:13 on the clock as I hit the finish line. I was feeling a bit queasy, but just the right amount to know I'd given it all I could without making a mess for the poor volunteers to clean up.

Later, Sam and Max (Elisa's boys) competed in the kids dashes and we cheered them on. I checked the results board and found that I had won my age division (Women 40-49), yahoo! What a great morning. We headed home for a quick lunch and then back down to town for the parade. Our oldest daughter was playing saxophone in the Poulsbo Middle School marching band. Go Panthers! I love being part of the annual local festivals and Viking Fest is an especially good one.

"Are you still up for the Rhody Run tomorrow?" Elisa asked me, as she headed home with her family after the race. "Yep." See you in a.m.