Urban Adventure (race report) time!

[irene adler]

Today was the urban adventure run!
Woke up an almost immediately got a text from my friend punking out. . While drinking my coffee, I actually read the stuff from packet pickup--and discovered that I was in for running the equivalent (or "equivalant" as the packet stated) of 70 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS. Holy hell.

So I went to the race alone, but our running community is so small that I almost instantly found friends. They were pacing the start--one person at a time, and when the person in front of you turned the corner, the next went (like a water slide at a water park, lol). The stadium stairs were tough--it was HOT.

Next came the parking garage, and it was SO FUN. It's a corkscrew six stories up and down--it was like fulfilling a childhood fantasy of running down a twirly slide.

There was a 1 mile run down an urban pedestrian mall--shady and pretty, but sad because our downtown is so dead and empty--lots of abandoned storefronts/boarded up windows. Then came the hill (overpass) --nbd, but in the full sun and hot.

The run ended with a 10 flight stair climb up--omg, it was so hot and stuffy in the stairs. It was hard--the rise and run of the steps was a bit off from standard (I think it was 12" instead of 10" up). I made it about 4 flights before I had to walk the rest. I finished in 36:xx--not too shabby (and faster than one of my students! ) It was gorgeous hanging out on the rooftop, and fun to hang out at the end with some mimosas.

I am sad I didn't turn off auto pause on my Garmin--it doesn't track elevation and kept pausing on the stair climbs.

This is absolutely one of the most fun races I've done in a while. And I'm not sore!   However, I was dumb enough to schedule clients this pm which is interfering with both my nap and ability to spend the day continuing on the mimosa train.

here're the view from the top (and the only pic I could get to upload)--complete with runners going down the pedestrian mall.
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[taratru]

That sounds fun!

[jene]

Sounds awesome!

[cinco]

That sounds really fun!

[labbie]

So fun!

Sent from my XT1080 using proboards

[itsme]

Why did your friend punk out? That sucks. But overall the race/fun run sounds fun!

[cole]

Sounds awesome! Great job on all those steps!

[gt7301b]

You are bad ass!!! That sounds like a lot more fun than I thought it would be when you mentioned it:)

[irene adler]

I can't get mad at my friend. She's an ER nurse and works really long shifts, and her plan was to register the morning of if she felt up to it. Last night she was super excited to go, but I think she needed sleep more than she needed to run a lot of stairs. I am sad because she would've absolutely loved to do this race..

I also have a pretty impressive bruise on my leg from where I kept hitting it on the stadium seats when I turned corners.

[kams]

That sounds so tough and so fun!

[runblondie26]

That's sound fun! Nice twist on a road standard road race.

[Mushe]

That sounds like a blast!

[ktzmoh]

Sounds like so much fun!

[sadlebred]

Sounds fun!

[ilovecandy]

That sounds like it was fun.

[juliabug]

That sounds so fun and so difficult! Sorry that your friend couldn't make it though!

[shauni27]

what a fun event! I would do something like that in a heartbeat!