So a big part of the running experience is making sure you use the bathroom prior to the start of the race. Oregon takes their options to the next level. Hello Honey Bucket! Who needs a port o potty when you can relax in the luxury of a Honey Bucket? And while you’re in there, you can take a picture and post it on Facebook for the chance to win a Honey Bucket of your very own. How cool would that be? You know when people visit your home and say “Do you have a bathroom?” (Which always gets me because doesn’t everyone have a bathroom? I understand the true ask but the literal interpretation makes me giggle. I digress.) Well if I won a Honey Bucket I could direct them to that little slice of heaven instead.

The race itself was great. It took place on the Vernonia Banks Trail which is

a. mostly shaded

b. downhill

c. mostly shaded

It was a welcome relief, temperature wise. In Oklahoma it’s been close to 100 degrees every day with the kind of humidity that gives you Dolly Parton hair. In fact, I ran 3 miles the other night and literally had more sweat from that than I did from running 13 miles in Oregon. Even my knees were sweating, and from a much less aggressive pace than I had run the half.

Speaking of pace, hello PR! I ran a 1:51:41. My previous best was 1:59:37 back in May when I ran Nebraska. So I was surprised but excited about the progress I’m making. That’s an average pace of 8:31/mile. I remember when 10 minute miles were hard.

The race itself was pretty uneventful and since I was running for time I didn’t stop and take pictures. The first mile was a steep downhill which is surprisingly tough on cold legs. That day it was 50/55 degrees. I wore sweatpants and a hoody as long as I could before it was time to start and then hauled ass for the next 13 miles to stay warm. I tend to pick someone out at the beginning of a race that looks faster than me and I try to hang on to them as long as possible. What pray tell does fast look like? That day it was a girl in a pink tank top. She was easy to spot due to the brightness of her outfit and I credit her help in getting me across the finish line faster than I thought possible. Thanks stranger!

After the race I spent the next 2 days eating my way through Oregon.

First up was a restaurant where you can order the Chef’s Choice. They literally make you whatever THEY want. That’s a bit of a culinary stretch for me but I thought what the hell…I’m still feeling great from my run and ready to try new things. You just get to make one request and I told them not too spicy. I was ready to eat something pretty weird but they made me a pizza with sausage, fennel, onions and fingerling potatoes. It was delicious but I was expecting something a little crazier. Like fish eyeballs. Although I am grateful it wasn’t fish eyeballs.

Next up was a trip to Tillamook. Have you heard of it? It’s a company that makes the BEST icecream and cheese. (Sorry Texas friends but it’s better than Blue Bell). They have a giant factory where you can see the products being made.

They serve all of their ice cream flavors there and I got a flight of ice cream so I could try several. Dark Cherry, Sugar Cookie and Birthday Cake. The sugar cookie was plum ice cream with cookies smashed in it. That was awesome.

Then, I went through the free cheese line. Now, I’m going to take a moment to discuss common decency. When you are provided with a toothpick to select your free cheese sample you do not fill said toothpick with a metric ton of cheese, put it all in your mouth, then put the same toothpick back in the cheese bin for more cheese. Gross. The dude in front of me was acting like it was an all you can eat quadruple dipping buffet. Now, did this disgusting behavior stop me from getting my free cheese? Nope. But let’s all just take a moment to teach our children that this type of behavior is not cool.

The next day I continued my goal of going for a new high score in calorie consumption with a trip to Voodoo Doughnuts. I limited myself to ordering 4. I even forgot to take a picture until after I had already started trying them. What can I say? I love sprinkles and got a little excited.

Now, I did do things besides run and eat. I went to Target and restrained myself from trying out this sweet contraption:

So this was a multi level Target in Portland and this was for getting your cart up and down levels. I really, really, REALLY wanted to ride in a cart up and down like 10 times. And I could have played dumb because it just says No Children, nothing about No Adults. Pretty much only one thing stopped me. And it wasn’t my sense of responsibility. I was worried that if I attempted this Shenanigan I would be banned from Target for life. And that would be a tough life if I had to start spending my money at Walmart.

So other than Oregon I’ve just been doing shorter races for the past 8 weeks. During the summer with the heat it’s harder to train. I’ve done a few 5ks (got first in my age group in Dallas!) and the Gauntlet which is an obstacle course race that beat the crap out of my body but was so much fun. Next up I’ve got a 10k tomorrow and my next half marathon is in Colorado in August. It’s been suggested that I should run up stairs with a mask to train for the elevation. Since that sounds like a good way to get mistaken for a bank robber I’m just going into Colorado hoping for the best…