Even though my body was exhausted, and I would end up running one of my slowest half marathons of 2014, the Girlfriends Run for a Cure Half Marathon was SO MUCH FUN.
8th Annual Girlfriends Run for a Cure
Date and time: Sunday, October 12th, 2014 @ 9:00am
Events and price:
Half or quarter marathon (women-only) $80
Pink Brigade Guys--one of 50 philanthropic men who agree to pay, sponsor someone or raise a minimum of $500 to register and run Girlfriends Run for a Cure
Kids marathon $30
Location: Northwest Personal Training; 1011 Broadway; Vancouver, WA
Number of runners: Capped at 3000
Beneficiary: Susan G Komen for the Cure; The Children's Center
Swag: Women's-cut tech shirts; a necklace placed on you by a fireman; chocolate; cupcakes; massages; post-race food (soup, fruit, bagels, PowerBars), beverages (a nice cold reusable water bottle and a souvenir taster glass with beer or wine); goodie bags with lots of NICE goodies and coupons; AND MORE!
Course: A 6.55 mile (Quarter Marathon) or 13.1 mile (Half Marathon) mostly flat and scenic course traveling along historic Officer’s Row, Fort Vancouver, the Columbian Riverfront and more.
Date and time: Sunday, October 12th, 2014 @ 9:00am
Events and price:
Half or quarter marathon (women-only) $80
Pink Brigade Guys--one of 50 philanthropic men who agree to pay, sponsor someone or raise a minimum of $500 to register and run Girlfriends Run for a Cure
Kids marathon $30
Location: Northwest Personal Training; 1011 Broadway; Vancouver, WA
Number of runners: Capped at 3000
Beneficiary: Susan G Komen for the Cure; The Children's Center
Swag: Women's-cut tech shirts; a necklace placed on you by a fireman; chocolate; cupcakes; massages; post-race food (soup, fruit, bagels, PowerBars), beverages (a nice cold reusable water bottle and a souvenir taster glass with beer or wine); goodie bags with lots of NICE goodies and coupons; AND MORE!
Course: A 6.55 mile (Quarter Marathon) or 13.1 mile (Half Marathon) mostly flat and scenic course traveling along historic Officer’s Row, Fort Vancouver, the Columbian Riverfront and more.
I love this race. I say it every single year. The atmosphere is indescribably wonderful. It always gets me, seeing the hope and strength and compassion and beauty of all of these women who have come together to run and to put an end to breast cancer. It's really an event unlike any other. Race founder Sherri and the team at NW Personal training genuinely care about this event and want every single participant to feel pampered, and it shows. And it's contagious, because they manage to get tons of other local businesses and organizations involved as well! Once you've participated in the Girlfriends Run for a Cure, you can't help but love it.
This year, I had run the Portland Marathon the week prior to Girlfriends, and I had run the Bend Beer Chase Relay the day before (getting home at 2am the morning of Girlfriends). My body was pretty tired. But my heart was SO EXCITED. I was excited for all of my girlfriends who were going to join me, I was excited for my male friends who were running with the Pink Brigade, I was excited for the course, I was excited for the medals, I was excited to get pampered afterwards! And it was the perfect weather--although the forecast called for rain, it was nice and cool and slightly overcast. After Sherri led us all in an energetic warmup, we lined up at the starting line. I ran the first half of the race with Ardara and Krista, and then ran the second half with Wendy. It was nice to run with friends and chat! It kept my mind off of how tired my body was. The out and back portions of the course were nice because I got to see all of my friends during the race, even though they were running different paces. I loved running past the Fort, over the land bridge, and along the river. But the best part was finishing, and the after party! It was great reuniting with my friends and hearing about how well they did and how much fun they had. So many of them PR'd, and I was so proud of ALL of them. We celebrated the day with free beer tasters at Dirty Hands brewing, and wandered around checking out the many vendor booths (I bought an adorable tank top that says "SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP!").
By the way, this year, instead of the necklace that they usually have, they switched to a REALLY CUTE and VERY GLITTERY medal. They are really good quality and adorable too! The long sleeved shirt design was really cute and I loved the contrast stitching, although the sleeves are a little short for my long arms.
Although this race is somewhat on the spendier side, you know that so much of your registration fee goes towards the charities, and that you get SO SPOILED at the event that it's absolutely worth it.
Overall, this is a spectacular local running event that brings together the community in a really positive way. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to run it again this year, and can't wait for next year!!!
This year, I had run the Portland Marathon the week prior to Girlfriends, and I had run the Bend Beer Chase Relay the day before (getting home at 2am the morning of Girlfriends). My body was pretty tired. But my heart was SO EXCITED. I was excited for all of my girlfriends who were going to join me, I was excited for my male friends who were running with the Pink Brigade, I was excited for the course, I was excited for the medals, I was excited to get pampered afterwards! And it was the perfect weather--although the forecast called for rain, it was nice and cool and slightly overcast. After Sherri led us all in an energetic warmup, we lined up at the starting line. I ran the first half of the race with Ardara and Krista, and then ran the second half with Wendy. It was nice to run with friends and chat! It kept my mind off of how tired my body was. The out and back portions of the course were nice because I got to see all of my friends during the race, even though they were running different paces. I loved running past the Fort, over the land bridge, and along the river. But the best part was finishing, and the after party! It was great reuniting with my friends and hearing about how well they did and how much fun they had. So many of them PR'd, and I was so proud of ALL of them. We celebrated the day with free beer tasters at Dirty Hands brewing, and wandered around checking out the many vendor booths (I bought an adorable tank top that says "SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP!").
By the way, this year, instead of the necklace that they usually have, they switched to a REALLY CUTE and VERY GLITTERY medal. They are really good quality and adorable too! The long sleeved shirt design was really cute and I loved the contrast stitching, although the sleeves are a little short for my long arms.
Although this race is somewhat on the spendier side, you know that so much of your registration fee goes towards the charities, and that you get SO SPOILED at the event that it's absolutely worth it.
Overall, this is a spectacular local running event that brings together the community in a really positive way. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to run it again this year, and can't wait for next year!!!