Fall Creek State Park

Session Saturday was again upon us and today we decided to combine one of the training sessions with a visit to another of Oregon’s scenic parks. The ‘Fall Creek Run-Around’ race started at one end of the Fall Creek Reservoir and ran to the other end. That was for us 15km participants. For the lucky souls doing the 20miler, one whole lap of the reservoir was to be completed.

We had decided that I would run in the 15km as a training run - so a hard but not flat out effort, whilst Chris would bring the bike and have a bit of a bike-around. The state park was very scenic and very quiet. The route followed the road around the lake and it was a bit of shame that there were high trees at either side of the road which prevented you from getting a good view of the reservoir whilst you were running. On closer inspection following the race, it was interesting to see that despite it seeming to have rained a lot of the time that we have been here, the reservoir was very very low. Apparently much lower than it has been at this time of year previously.

Anyway, back to the race, it was pretty enjoyable despite being quite undulating with a one mile of pure uphill right at the end. It wasn’t a really big race so I ran most of it alone with only some random cyclist with a camera who kept speeding past me, taking a photo and then speeding off again, for company. It turned out to be quite a bit longer that 15km but we weren’t really that bothered it wasn’t accurate as it was a good workout anyway and a fun morning. I finished 2nd overall so came home with a jumper and a medal - I would have been pretty happy except I am already going to have to wear multiple layers on the flight home to avoid paying the heavy luggage fee!

I had quite a restful afternoon recuperating whilst Chris spent a long time making a video of the race. Then it was off to the track for another reps session. As Saturday evenings are when everybody goes out and does fun things we felt obliged to join in the excitement so headed to Wal-mart for our weekly grocery shop and then sat watching TV in our apartment until about 9:30pm…bedtime…

Below is the video that Chrissy spent half the afternoon editing. I personally like the camerawork after mile 5. Hope you enjoy it ;)