This. Race. Has. Hills.

I was randomly selected by Gametiime to win free race registration for this race, and so I ended up going in pretty much blindly, without having looked at the course map or elevation. I think I'm glad I skipped that part, because I would've had some serious race-day jitters. FOR A 5K. Seriously?

I should've known, since this race is up in the Issaquah Highlands, a stretch of my town built into a hillside. It's hard to find a flat place to park your bike, let alone get a jog in.

This was a small little race, with about 100 participants in its inaugural year. Packet pickup was day-of for me (something necessitated by the fact that I couldn't make it to the pick-up location after work by 7pm) but it went smoothly because I got there 45 minutes or so before the race began. Parking was at an elementary school, not super well marked, but that might've been because I got there so early no one had marked it, yet?

Portapotties (2) were hanging out right by the start line, and after exchanging niceties with a fellow Gametiimer before the race, it was time to begin! We started at the top of the large hill we'd later have to climb, so the first mile was quick, under 7:30 (which for me is unheard of!). The descent was enough that you can't run all-out for fear of slipping, especially with those fallen autumn leaves on the road.

We curved around a few trails and a nice retention pond, saw bits of the newly built Highlands, and went down ANOTHER hill (you know all I was thinking about was, "I've got to climb UP this later!") before turning around and heading back up to the heavens. That last incline was so steep I honestly had to stop and walk for a few seconds to avoid shutting down my poor overused airway.

Despite the walking, I ended up placing in my age group (thanks to there being 100 runners!) and had a good time celebrating at the end of the race. This one has promise, but should really only be tackled by people who love them some elevation gain.

Glows:
- Technical tee-shirt
- Small race
- Lots of volunteers
- Well marked race route

Grows:
- Not many sponsors/cool freebies/booths
- Holy elevation climb. 483 feet!