On August 10, my hubby Bill and I traveled 45 minutes south from our son’s house in Corvallis through the farm country of Central Oregon to Junction City to run the Scandia Run 5K. Our son Rob graciously volunteered to be our driver, jacket-holder, guide, and photographer.

The Scandia Run is part of a Scandinavian Heritage festival held each year in Junction City. Streets are closed to make room for stands selling Scandinavian foods and crafts, and Scandinavian music fills the air. Modern-day Vikings in horned helmets stroll the streets with women dressed in traditional Scandinavian attire.

My race plan, if you could call it that, was to run comfortably hard, rather than pedal to the metal and I followed that plan very easily. The 5K race course was almost completely pancake-flat (and I mean the American version of flapjacks, not the round Scandinavian “aebelskivers” given to race-goers before by the run). We quickly ran outside of town, into the surrounding farmland.

As the first mile marker came into view, I felt great, better than I have felt during a race in…well in a long time. I almost didn’t trust the feeling and wondered when the slow down would come, but I resolved to enjoy the effortless feeling of being in control and pressed on.

At the midway point of the race, we did a quick turn-around and headed back toward town. I was still feeling really good at the second mile marker and decided to increase my speed very slightly.

To read the rest of the review, please go here:
https://meditationsinmotion.wordpress.com/2019/08/15/the-scandia-run-race-report/