Resolution 2010: Race 4--Easter

My Easter run presented the biggest challenge of the N.Y.R. for me for one very simple fact...there aren't really any Easter weekend races out there.  For that matter, I was having trouble finding any races the weekend before or after that were anywhere close to me.  I finally lucked out and located the Skagit Valley Tulip Run, which is part of the Annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

I was excited about the possibility of running among all the beautiful flowers, but I was a little apprehensive about the fact that I was going to have a 2 hour drive that Sunday morning in order to get to the race, then run 5 miles, then drive 2 hours home.  In the end however, I had to get a run in, so I decided to suck it up and do what I had to do in order to run the race.  So I woke up bright and ugly at 6am on my day off, got into my running gear, hopped in my car, and drove the 2 hours up to Burlington.  I was tired for sure, but I got more and more excited about the prospect of running through vast fields of tulips as I drove past all the beautiful scenery.

The gorgeous flowers were calling to me, and I was ready to answer with a great run...

..because, the silly, logical, math-minded person that I am, I assumed (and yes I know what they say about what happens when you assume) that a "Tulip Run" meant that you would run near the tulips...

...however, I quickly found out as I got my number and timing chip at the packet pick-up table that not only wouldn't we be running through the tulip fields, but we wouldn't even get the slightest glimpse of them on the ENTIRE run!!!

The run instead took us around the tiny airport and through the woods for a portion of the race...not exactly what I would call a scenic, tulip run (they really shouldn't be allowed to advertise this as a 'tulip run' in my opinion if you don't get to see a single friggin' tulip along the entire course...but what do I know?!).  But hey, I was there, I was registered, it was a gorgeous day, and most importantly, I was getting my "Easter Race" done.  So I got up to the starting area with the rest of the 5-milers, the gun went off, and away we went.  This was my first encounter with "trail racing" for part of a run, as a portion of the course meandered through the woods around the airport, which I actually ended up enjoying.  It took a little getting used to, as I was used to running on even ground, and I pretty much had to stare at my feet the entire time to make sure that I didn't trip and fall on my face or break an ankle, but otherwise, the experience wasn't all that bad.  I crossed the finish line with a time of 47:34 (which averages out to be around a 9:30 mile pace) and ended up right in the middle of the pack, placing 355th out of the total 669 people who ran.

For my first ever partial trail race, I didn't do too bad, so even though I didn't get to see any tulips along the run, I was pretty happy.  And I ended up with a very colorful shirt out of the deal...

...although, again, I'm going to mention one more time that you shouldn't get to put a tulip on the shirt if the runners don't see any freaking tulips along the course! (Wow, you'd have thought I'd have gotten over that by now...apparently not!)  On the way home, I thought about stopping by the actual Tulip Festival so that I could at least claim to have seen some tulips that day, but with a 2 hour drive ahead of me, and a 5 mile run behind me, all I really wanted to do was get home so I could take a much deserved nap!

Have you ever experienced a big disappointment at/during a race?