Where the Magic Came From

And now, for all the fun things in Eugene where I didn’t wear a bib or have Clif Shot caked to my face.

An homage to everyone/thing that made HugeEug Part 2 everything I dreamt it’d be (& much much more)…

• These Girls; for being the easiest-to-get-along-with roommates equally dedicated to running hard and celebrating hard – and for falling asleep after me if any of you snore

kelli, robyn, sad kristina, me, meghan, sweaty

• Oiselle; for making this group of strangers feel like sisters, and supporting our sport so whole-heartedly

sophia getting a mile 9 five, lots of birds at Ninkasi post-race celebratin’ (source, source)

• (related) Oiselle Cheer Squad; for brightening up the hardest parts of the course with your endless energy – teammates, friends-of-friends, and anyone with an easy-to-read name on their bib “yeah, Joe! go orange shorts!” 

mile 16 – bubbles, cowbells, chicken hats, (unpictured) banana suit – (source)

• Em & Meghan; for your inspirational pints & planks performances, and for cheering your absolute hearts out even though I know both of you would’ve KILLED to have traded your cowbells for timing chips

yes, we ARE all impressed with the sideplank cowbell (source, source)

• Pro Compression; for letting me hang out in the booth a while and for making the perfect orange sock to match my singlet

code “BLG13” for 40% off  + free s/h on any marathon sock or sleeve

• Every person that said hi (or shouted during the race), for being so nice and making feel super cool. Also thanks for not making fun of how I sound in person. Loved putting so many @____’s with faces and hearing race reports instead of reading them! Oh and sorry to grey-shirt-girl-at-mile-16, who I yelled “I told you NOT to wear that shirt!” at… I hope you had a great race!

thanks for taking our picture, courtney <– new BQ’er, btw

• Nuun; for hydrating so many runners/cheerers/boozers to all-around PR-caliber weekends

if it’s good enough for a 3:17 marathoner, it’s good enough for me (tell K you want a guest post about her race!)

• (related) Mason; for another year of perfectly executed and SERIOUSLY HOW WERE YOU IN ALL OF THOSE PLACES AT ONCE magical pacing duties for so many. I suspect you’re already getting requests for 2014…

with Molly at mile 16 en route to a killer PR (source)

• The Internet; for “introducing” so many rad people, and for making this group shakeout run on Pre’s Trail happen (& Robyn the former native for guiding us bc I fa shur would’ve gotten us lost)

Pre’s Trail with new running friends – can this be every Saturday, please!? (source)

• (related) House 2; for hosting the pre-race carb fest

Corey, Steph, Molly, Laura, Holly, and Allison

• Lauren Fleshman; for being an inspiration to women and runners everywhere, and taking the Oiselle “boob heat” off me for a sec.

she has like, national records, and stuff. and a baby growing inside of her. and obvs I think we’re BFFs now. oiselle bio

• Meggie & Jocelyn; for being the funniest little glitter tattoo Mary Kate & Ashley twins and providing endless entertainment

Or as that guy on the course says – “Thank you for being YOU!” (cc: Holly and Monica)

• Picky Bars; for the awesome post race party and not unsubscribing my club membership after spilling IPA all over your tablecloth.   * p.s. The new flavor is coming! Success! Pre-order/back HERE if you want some

Steph you’re so cute and no that’s not the speed goggles talking (source)

• ALL OF THE OREGON BREWERIES; for providing so many delicious liquid carbs, the premium fuel in which OUaL runs best on

some of the Day 1 haul

• (related, sort of) The VooDoo Donut worker, for “donating” that late night we’re-lost-trying-to-find-our-car-but-hey!-here’s-voodoo!-let’s-go-in! snack when I didn’t know it was cash only and only had card

whatever it was you let my no-cash-carrying mouth have was delicious (source)

• Verizon; for honoring an early upgrade so I can replace my nuun-soaked dead iphone

until then ol’ Flippy and I are getting our T9word on

• My Photo Memory (ok, w Mason’s help); for memorizing the course map and clocking 13.09 miles garmin distance (NO I’m not claiming the course was “short”, I’m claiming I ran fucking awesome tangents)

• And the biggest ‘thank you’ to Kristina; for being the best training partner, travel buddy, and friend. Running that last 1/4 mi with you into the chute was probably the best part of my weekend. I’m so proud of you and can’t wait to see what you do now that you actually know how damn fast you are. And I’m tearing up again…

(source, source, source)

And thank you everyone from HugeEug, for unknowingly letting me steal all of these photos.

Have a nice weekend – good luck to everyone racing, long running, cinco de mayo’ing, whatever!

Sarah OUaL