The travel chaos of Summer 2022 (increased consumer demand for “revenge travel” after two summers of the pandemic, as well as airline staffing issues) resulted in us having to fly into Portland, Oregon a day earlier than planned, but it ultimately worked out best for us. We arrived on Friday evening and drove down to Eugene on Saturday afternoon after we enjoyed a morning run along the Marine Drive bike path by the Columbia River. Our first stop once we arrived in Eugene was to pick up our race packets at the Riverfront Festival for our 5k the next morning. Then, we walked over to Hayward Field to scope out the action of Day 2 of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. We were surprised by the long lines of people waiting to enter the stadium for the evening session and how freely the athletes decked in their nation’s colors were walking around amongst the crowds.
We soon discovered the secret to getting into popular eateries near the stadium – go when there is an event happening at Hayward! We practically had McMenamins East 19th Street Café to ourselves for dinner and followed that up with no line at Prince Puckler’s Ice Cream. Two thumbs up for Red Raspberry Cheesecake – yum!
With full bellies, we walked over to McArthur Court on the other side of Hayward to pick up my volunteer accreditation and uniform that I would need the following week- thanks to Asics for all of the great gear!
With an early call time for the next morning’s action, it was off to bed!
We queued up early outside Autzen Stadium to watch the start of the Men’s Marathon on Sunday morning.
Then, we took our own start in the ASICS Uplift Oregon 5K just two minutes after the men took off. We followed in their footsteps, albeit at a much slower pace. Our race had a firm time cutoff to ensure that we were off our (shorter) course by the time that the championship runners passed through to start their 2nd of 3 loops. I enjoyed the opportunity to run with one of my BAnna Camp 2022 roommates from Ohio, and I even got cheers from my run buddy back in Austin who was spectating on the course with her husband. It was a very fun atmosphere to run a 5k! After watching the men pass by for their 2nd loop, we watched the race unfold from the big screens in the Finish Line Festival (and, we spotted Olympian Deena Kastor doing the same!).
Once the race was over (Tola – Eth, Geremew – Eth, and Abdi – Bel took the medals with Rupp as the top US finisher in 19th), we got ready for an afternoon on the water. We drove out to McKenzie Bridge, about an hour east of Eugene/Springfield, for some Class II+ rafting on the Wild & Scenic McKenzie River. Given our other rafting exploits, I wasn’t expecting more than splashy water with beautiful scenery. However, the rapids served up a few more adventurous moments which made it a good time overall. Then, it was back to Eugene to meet up for dinner with the Dallas girls who had arrived that afternoon and who we would be staying with later in the week. Lodging options were obviously quite limited and expensive throughout the Championships.
The Women’s Marathon on Monday morning kicked off Day 4 of the World Championships, and my group of women were here for it!
With greater hopes for the American women to perform well, we were all excited to see our U.S. ladies on course throughout the morning. When a lead pack of international athletes took it out hard from the start, the US women worked together close behind, often rallying for cheers from the crowd as they passed by on their home turf. While the athletes were running their first loop, I ran out and back on the course, and it was great to see the excitement from so many fans who lined the course.
With a new Championship record being set by Gebreslase of Ethiopia (breaking the previous record set by Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain in 2005) and the U.S. women placing 5th (Hall), 7th (Bates), and 8th (D’Amato), it was quite a day for women’s marathoning! And, I was so happy to be there to witness it!