The Helvetia Half Marathon June 9, 2011
(Half of a Half is still a Half)

'Member when you were young and stupid and you could get up and run 13.1 miles on a whim? Well, now I'm old and stupid and I can't do that any more. Here's the story:

My lovely wife is a runner,and I try to support her any way I can. Every once in a while, I try to accompany her on a half marathon. This year I thought the Helvetia Half Marathon would be fun, so we trundled up to Hillsboro where this little moppet pointed us to a parking space.

Keely is becoming quite well known in the local running scene,and lots of people recognize her. Here she is with Evan of Evan Pilchik Photography, official photographers of the event.

The Helvetia Half ain't Boston or the Marine Corps - the start was pretty informal. The race coordinator's husband did a pretty good job of singing the National Anthem.

The Hillsboro Police Cadets were on hand to direct traffic

That's me in the middle in my A Affordable Bail Bonds T shirt. I wear it ever race.

Up past Helvetia Tavern, where I was known to hoist a few back in my Intel days.

Between miles 4 and 7 are some pretty good hills.

As well as a lovely church

These cows were lined up at the fence, watching the fun, until Keely charged at them and chased 'em off.

Pretty route. It was a little past here that I couldn't stand the pain in my ankles, knees and hips any more. Right at about the 6.5 mile mark. Keely had me try tightening my abdominals and that helped for a little bit, but eventually, I had to walk.

Keely stuck with me, and asked this race volunteer if she had any athletic tape on hand. Having a Physical Therapist as your running partner is a good thing. Alas, the volunteer had no tape (nor staples, either.)

It is really nice, seeing working farms. There were many fields of wheat, grass seed, and this one of red clover. I'm sure they'll all be paved over in a couple years.

The start of the last mile. I'd been hobbling gamely along for 5 and a half miles already, I wasn't about to stop now.

These guys were just outside the finish line at a stadium. I'm always a sucker for a The End is Near sign.

Hooray! Christ, my legs hurt.

Keely and I - see the medal? That's right, even though I walked it, I got a medal. A half of a Half is still a Half.

Nice mob scene at the end. They did a very good job of having places for people to sit, stand, or walk around. All in all, a very well done event.

The payoff was a complementary Helvetia Tavern burger and all the trimmings, and all the Jamba Juice we could drink. Works for me.

Here's a link to my results as recorded by my Garmin. This has us finishing at 2:48, which, surprisingly, is not a Personal Worst for me, even though I walked for more than half of it. Nope, my worst race was the 2007 Disneyland Half Marathon. Go figure.