2021 Elwha Bridge 5K Race Report

In 2020, the Elwha Bridge 5K was the last in-person event we were able to attend. Sadly -- obviously, only a minor sadness compared to the world's worth of sadness in 2020 -- the other four races in the series had to be virtual events. Still, we we so impressed by the organization, planning, and, yes, the swag that we signed up for the Run The Peninsula series again in 2021. I mean, look at this year's medals!

As things are looking up, this race was permitted to be held in person. But -- and this is our discomfort -- we weren't ready to run with even a small number of heavy breathers. (Ourselves included.) So despite having already booked the hotel in Port Angeles again, we decided to participate virtually. 

The RD was very understanding, and let us swap our registrations to virtual events, and even shipped us our swag early to make sure we'd have it on time. See, we had decided that we still wanted and deserved a weekend away -- just a very isolated one. 

So on Friday afternoon we packed up and headed out. We made the first ferry, and even got across the Hood Canal Bridge with no trouble. We were a little sad not to be given an upstairs room at the hotel, but turns out the top floor was being renovated, so we didn't have upstairs neighbors anyway!

We ordered some food for takeout, then came back to the room, listened to music, watched random TV, and ate in bed. Bliss!

We got up early in the morning -- a nice but chilly day. We put on our running gear walked out of the front of the hotel, and ran eastward along the Olympic Discovery Trail. The sun was just coming up and we had the trail nearly to ourselves -- during our entire run we encountered a total of 11 other people, and were able to stay distant from them all. 

We set our watches for 3.1 miles, and ran and walked until we hit the distance. You can tell I did run -- my glasses were steamed up!

Note that we're both wearing our RTP buffs; part of the swag from this event. Oh, and of course we carried our medals with us for our finisher pic!

As I said before, the swag was fun and useful: the custom buff, no-tie shoelaces, and a luggage tag. 

And, yes, this very cute medal. 

Sure, it was, for us, only a virtual run. But we have such good memories of last year that I felt like it still deserved a proper race report. 

We spent the rest of the weekend in our cozy hotel room, going for walks along the trail, finally climbing up that viewing tower on the pier, and enjoying the different scenery.

The next race in the series is scheduled for April 24, in Sequim. I don't hold a lot of hope that we'll have been vaccinated by then, so we will probably run this remotely, too. We'll see. I think we'll still head over to the peninsula for a little R&R!

Elwha River Bridge 5K

42:30

13:41 pace