Birch Bay Road Race Results

I had a great time during the race. The weather was good (except for the wind towards the end) and the scenery was beautiful all along the bay and rolling country roads. I will definitely do this race again.

Here are my results:

bib number:	177
age:	41
gender:	F
location:	whoville, BC
overall place:	79 out of 232
division place:	8 out of 28
gender place:	43
time:	1:22:48
pace:	8:54

Here are the photos:

 The horn just sounded and the race has begun. db was taking photos from the side.

 Over the start line. Set your watches.

 And down towards the bay.

 Pretty nice scenery along this mostly flat route.

The pizzeria in Bellingham!

 Inside Rudy's Pizzeria in Bellingham. The post-race meal is almost as important as the pre-race meal.

It's definitely more rewarding. I found Rudy's online and once we saw that they had the delicious Daiya vegan cheese, we headed there for a quick bite.

 Rudy's Pizzeria was big on the mosaics. They were on the walls, the counter, and actually all over Bellingham.

It's a nice little city Bellingham. It felt very arts oriented.

It's not far from the border so we thought while we were in Birch Bay, we might as well head to Bellingham to check out what it has to offer.

The highlights:

Rocket Donuts. The donut shop with the rocket outside and with several vegan options inside. db and I pre-ordered our donuts online to make sure we got everything we wanted.


The Bellingham Community Food Co-op. A nice grocery with lots of those vegan foods and household products that I can't get here in Canada.

Rudy's Pizzeria. The photo of the pizza above says it all. It's a relaxed atmosphere and lots of room at the tables for a big pizza pie. They also have a gluten free crust option that I'll try next time I'm there. To keep it simple we got one pizza on a regular whole wheat crust.

Trader Joe's. This is a larger grocery chain, but some of the deals just can't be beat. db couldn't believe the price of some of the wines. We stocked up on a few staples and got some goodies as well (Luna Bars in flavours I can't get here and for half the price!). Between Trader Joe's and the co-op there's really nowhere else we need to go to shop. 

The size of Bellingham's downtown makes it very easy to walk everywhere. The architecture is made up of a lot of older brick and stonework buildings. With the view of the water and that small city artsy feel, Bellingham is really charming.

After our day there, I think I finally get the cross border shopping madness. There is so much more choice and for less money. I think we'll be getting Nexus passes soon.

Be Prepared

The Girl Guide motto, "be prepared," did not mean much to me as an 11 year old girl. It was just another phrase that we repeated each week along with any other verses we had to learn by heart ("I promise to do my best, to do my duty, to God, the Queen, and my country..." -- that was the verse in the 70s. I sincerely hope they've revised it since).

Well, the Girl Guides would be proud now since I'm about to "be prepared." db and I are putting together an emergency kit so that we're prepared for an earthquake should it occur. 
 
I don't need to tell you what's going on in the news right now, and I'm not going to talk about Japan at all except to say that it has brought home the idea of being prepared for such an event.

I had an emergency kit made up, but I've been pilfering items from it for the last few years. Candles, matches, the first aid kit, flashlight, and even the emergency blanket (took that with me to Portland just in case I didn't have something warm to put on immediately after the race) all have been moved or used at some point. So the kit has been depleted and now we're starting over with a checklist.

The emergency kit will be useful as long as we're home but if we're not then what?  I'm also going to put together a small bag of supplies that I can stash at work just in case (this might include running clothes since I can see myself wanting to run home rather than walk).

So tonight is step 1: we're developing an emergency plan and beginning to assemble our emergency kit.

Is there a Girl Guide badge for this?