I had seen the race registration form for the Prineville Superbowl Run at Fleet Feet for the last few years. I was semi-tempted to run it before but the idea of a very, very low key road race on Superbowl Sunday never got the juices flowing quite enough to make the drive out to P-Ville. But, when I woke up on Superbowl Sunday, I knew I wanted to get a long run in and the weather was grey and spitting out some rain. As I sipped through my second cup of coffee and thought, "why not?" So, I put on my shorts, stuffed a few GU's in my pockets and made my way to Norm's Extreme Fitness Gym in Prineville. They were offering a 5, 10, and 20 mile race. While it was very low key, there were more people than I expected to see.
After a little milling around, they shuttled all the participants up to Prineville Dam, where the race was going to weave its way in and out of the Canyon rising out of the Crooked River. All of a sudden, on the drive out, I realized that it was going to be an unbelievably beautiful run. I was all of a sudden very excited as I had zero expectations of the run other than getting in some miles at a quicker pace than I normally would push myself on. Once at the top, we all exited and it was pretty apparent to me that I was most likely going to be running by myself. Barely anyone chose to do the 20 mile run which was fine by me as I just wanted a good training run.
In short, this is an awesome run. Probably one of the prettier road runs I have ever done. You are right next to the Crooked River for about 13 miles, passing camp grounds, fly fishermen, and seeing some great wildlife. There was really no traffic and they had water available every 2.5 miles. They were all unmanned aid stations for the first 10 miles which was fine as I would just pour myself a quick cup of water and hit the road again.
My goal was just to run 6:30 pace and push but not kill myself with the pace as I had a good amount of miles on my legs already for the week. I felt pretty good the entire run and only the last 4 or 5 miles are a bit more boring as they are just along flat farm roads. But, if you are looking for something fun to do on Superbowl Sunday, this definitely exceeded my expectations. Beautiful, rolling course with some flats, downhills, and some good uphills to keep you honest. Upon finishing in 2:07, I had a nice bit bowl of chili and chips. Then, it was time to come home and watch the Superbowl. I want to thank Norm for putting on this fun run. I'll be back to do this one again!
