Run With Paula Newsletter –Summer Edition
by Bryan Westby

The adidas Helvetia Half Marathon and Drop Top 10K brought summer early this year with another awesome event. The volunteers were enthusiastic, and the aid stations were loud and friendly. At the Groveland aid station, Red Lizard volunteers fueled their hydration-assisting abilities with doughnuts, with the Douginator winning the Krispy Kreme eating contest 6-5 over Joe Dude Man. And for the Portland Fit and Vancouver Fit volun-cheers, they were loud enough to be heard about a half mile away, at the start. Great job PFit and VFit-ers! You’re Half-way to the marathon. Over 3,000 participated in this year’s award-winning, rolling country road race festivities.

The 2008 Run Like a Girl, brought to you by Montrail and Portland Running Company, was July 13th on Portland’s famous single-track trails of Forest Park. This year the race was a 10k instead of an 8k, giving you more miles at no extra cost. Great job girlz! There were some speedy performances up those hills. The Forest Park Conservatory (formerly Friends of Forest Park) is the local beneficiary, set to receive $5,000 for trail maintenance, plus 250 hours of volunteer trail work. On the national end, Montrail is able to donate $20,000 to the Hera Women’s Cancer Foundation through their Run Like a Girl series in Portland, Chesterfield, Pasadena and Boston.
More Run Like a Girl sponsors include Jamba Juice, Luna Bar, Athena Water, Nuun Active Hydration, Sunrise Bagels, Women’s Adventure Magazine, 107.5, Competitor NW Magazine, and Back In Motion Sports Injuries Clinic. Back In Motion has long been a neighbor of Portland Running Company on Scholls. 

And, start planning now for the Tualatin Crawfish Festival, featuring the ClubSport Crawfish Crawl 5k. The race starts at 8:00am Saturday, August 9th , and this flat and fast course now even better, using the new pedestrian overpass from Tualatin City Park to Durham City Park and Cook Park. The majority of the course is on a closed bike path.  The Tualatin Commons Lake provides a refreshing and festive start/finish area. After the race, enjoy the pancake breakfast, watch the parade, dog show, remote control boat demonstration, and skateboard demonstration, take a ride in a kayak, or compete in the crawfish eating contest. The nation’s oldest crawfish festival has even more stuff to see and do, and the theme this year is…Crawfish of the Carribean! How can you go wrong with pirates? Good galleywag – it’s fun for the whole family!