Outside Guide

Happy Girls Half Marathon and 5K Run
Sunday May 29
This is the first year of this female-specific Memorial Day weekend run along the Deschutes River to benefit the Kids Center. Also includes a girls 1.5k run and an option for a two-person team. Visit happygirlsrun.com for registration information.
Three Sisters Marathon
Saturday, June 4
Also includes a 5K run/walk and a five-person marathon relay that takes place outside of Redmond. Visit threesistersmarathon.com for registration info.
Heaven Can Wait
Sunday, June 5
A longstanding 5K Walk/Run for Breast Cancer benefiting Sara’s Project that begins in downtown Bend's Drake Park. Visit heavencanwait.org for registration info.

Certain types of people are lone wolves when it comes to running. They prefer to, huff and puff in private. Then there are those who are driven by the pitter-patter of feet running along next to them. For some, group running satisfies a need to chitchat mid-run, and for others being surrounded by other people reminds them of being in a race and pushes them into that faster minute/mile group. No matter what motivates you, there are plenty of groups to join in Bend, on basically every day of the week. Now, there's no excuse for you not to hit the ground running.

Once upon a time, long, long, ago, I was a competitive distance runner. It was 1998, everyone was listening to something called The Backstreet Boys, and I thought that Powerbars were the key to success. My pre-race diet consisted of a bucket-size bowl of pasta and marinara sauce, followed by a purple PowerBar that tasted strongly of children's Tylenol. Two hours before my morning race, I would eat a banana-flavored bar and then run two miles around a track. I credited my race times to my stellar diet, but truth be told, my speed was most likely due to the fact that I was 16.