This weekend was the inaugural Beat the Blerch Race weekend in Carnation, WA. Carnation is a small town, about 35 minutes outside Seattle. According to the Beat the Blerch website, the course began at Tolt MacDonald Park, and it’s a beautiful flat, out-and-back course that winds its way through evergreen, mossy forests along the Snoqualmie valley trail. Near the starting line of the race are strawberry farms and pumpkin patches. There was the choice of a 10k, half marathon, or marathon to run. This race was so popular, it sold out real fast!! I didn’t get a chance to register for it. They later offered the virtual option and I jumped on it. I’m happy that they offered it because the swag was worth it. It came with an awesome Blerch medal! There were stickers, cupcake lip balm, gummy bears, and a cute Blerch stress ball! If you haven’t heard of the Blerch, he is a funny fat little cherub that represents all the negative thoughts one has. You need to check out the comics by the Oatmeal HERE.

I like the magnet, lol!

Included was also a race bib and a nice green race shirt! Here are more pics of the swag:

Hahaha funny distance sticker:

I ran the virtual race today and it was a great day to run in Oregon! I had a pretty good run. It was nice to run the race at my leisure and not have to get up early to run. Here I am after finishing the 10k with my medal.

My stats:

I think it would be fun to run at the real event next year. There was birthday cake at all the aid stations, Nutella and magical grape beverages. I saw some posts about there being actual Blerches, couches and a Sasquatch at the event. How fun would that be to to see Blerches and literally Beat the Blerch?