Date: January 18, 2024 Location: Vancouver, WA Distance: 10k Chip Time: 1:08:14 Pace: 10:58/mi
New year, new races. We’ll start with where my 2023 race extravaganza began, the Race for Warmth in Vancouver. The biggest difference besides me running a 10k instead of a 5k is the weather. Last year it was around 21°F at start time; this year it was more like 50°F. Because of that, however, I wore fewer layers (just the race shirt and shorts) and was still just as cold. I also forgot to anti-chafe the nips before the race and I just need to remind me, and remind you: ANTI-CHAFE YER NIPS.
I know last year I talked about swag and atmosphere and all that but I barely thought about that at all for this run, which is probably a good thing. Atmosphere was great, people seemed chill and eager for the first race of 2024 (well, for some of us at least). The only swag I retrieved was free coffee–Relevant Coffee in Vancouver was giving out hot coffee and free cans of cold brew. They gave me two after the race and they were both delicious. Good work.
As for the race itself, you can see from the image above that my splits were kind of weird. I went off too fast as usual, and probably would’ve had more even splits if I had just slowed down. But I wanted to get a sub-60 10k and my PR is 1:02, so I knew it was possible. But not a week after I basically didn’t run for an entire week because of the snow/ice storm! Come on man!
I do find it interesting that after the 3rd mile I bumped up into a new positive split, like I had hit Stage 2 of my run or something. But I certainly did not have enough in the tank for a PR-worthy run at all. I had run fast at parkrun the day before too, which likely didn’t help. It was a tough 10k, a lot of bits of walking and my legs were tired by the first half. With that in mind, 1:08 is surprisingly good and I hope is a solid indicator of my fitness progress for 2024. I didn’t fuel during the run, though I did eat an hour beforehand. I think I would’ve done a bit better if I had gotten a gel or something in me right before the race, though.
Oh and I did stop momentarily to take a picture of a rainbow. 🌈
little bby rainbow
Afterwards there was music and a little bit of soup, and people giving away Celsius drinks. I swear I’ve never seen Celsius out in the wild; I’ve only seen it at races where people give me one for free. How do they make money?
I did drive directly to Safeway after the race so I could buy food, because I was ravenous and a small bowl of soup, albeit good soup, was not enough. I was also craving Goldfish crackers. There’s nothing like walking into a grocery store looking and smelling all disheveled from a 10k race.
There shouldn’t be a lot of these race recaps this year. Last year I spent over $1,000 on races, which is insane. I’ve got a few lined up this year but nothing like 2023. I’ll save my money and run parkruns instead.
The next race I have planned is the Shamrock Run half marathon, though I may sign up for something in February. We’ll see! Until then.
Well. This was a rough one. My last race of 2023, the finale of my mission to run run run run run, and this one was … not it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m proud that I finished it. I just thought I had more in me.
Pre-Race
There was a lot going on in my life prior to running this thing. The most egregious being my car, which was broken into about a week prior. A lot more stress than usual. And then, my company’s holiday party was the night before the run. I had planned to go, not drink, sing a karaoke song, and then leave. I didn’t want to go. Turnover at my office is so bad that I don’t know who is who anymore. I don’t remember anyone’s names, because I only see them in emails. So I can’t put names to faces. I guess this is partially my fault for working at home, but still.
I ended up bailing because I just wasn’t feeling it. I also hung out with friends at an arcade in Vancouver a few days prior, and then one of my friends revealed later that he had gotten covid after we hung out, which didn’t help matters. The first time I got covid, it was last year, at the company holiday party. The last thing I wanted to do was GIVE people covid the next year! (Note: I don’t have covid. I tested and all that.)
Anyway, a lot going on, but I ended up staying home and getting to bed at a good hour. Slept fine, woke up, got all my stuff together. It was super rainy so I did something Incredibly Smart: I put big band-aids over my nipples. This was the best idea I’ve ever had (that I stole from someone on YouTube, I’m sure). Had plenty of layers on so no one was like, “Hey, look at that guy over there! He clearly has band-aids over his nipples! Let’s get him!”
I wore three layers (short sleeve, long sleeve, pullover, all athletic of course) and that was a bad idea, but it wasn’t terrible. I also wore a beanie–the pullover and beanie were both Boise State apparel, and at one aid station some kid was like, “Go Broncos” and I made phonemes that may have sounded like words but were really just me attempting to speak while my body was actively fighting me.
I had three Clif bars and I ate one in the morning. My pre-run fueling isn’t great generally so I was trying to fix that. I think it helped, but not as much as I had hoped. More on that later.
Drove to the spot where the shuttle buses were. I’m glad I got on a bus (they were free) but it did not help at all, because traffic was still bad. I think we spent 30-40 minutes trying to get to a place that was 5 minutes away, but if I had driven there it would’ve been even longer. I realized on the bus that I had forgotten A) my water bottle, and B) my gloves. The latter was fine, but the former made me nervous, because I had no hydration now other than fueling stations. Foot Traffic is trying to go cupless for their events, too, so I felt bad grabbing cups every aid station.
Pre-race face.
Atmosphere
The area was very well set up. Everyone was soaked because it was raining like crazy. There were TWO different coffee vendors. Two! Probably a genius move so people don’t get stuck in long lines, but it also felt like a double booking. Two big tents, one for food and one for beer. Tents in these things always feel so weird. It’s like, you walk in, there’s food, there’s sponsor tables with the gaudiest kitsch splayed out that you’ll grab and then throw away a week later (c.f. my first few months this year). Then, standing tables. I don’t know, it just seems so … I don’t know. I wish I was a better writer so I could make a witty comparison.
Speaking of food, there were a couple of options. A lot of few options, if that makes sense. They had like five big plates full of bagels, but no cream cheese, and the bagels weren’t even cut. Naturally, nobody ate the bagels. We know how bagels work, and this is not how they work, so we avoided them. No bananas, either. I was surprised by that. No fruit at all from what I could tell. A little disappointing, I love eating an orange wedge after a run.
The Race
So, right up front, I was disappointed in my performance for this race. I think you can see why from the pace graph above. From about the halfway point onward, I could not get my shit together. I started out in the 2:15 pacer group, and honestly thought I could keep up with them, or at least still have them in my sights by the end. But boy was I wrong.
At the start of the run, there was a big puddle. A street-sized puddle. Most people ran around it, I ran through it. I had one of those “oh shit” moments where I remembered the rule to never drive through standing water, cause you don’t know how deep it is. I was worried that I would step through a sinkhole and break my leg. I didn’t. But I could have!
The first 3 miles were business as usual. The course started with a pretty big incline, but I powered through it. Then, as you can see, the rest of the first half of the course was a gradual decline. Easy peasy. But, since I had forgotten my water bottle, I had to use aid stations for water. This meant stopping to drink, because while I wanted to go fast, I also thought it would be fine to walk for a few seconds while drinking water. This wasn’t my downfall, by the way, it’s just an annoyance.
You can see that basically by the halfway point, my tolerance for running was coming to an end. I walked a lot. I didn’t realize at the time that the course was now going uphill. (I didn’t notice the elevation change that much other than the big incline/decline at the start, really.) So a lot of my fatigue could be attributed to that.
Regardless, I hit some kind of wall pretty damn hard around mile 9. That was the mile where I thought, “I’m never doing this again.” I had run all these races over the past year, grew so much as a runner, but in the end, I think 10k is my upper in terms of pushing myself. I could be wrong–I’ll probably completely flip on this in a couple of months–but it just doesn’t seem worth it. You ultrarunners and marathoners can keep it. I’ll stick around here, in the 30-60 minute running range.
So, mile 9 through to the end is a blur of running and walking. A lot of do-si-dos with other runners who are doing run/walk cycles. I feel like this would be a great time to get to know people, if we weren’t all actively dying.
Then, thankfully, gracefully, the end of the course was downhill. I had absolutely nothing left in the tank, but I was able to push myself a bit heading downhill. You can see my pace pick up. I was also running by the Adidas store and I didn’t want it to judge me. Sorry I’m running in Saucony’s, Adidas! But even the downhill wasn’t enough, and I kept slowing to a walk. I did manage to push myself through the final 10th of a mile though.
So: disappointed. My time was 11 minutes slower than I wanted. I just couldn’t hang on to my energy levels, which were dipping faster than I could replenish them. I’m proud of myself for finishing and for only being a couple of minutes slower than my previous half, but I still wish I was better than the last one, you know? It felt like my progress has dwindled a bit lately.
Post-race face.
Post-Race
Standing tables and uncut bagels. Delicious hot cider. A Rogue pilsner I drank too fast. A lot of those heat radiator things, like you see outside restaurants, but none of them worked. People handing out Celsius energy drinks. Do people even buy those things? I’ve only ever gotten them for free.
The wildest thing was that nobody was handing out medals. Instead, the medals were just on a table, all the different course lengths, and people were rummaging through them like a bargain bin at Goodwill. It was a very strange sight, all these exhausted people pawing through metals and lanyards. Oh, and the paint on the medals was peeling. That seemed like a bigger faux pas to me.
I went through the lines, got the drinks, got the foods (except the bagels, which were Incorrect), then got on the shuttle bus and went home.
And that’s 2023 folks. That’s the end of my race year. Started absolutely freezing, ended absolutely drenched. What a wild New Years resolution.
My itinerary next year has FAR fewer races planned, mostly because I would go bankrupt if I did this a second year in a row. But there will be some surprises, I’m sure.
Since I am running a straight blog.joshbelville.com/ site now, I backed up my old site but forgot to make a proper .xml export of my WordPress posts there. So I have them … in strange, obscure SQL format that I don't want to spent time trying to extract.
That means I’ve got a couple of race reports that are lost, so I figured I’d just do a recap of the month in general.
Mileage
Running: 100.31 miles Walking: 25.40 miles
Happy to surpass the 100 mile mark. I don’t know if I’ll be doing that again anytime soon, to be honest, unless the Holiday Half pushes me over the line. I’m also fine with fewer walking miles. I really only got to 25 because I was logging every time I went to the store.
Turkey Trots
I only ran two races in November, and both were turkey trots. The first was a rematch at Portland International Raceway with the Hood to Coast 5k there. That was at night and was very cold. It felt colder than last year.
My chip time was 32:33 but that was for 3.34 miles, which the course absolutely is, because I double checked on Google maps. Regardless I really felt good on this run and was going at a nice clip for the first two miles.
The second one was the next morning and was the ORRC Turkey Trot. This was a four mile run at the Oregon Zoo. It started rather abruptly, which was very fun, and the first half was very downhill, with the second half running up that hill (cue Kate Bush here). It was tough, especially after running fast the night before. But we did get to see some mountain goats chilling out at the entrance. My time was 50:31 but it was a fun run and I was dying going back up the hills.
parkruns
Three parkruns this month, #s 31-33. Nothing spectacular about any of them, really. I was running them slowly due to my Garmin Coach half marathon training. 11/18 was college themed for gameday or something like that, I don’t know, but I repped Boise State because A) I had some BSU clothing and B) I don’t have any Portland State gear.
Garmin Coach
Lastly, I signed up for a half marathon training plan through Garmin Coach, using Coach Amy. This was more or less a bad idea. It wasn’t terrible, but she did bump my “easy” pace to a 10:55/mi average, making all of my runs a little more difficult and basically preventing any of them from falling into my actual Zone 2 easy run heart rate. I’ve since stopped the training plan, but that happened in December so I technically can’t talk about it on this post.
That was it for November! The only race I have in December is the Holiday Half, which I will of course recap here in ye olde blog. Until then!
Well, it finally happened. On January 1 of this year I decided to write out a list of New Years resolutions, a last ditch sort of thing as I oftentimes find resolutions to be difficult to keep and so what’s the point of writing them. But I did, and the very first resolution I wrote was “Run a half marathon (and/or a 5k every month).” The first half was a pipe dream, really; I wrote it because I knew it was a great challenge, but also a challenge that was a little out of my wheelhouse. But these are resolutions, not the Ten Commandments; you write stuff down, some of it doesn’t stick, and that’s okay.
Then, I started running 5ks and got into parkrun and my running life spiraled out of control. In a good way, I mean. If you count parkrun, by April I had run 14 different events, including four 5ks (or three 5ks and one 3 miler, stupid Couve Clover Run). It was somewhere in April that I got an email from the Portland Marathon stating that their prices were about to go up. I was feeling confident and decided to sign up.
Now, I’ve run the damn thing, finally, four months later. How did it go?
Well … good. And bad. But mostly good!
Pre-Race
The night before I packed my drop bag with all the necessities. Anti-chafe? Check. Towel for my sweaty face afterward? Check. Change of clothes? Check.
Then, it was off to bed at 9pm for a fitful night of sleep. I thought I slept like shit but Garmin says I did fine. Agree to disagree.
In the morning I got up, did the prerequisite toilet time, ate half a PB & honey sandwich, and started the trek to the venue. It’s always weird to walk through the industrial district (inner eastside Portland) in the dark. What was weirder though is that as I was getting closer to the Hawthorne Bridge, I could hear some thumping EDM music coming from a building, and for a moment I wondered if it was some club that was having an all night rave party or something. But I think it was just people setting up to cheer for the race. I think.
Got to the place. A ton of porta potties. A Lollapalooza-level of toilets. Did the Pre-Race Poop, took off my warm clothes, put all my gels in the pockets of my running shorts, gave the poor harried women in the drop bag tent my bag, and then headed to the race starting point. Marathoners were on the south side of Salmon St, half marathoners were on the north side.
Didn’t do any running warmup, just some dynamic stretches and stuff like that. I wanted to save my energy for the run itself.
Atmosphere
The energy of the crowd was pretty great. Weirdly enough, there were fewer registrants for this race than for the Shamrock Run. Only 6,680 finishers and I think a hundred or so DNFs. I’m pretty sure Shamrock had over 10,000 runners. (Which is also low for Shamrock, historically.) I know everyone’s leaving Portland because we’re full of drug users and Crime™, but apparently the people who left were all runners.
The vibe of this run was somewhat formal. It felt like a proper running event, as opposed to the Foot Traffic Flat, which felt like some runners getting together to have a good time. My quarter marathon at the Flat ended in front of somebody’s big farm house. However, the vibe between the west side of Portland and the east side for this run couldn’t be more different. West side we ran through downtown a bit and then down Naito Parkway, a big fancy street. Then it was Macadam, which is also a big street for lots of cars and such. There were homes but they were over there.
Then we crossed the Sellwood Bridge, which was beautiful and I wish I had taken a photo of the view. We were then in east Portland, running through neighborhood, with houses and people! It was very nice. Lastly, we ran through the inner eastside industrial district I mentioned earlier, which was pretty bleh except for the small bit we ran on the eastside Esplanade, by OMSI. I’ve run that route a bunch and it’s nice, though I do kind of wish we had kept going up the Esplanade cause it runs right on the water.
Then we were back downtown with the big tall buildings. Lots of different Portland vibes!
The Race
Not sure how to talk about distance races like these yet. As you can see from the above image, my pace was fairly stable through the first eight miles. Coincidentally, eight miles is the longest distance I had run before the half. Are those two things related? Probably.
What’s more the culprit of the second half of the … half, is fueling. I’ve read and watched a bunch on proper fueling for a long run but one thing nobody tells you about it is how much it sucks. It really sucks to ingest food while you are running, even if it’s energy gels.
Basically my fueling plan was what it says on the Gu energy gel packet: take one five minutes before the start, and then every 45 minutes afterward. I was also drinking LIV hydration lemon lime flavor powder stuff. This was mixed into my handheld water bottle. The powder packet says to mix it with 16 oz of water. My water bottle was only 12 oz, so the hydration was a little more concentrated than it should’ve been. Also, 12 oz is too small for me for this distance. I didn’t finish my water in the bottle but I would’ve preferred to have 16oz that was better diluted.
So, the fuel was the hydration powder + 3 Gu energy gels. Strawberry banana and 2x raspberry lemonade. Took one before the race started and it was fine. Took another 45 min in and it was okay. Took my 3rd one at 1:30 and basically started feeling nauseous from that point onward. It felt like I had a bunch of blobs of goo in my stomach, which was true, and my stomach was like “What the fuck is this? What am I supposed to do with this?”
In hindsight, I think I took too many gels. I just feel like nutrition advice with these types of things is geared toward skinny, fitter athletes. Like, maybe you need a Gu every 30-45 minutes if you’re running a 7 minute mile and you weigh 130lbs. For me, it just felt like too much. Plus the sloshing of hydration water … it was all too much.
As you can tell from the above diagram, I walked a lot from mile 8 onward. Way more than I wanted to, but every time I started running my stomach would feel a little … lurchy. I listened to my body and settled down a bit, which helped, but which also wrecked my A Goal time and even my sub-2:20 time goal. Ah well.
The east side of the run also had some surprise hills, including one fairly steep “fuck off” hill that I feel like most of us walked. It was also around that hill that I saw Jenny Conlee, the keyboardist of the Decemberists, playing an accordion for the crowd. That was nice!
So, the big takeaway of this is nutrition and fueling during the run. Something I could’ve trained for months ago but decided to eat M&Ms and drink Powerade instead. Which wasn’t bad! But running long distance at a tempo pace makes it nearly impossible for me to chew food. Could’ve walked; didn’t. But then I did. A lot. So I don’t fuckin’ know, folks.
Once I hit 13 miles, the marathon app told me that I was right about at 2:29 and that I was projected to finish at like 2:29:56. So I hauled ass to the finish line, or at least it felt like I did. I saw a video a friend of mine took close to the finish line and I look like I am running to the bathroom. C’est la vie!
One more thing: anti-chafe. It did me good. My nipples are fine, my inner thighs are fine. The only thing that hurts are my legs and the middle of my upper back, which is weird.
Post-Race
the banan kiss my medal
Just a shit-ton of goodies. Food and drinks and a free Voodoo doughnut and a beer. Ran into friends and chatted. There was an alpaca that I forgot to pet. Really great stuff. I (thankfully) didn’t feel too damaged from the run. My legs hurt, yes, but not too bad. Maybe I will change my tune tomorrow morning.
Also just wanted to mention that the Portland Marathon had the best safety pins I’ve ever used. They were quality! Probably brand new, which, okay, bad for the environment, but man they were nice.
I walked home after chatting with friends, which was an adventure on its own. Nothing like running a long distance and then walking some more. Though I did meet a guy while traversing the Hawthorne Bridge who had run the full marathon and was straight up hobbling. Guy looked wrecked. In good spirits though. Such is the way with marathons, I guess.
And that’s that. My first half marathon. Would I do it again? … Well …
I signed up for the Holiday Half in December. Did that a while ago, but always with the intention of downgrading it to a 5 or 10k if this half really sucked.
Right now, I don’t have an answer. This was tough, and while I do like to push myself, I don’t feel a need to do it with distance. The idea of running a full marathon sounds like shit right now. To run another half?…
We’ll see. Give me a week.
The next race is the ORRC Dual Duel, which is supposed to be a relay run but they have a 10k solo option which is what I’m doing. In two weeks! It’s just doing laps around a track as far as I know. I think, perhaps, that I’ve gone insane.
Busy weekend! Just a quick parkrun overview: official time was 31:03. Didn’t really have a plan per se, but decided to giveit a good ol’ college try. My ultimate goal was to run kind of hard but not hard enough to completely destroy my body for the Sunday 5k. And in the end it worked out; my average pace was 10:00/mi and I actually achieved negative splits due to the first half being uphill. Once I hit the turnaround I decided to really hoof it and see what I could do going downhill. So 10:19, 10:01, and 9:50 were my mile paces, and once I hit the last bench (my little milestone post which also happens to be about .10 of a mile to the end I think), I pushed myself hard. 8:11 was my pace at the end. Pushing but not too much.
Then, I went to the corn maze at the Pumpkin Patch with my friend Missy. I got in for free because of my pass that I got for running the Foot Traffic Flat! Huzzah!
In case you were wondering if I was in love with pumpkin pie: I am, and we are very happy together.
We successfully navigated the corn maze and then I went home and then I went out for a friend’s birthday party. Had a couple of drinks, which I don’t recommend doing the night before a race. Thankfully I paced myself and didn’t stay out all night.
CVIM stands for Clackamas Volunteers in Medicine, by the way. I know you were wondering about that. The race benefits free healthcare to low income individuals in Clackamas County, Oregon, which is a great cause! I hope more people show up in the future.
This is the second time this race has been put on and so it was a very small crowd. Only 86 participants, most of them walking or running slowly, because I managed to get 19th place, which is … wild.
Pre-Race
After parkrun I drove to Oregon City, which I had never been to before. It is a lovely little town, and the Singer Hill Cafe, where I got my bib, was equally as lovely.
This is the library, with some type of religious building in the background. I sat and ate my breakfast from the cafe here–a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, very tasty–and looked through my bag o’ swag.
Then, the next morning I … drove back to Oregon City. Sorry, this pre-race rundown isn’t that exciting. I did wear one of my pairs of running shorts, which I think is the first time I’ve done that for a race. They are pretty great, as long as I remember to put the anti-chafe stuff on my inner thighs. Which I did.
Swaaaag
One of the most surprising things was a hat! A baseball cap which, of course, does not fit me at all. No hats do. My head is the size of a small planet. But they also gave us some LIV hydration powder which I’ve never used before, and some lip balm. I appreciate when we get lip balm. All in a Clackamas Community College tote bag. I am flush with tote bags now.
After the race there were free Bombas socks and Vaseline moisturizer and cocoa butter lip balm. Two lip balms now! I am flush with lip balm. No medals for this one which made sense. Natural Grocers was there and gave out bags with some random stuff, mostly literature on how great they are. There was also a kiosk with a woman from United Healthcare to get people insurance if they need it I guess. She looked very bored to be there.
Atmosphere
When I arrived it almost looked like I was the only person there. A very small crowd of people, mostly much older people too. And a lot of groups of people who seemed to know each other. This is kind of a blessing and a curse for me; on one hand, it’s nice to have a smaller group race because it feels more personal (and often the gifts are better) but on the other hand, because so many people knew each other, I felt like an odd man out. But I wasn’t alone; there were some guys who were clearly good runners who also showed up and seemed like they were on their own. I think there are a lot of “lone wolf” runners out there; when I finished the Beaverton 5k and had to rush to get to parkrun right after, I noticed a lot of the singular people who were leaving early. People like me who show up, run, get medal and food, and leave.
It’s kind of a weird thing.
The Race
I’m around 90% sure that my time was ultimately determined by the amount of beers and lack of sleep I had last night, but the fact that I almost got sub-30 even after walking four or five times is a testament to my fitness progress. I started off strong–too strong, perhaps, as I was attempting to get a new PR. My mile 1 pace was 8:52, a new mile PR for me at least (and sub-9:00, woo), but I went off too fast and slowed down by a minute for the next two miles. However, the paces on those were 10:10 and 10:09, which is kind of surprising to me! I thought they would be more in the 11 minute range. Every time I started running after a short walk, my pace was well above 10 minutes.
I’m also getting good at sprinting to the finish. Not a proper sprint, mind you, but more of a … good hustle. So my extra .10 of a mile (.13 to be exact) was in the 8:21 range. Not too bad.
Like I said earlier, I think I could’ve done better if I hadn’t stayed out the night before. But I’m happy with my results, because it shows a higher fitness level overall.
After the race I went home! The end.
NEXT RACE REPORT WILL BE ON THE PORTLAND (HALF) MARATHON! Until then.
Upon arriving at Gabriel Park in the morning of the final Portland Parks & Rec 5k of the year, I immediately realized something: this was going to be a hilly course.
And it was! A total elevation gain of 384ft according to Garmin. This was the most difficult of the four P&R courses I’ve run, but it also happened to be the most beautiful. The start sloped downhill for about 3/4ths of a mile before cutting right into the forest. Seriously, it felt like I went from civilization into a wooded area. Turns out the entire center section of Gabriel Park is split by what I believe one could call a copse of trees. We ran through it fairly quickly but on the loop back (aka the uphill part) again we ran into the forest. It was lovely. I really appreciated the juxtaposition of the park with its sports centers and playgrounds and the peaceful serene trail in the woods.
Ultimately, I was shooting for a 33 minute 5k today but the hills got me good. I’ll settle for my time though, considering I’m still running on tired legs as I train for the Portland (Half) Marathon.
As far as a park goes, boy this one has everything. It’s got baseball diamonds, it’s got basketball courts, it’s got tennis courts, it’s got a friggen skatepark and volleyball it’s got two very interesting and fun looking playgrounds. It’s got a dog park. It’s got a community garden and an apple orchard. And cutting through it all is the aforementioned copse. Of the four parks I’ve ran this series, I think this one is the best. Which makes sense because it’s in the rich part of town. I can see why they saved this one for last.
Aesthetics: Gorgeous. Just gorgeous all around. Lots of levels and trees. 10/10
Function: Probably the most functional park I’ve ever seen. Sports AND little wooded trails AND a community garden? It’s got everything! 10/10
Sketchiness: The only sketchy thing I saw was an older lady fainted or something just before the run started and the EMTs came to check up on her. This place is pristine. 10/10
I fuckin’ did it. Plus a PR on 1k (5:37) and 1 mi (9:07).
Okay let’s talk about the day. I did the 5k race and then parkrun almost immediately after, because it’s Rock Creek parkrun’s 4th anniversary and there was cupcakes. Was this a good idea? Read on.
Pre-Race
Not too much on this one. I drove out to the Beav’ on Friday afternoon to grab my bib and t-shirt. It was at Portland Running Company, which sponsors or is Run with Paula Events, I’m not sure. The two seem in cahoots. (RWP is the … host? of this event? The producer?) The store was nice and chill and outside there were clearance racks with “old model” clothes and shoes, plus you got a 15% discount on top of that for running the race. So, long story short, I have three new pairs of legitimate running shorts.
Unfortunately I did not wear any of my new shorts to the race itself because Nothing New On Race Day.
The only free stuff was a Clif bar and a coupon for a free garlic bread from the Old Spaghetti Factory. Yippee.
Next morning I’m up at 6am as usual, taking my morning PRP1, getting myself ready by prepping an extra shirt and socks for parkrun, and then I’m out the door.
Atmosphere
First of all, the parking for this event was probably the best I’ve ever witnessed. Plenty of parking spots across the street and lots of volunteers directing us exactly where we need to go. Seamless, it was.
The atmosphere for this event was pretty chill. All of the different races (5k, 10k and half) started at 8am, which meant that we were all together getting ready. I liked this; it felt like better camaraderie than staggered times.
There were some sponsor kiosks and I visited none of them. In fact, one of them was Geico, which seemed to have a lot of swag, but I switched from Geico to Progressive because Geico was gouging me on my car insurance, so … I’m sure it would’ve been awkward for them to see me.
Another welcome aspect of this race was the streets were well-cordoned off, meaning warmup runs could be done for longer stretches rather than going back and forth. It really was nice, felt big and open compared to the Garlic Fest pre-race, which was more constrained.
The Race
I came into this race thinking I would break 30 minutes. I had gotten close enough with parkrun to know that if I ran on a flatter course, I wouldn’t tire out as much and I’d be able to press on more overall. And that pretty much came true!
My mile paces were 9:08, 9:23, and 9:59. That third mile drop was because I ended up walking about :24 seconds. Really didn’t want to but my heart rate had hit 179bpm slightly before and I just felt like I needed to rest for a bit. Up until that point, my 2 mi time was around 18:31 (another PR), meaning that I would’ve been around 28 minutes if I hadn’t slowed down. But I didn’t come to this race to run 28 minutes, I came to break 30 minutes, and I did that plus 32 extra seconds.
I actually had my Garmin watch set for a 9:00 pace, just to go a bit above and beyond, mainly because I tend to go out fast and I figured if I was going to do that, I might as well go out really fast (for me) and bank some time for the back end.
But really, even during that walking bit my pace only dropped down to around 14 minutes, which is good, as it means even when walking I was walking briskly. My HR never got to 180, which I cannot believe. Also my cadence was good! Average of 173, or about 20 spm more than usual. I guess that makes sense considering I was running faster than usual. Even my stride length is getting longer–hovered around .97m but was at 1 or above several times.
And then, of course, that last tenth of a mile. Perfect little bit for a sprint. People who run in kms don’t get to hear their watch been for mile 3 and then get into sprint mode. It’s too bad, really.
I’m really proud of the effort I put into this race. There’s always room for improvement but the fact that I had a goal in mind and crushed it is awesome. My body and mind were synced up this go around, and it made for an excellent outing.
Post-Race
My post-race time consisted of me catching my breath, getting my medal and some snacks, and then trying to find my car. Then, once I found my car, I had to figure out how to leave without disrupting the entire event. Once I did that, then I drove as fast as legally allowed to Rock Creek Trail for parkrun!
parkrun #24
I arrived 6 minutes late and they let me run anyway–a couple of them were mostly shocked that I came from a run and was going on a run again. I started my watch from my car because I knew I would be hustling to the start line, and was already late so my official time wouldn’t really matter. I figured as long as I beat the tail walker, I’d be fine.
Ended up doing a little better than I thought I would. Honestly, I thought I’d be walking this entire thing. Instead, I ran with my pace all over the place until my heart rate got up to the high 160s, then stopped and walked and cooled down. No need to have 170s for this run. It honestly was over before I realized it. Sort of went on autopilot there.
Maybe there was a bigger hullabaloo prior to the start about how it’s RCT’s 4th anniversary. All I know is that at the end there were snacks and I grabbed one and then left. Not really sure why I didn’t stick around. After runs I think my brain is a tired and affects my decision making. But it was nice to see everyone!
And that’s that. Big run day for me. Some PRs and proof that this is all paying off. I don’t think there will be another 5k PR anytime soon, as I have to get my mind into half marathon focus. But who knows?
After this is parkrun 25! followed by the last Parks & Rec 5k at Gabriel Park. Until then.
North Plains is a cute little town situated right off US-26. Every year they have a Garlic Festival which, for some reason, also has a race attached to it. The event is hosted by the Oregon Road Runners Club (ORRC) and is a very no frills type of scene.
Pre-Race
In general, my 5k times have been decreasing a lot over the last month. My last six parkruns have all been PRs, my time going from 34:54 to 31:17. How did this happen? I … don’t know. I’m just running a lot? I guess?
Point is, a sub-30 5k time is within sight and I have made it my mission to attempt it whenever I run a race, starting with this one. For the record, a 29:59 5k time requires a 9:39/mi pace, which I have discovered, I cannot sustain. But we’ll get into that later.
Lately I’ve been feeling really blah about running in general. My motivation is low and despite my faster times, I get out of bed in the morning usually not wanting to go out. But I do it, because that’s what you gotta do.
This morning felt a little different. Races are like that; instead of a solitary morning slowly drenching myself in sweat, I get to slowly drench myself in sweat among other sweaty people! Hooray. My races earlier this year made me anxious and prevented a good night’s sleep; this one I got up like I was on week 8 out of a 12 week run of a play. I know all the ins and outs by this point, which is a lot nicer than fretting.
I left home with just a few essentials: towel, snot rag, regular water bottle, handheld water bottle, sunglasses. My handheld bottle was empty because I didn’t think I would need water during the race itself. I was wrong.
Funnily enough, North Plains is just a few miles from Rock Creek Trail parkrun on US-26. Farther away from Portland, but it’s a nice little drive.
Atmosphere/Swag
ORRC was founded in 1970 and touts itself as the second oldest and largest running club in Oregon. I’m not sure what the oldest is but based on a cursory google search I presume it is Eugene’s Oregon Track Club, which has been around since 1958. Wouldn’t this mean that ORRC is the oldest road running club? Who knows.
Anyway, because it’s one of these old timey clubs, the atmosphere for this run felt very chill in an old time way. Like, some races are flashy and “exciting” and this felt like you were going on a run with a bunch of old timers. Which wasn’t true at all, there were all ages there, but it just felt less like a “look at my cute running kit!” group and more of a “the bush halfway between mile 7 and 8 is a perfect spot to take a shit” group.
Everyone was mingled together more or less; the 5k began right as the fastest half marathoners were ending. It just seemed super chill, is what I’m saying. I like a chill race!
The swag was very simple: a pair of socks and, afterward, a head of elephant garlic. It is the Garlic Festival after all!
The Race
So, like many runners, I went out way too fast in the beginning.
Or, rather, I went out at a pace I thought I would need to sustain to get below 30 minutes. But as you can see, my pace dropped pretty much the entire time, with two walking points which came about due to me trying to catch my breath after some inclines. (I won’t call them hills–it was only an 89ft total ascent but each ascent felt like 5,000ft.)
Having an average pace of 10:09/mi is great though. And my first mile was 9:28, which is a new PR for me. Being able to sustain that pace for a mile is just an indication that I could sustain it for two miles, and then three, eventually. My body is still adjusting to this runner lifestyle.
My feet went crazy numb over the run though. I’m going to have to see a doc about it at this point, to at least get some ideas of what I can do to alleviate it. I’m going to have to stop a lot during my half if my feet keep going numb.
The course was pretty plain, just running alongside a road for the majority. Wasn’t very exciting or pretty. Again, the ORRC is like “Okay it’s run time” and they measure out the distance and it’s not like near a beautiful waterfall or anything. It’s just miles, dag nabbit.
The 5k had 171 participants. I placed 59th overall. The guy who placed 55th was 78 years old; 57th was 71 years old. That’s … humbling.
I was 4 out of 10 in my age group (only 10 40-44 year old runners?) and 42 out of 88 men. So pretty average, as always, but just sliiiiiightly above average. Story of my life!
(There were 200 10k runners and 137 half marathon runners. I’m not counting the people who signed up just to walk.)
Post-Race
This was most certainly not after the race.
I was so fucking exhausted after the race ended, I can’t remember the majority of it. A lady gave me a medal and a head of elephant garlic, just like the prophecy said, and then I sat down in the dirt and caught my breath. There wasn’t any good place to sit in the shade except the dirt, and I’m not above sitting in the dirt. I’m a great dirt-sitter.
When I was rested, I grabbed snacks and a Sprite and a very tasty breakfast burrito. I wish I knew who made the burritos, like if it was a company or just a nice family or something (or both!). They were good. Then I sat down on a mat thing they laid out for people, ate my burrito, kind of stared into the middle distance for a bit, and then headed back to my car and left. I did change shirts, too. This is a new summertime routine, bringing an extra shirt to change out of. Born out of driving home from one parkrun and then going to my car a couple of days later, opening the door, and feeling like I stepped into a steam room. The sweat embedded in my car seat with my car just sitting out in the hot sun for days can’t be good, right? Like, that’s just mold waiting to happen.
Hence, shirt change.
And that was it! I Drove, I Ran, I Ate a Burrito. (Apparently that’s eieci, cucurri, edi, burrito in Latin, in case you were wondering.)
Tomorrow is the 4th Portland Parks & Rec 5k fun run, this one in Westmoreland Park. I plan to run it very easy, but you know how I get. There will be a blog about it, don’t you worry.
Next timed race is the Beaverton Half 5k, part of the Run with Paula set of events. I think it’s my first one of these!
Then, dun dun dunnnn … the Portland (Half) Marathon.
Location: Portland, Oregon (Sauvie Island) Distance: 1/4th Marathon (10.55k) Chip Time: 1:17:43 Pace: 11:31/mi (or 11:51/mi, more on that later)
I feel like I have a lot to talk about on this one so let’s get into it.
The Foot Traffic Flat takes place on Sauvie Island, nestled between the Willamette and Columbia Rivers and the Multnomah Channel. It’s one of those islands like Manhattan: technically an island but when I think of islands, I think of Hawaii and Guam and shit like that, not something surrounded by rivers. They need a different name for landmasses like that.
Sauvie Island, rotated for blogging purposes. Right is north.
If you’re a worldbuilding nerd like me, you can use the Multnomah Channel as an example of a river that splits instead of merges. Congrats, you dork.
Anyway, this race was at 6:30am! That’s early! But necessary as it’s supposed to be a hot one in Portland today, and I’m sure Foot Traffic takes account of the temperature when they schedule this thing.
Pre-Race
So Sauvie Island is interesting because for the entire island there is only one bridge to enter or exit from. Because of this, the event organizers were telling people to buy shuttle tickets to reduce the amount of traffic. I ended up buying one, which meant rather than just driving to the event and getting there 45min early, I drove to a parking lot and took a shuttle. Was this a good idea? Well, yes. And no. It was good because I didn’t have to drive. Also, the full marathon started at 5:30am, so driving to the event meant waiting for marathoners to pass by. Traffic to the bridge was virtually non-existent, which I would chalk up to the amount of people who used a shuttle instead.
But this meant getting to the parking lot earlier, which meant waking up earlier. I set my alarm for 4:45am; because of my brain, I woke up at 4:30am. Gathered up my stuff, including the race shirt which was basically a singlet, my headphones, my water bottle.
I decided to make my own electrolyte drink for this run. I sweat like my body despises water and I knew I would need to hydrate. For longer runs in the past I’ve been adding a couple of teaspoons of sugar to water. It’s not tasty at all, but it gets the job done. For this run I opted to include, in addition to the sugar, about 1/4th of a teaspoon of salt. This was … it worked, okay? At least it felt like it did. Did it taste terrible? Yes. Should I have made it the night before and put it in the fridge so it would be at least somewhat cold during my run? Yes, absolutely, yes. I probably could’ve mixed it with my Crystal Light drink, to be honest. But it got the job done, okay. I’m not expecting a tasty drink while I run, I’m expecting carbs and salt.
I also grabbed my pre-race breakfast: a slice of bread, a bit of peanut butter, and some honey. Nothing too dense, plenty of easily digestible carbs.
So I mixed that up and drove to the shuttle and took the shuttle. The shuttle was a school bus, which makes perfect sense; who else wakes up this early to drive people from Point A to Point B? This was bad for my legs however as I am not a 10 year old child.
The shuttle took around 30 minutes or so to get to the destination. Part of the reason why it took so long is because the shuttle literally took the long way around the island, I think mainly to not interfere with the marathoners but also, everyone was running on the road anyway so it’s not like people weren’t aware of cars. I’m not sure what the reasoning was here, but at least Sauvie Island is gorgeous.
We get to the Pumpkin Patch, where the event starts, around 6:10ish. The race itself (my wave at least) starts at 6:38. My goal was this: to take my patented Pre-Race Poop (PRP) and then to do a quick warmup run. What actually happened was this: stand in line for the toilets for TWENTY GODDAMN MINUTES. The lines were so long. I can’t stress this enough. But I wait, because I know my bowel history. I get to a toilet at around 6:35, push like I’m having a baby1, and then get out and into the crowd, doing some jogging in place and nonsense like that because I didn’t have time for a proper warmup.
“But Josh, why didn’t you poop before you left the house?” What am I, an amateur? Of course I pooped before I left the house. Obviously you don’t understand. There is a morning poop, and there is the PRP. And everything is out of whack because my regular morning poop is around 6:30. The PRP only happens on race day. It is my body understanding the assignment, you know what I mean? It must happen. I must … release the bowels.
Then I ran!
This was taken mere minutes after I pooped. Now you’re thinking about me pooping, aren’t you?
Swag/Atmosphere
This wasn’t a “swag-heavy” race. The only big thing was a free ticket to the corn maze. Yeehaw. I’m not sure why all the tchotchkes have dwindles over the months–probably the economy or some shit. It’s kind of nice though, a lot of that stuff is cheap garbage.
The atmosphere for this race was very weird, in a good way. It felt like this strange juxtaposition of well-kitted out runners and the rustic lifestyle of living on Sauvie Island, a place full of farm fields and pumpkin patches and corn mazes. The Flat’s marathon course is a Boston qualifier, but it felt more like a bunch of rich hippies going out for a jog.
Also, I don’t know where to put this so I’ll just put it here, but: just a lot of great butts on this run. I saw a YouTube clip once of a weightlifter guy talking about how if guys want to get better glutes, they need to adopt women’s training plans, because women are the experts on butt training. It’s funny because years ago it was almost a joke to riff on women on the stairmaster all the time, but … it’s working, ladies. The moral of the story is: don’t stop doing something just because people doubt or laugh at you.
(I don’t run to look at butts, but it is a nice bonus.)
The Race
They don’t call it the Flat for nothing. It was primarily flat, with a couple of short inclines, which meant for steady pacing for the most part.
Speaking of pace, Garmin says my general pace was 11:35, while the chip timing says it was 11:51. The latter is more correct, so I’m not sure where the 11:35 is coming from, other than grade adjusted pace.
I posted goal times (for the 10k) on my Instagram:
And my 10k time according to my watch was 1:11:29, so I would call that my S Goal achieved.
I kept a steady pace for the first three miles or so.
My splits are kind of garbage after mile three though. This makes perfect sense if you factor in that I do parkrun every Saturday and that most of my runs are in the 3-4 mile range lately. I intentionally walked at the aid stations, though I didn’t get any water because I had my bottle. But later on in the run I walked more because my body wasn’t used to the distance at that pace. And I honestly was probably underfueled as well. If anything, this race was a great indicator of my lack of fueling methods. Like I said earlier, right now it’s just sugar water (+salt this time). That plus a slice of bread and PB and honey in the morning likely isn’t enough to sustain me, especially considering that Garmin estimates that I burned 1,300 calories on this run. I’m a big guy, I gotta get more calories in before I head off. Time to invest in gels or M&Ms or something.
What I’ve learned here is: fuel at the start of the run, and fuel every 5k or thereabouts. For now at least. Maybe when I get more efficient (i.e., lose weight) I can fuel every hour. We’ll see. I could’ve also kept my pace a bit lower at the start–11:30 instead of ~11:00.
At one point there was a big inflatable unicorn with a hose spraying water in someone’s front yard, which meant a free cool shower on the way. I didn’t take a picture of this but I wish I had.
The only other thing was that since I was convinced that this was 10k, after I hit 10k and my watch was like “Congrats you did a 10k,” I looked around and there clearly was no finish line. I figured my watch had some GPS misstep or something, but usually the finish line is relatively near where my watch distance is. But there was nothing in sight. So I ended up stopping and walking more after 6.22 miles because I was looking back at the other runners to see if any other 10k runners were behind me, or if I had some how inadvertently joined the half-marathoners. For a moment I thought, “Well, I guess I’m running a half-marathon now?” I even saw a woman with my bib color walking in the other direction at one point, making me wonder if she screwed up too and was walking back to the start, defeated.
But I pressed on and after turning a corner I saw that finish line for the quarter marathon, which was just in some farmer’s front yard. I ran into (pun intended) my friend Lisa as I was running and discovered that she was also running the quarter, because she was there, and she was the one who reminded me that a quarter marathon is more than 10k. So, thank you, Lisa.
Thanks Lisa, sorry you look kind of like a terminal cancer victim in this photo.
All the other routes looped back to the start except ours; we had to wait in a farmer’s front yard until the shuttle arrived to pick us up. Us few, the privileged quarter marathoners. But while I was there, I saw a chicken.
Chicken.
I can’t stress to you enough just how sweaty I was at the end. It felt like I was like one of those frogs who has a constant sheen of mucus on them at all times, except the mucus was sweat. I am SO THANKFUL that I remembered to put anti-chafing stuff on my nipples before I left. Truly a godsend.
Post-Race
The shuttle took us back to the event and I got some snacks and a very, very delicious ice cream sandwich from Ruby Jewel. Foot Traffic hyped up the ice cream sandwich a lot in their emails, which you wouldn’t do unless it was delicious. It was so good I want to eat another one right now.
And that was it, basically. Lisa was nice enough to give me a ride back to my car and then I drove home and now I’m here writing this thing right now!
Next up is another Parks & Rec 5k. Meanwhile the Portland (half) Marathon is 12 weeks away. I’ve got far fewer 5ks in the books for the second half of 2023. While I’m grateful for them for helping me build a running foundation, I’m also thankful that now that I have a foundation, I don’t need to keep signing up for every 5k that I see.
Until next time!
This is a joke, I didn’t really push this hard, please don’t push this hard when you poop. If you’re pushing this hard, you need some fiber or something. ↩︎
On Friday, June 16th I packed up some stuff and drove out to Redmond, Oregon to run yet another 5k. The reason is purely principle: my 2023 New Years resolution was to run a 5k every month. In my mind, that meant running a timed 5k race once a month; untimed “fun runs” didn’t count, nor did parkrun.
For June, the only run I had signed up for was the Starlight Run, which was a fun run, and so I decided to hunt down another, timed, 5k that I could run. After some searching, I came upon the Redmond Run and almost immediately signed up for it.
Then, about an hour later, my brain finally realized that Redmond, Oregon is nowhere near Portland. It was in central Oregon, near Bend.
oops
But it was too late; I had paid my fees. So I decided to go for it and make a little weekend trip out of it.
Pre-Race
The drive to Redmond was gorgeous. First, you’re driving toward Mt. Hood, looming in the distance, and then driving through Mt. Hood National Forest, and then the forest drops away, revealing the cliffside down into the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. I wish I had taken photos but I was driving. C’est la vie. I rented a small cabin out in Terrebonne, about 15 minutes north of Redmond. It was technically in the unincorporated community of Crooked River Ranch, which has a golf course and RV park and restaurants and such. The whole place was great, and the cabin was tiny but well furnished and when I arrived they had a jar full of root beer barrel candies, aka one of my favorite candies ever. So that was a plus.
I drove into Redmond first to pick up my bib. I didn’t take very many pictures of the city because it looked a lot like any other city you’d find in Oregon. In hindsight I realize many people don’t know what that means though, so I wish I had taken more. I did take a photo of this fish statue thing though:
A very strange art piece depicting a fish about to eat another fish.
The Swag
Basic t-shirt and bib with a table full of little things to pick up. I grabbed a box of matches because they had that. Another free thing was Bend Soap, which I already grabbed at previous run. Pretty basic, nothing fancy.
I then drove back to Terrebonne, dropped off my stuff, and then took a quick trip to Smith Rock State Park.
Smith Rock is a well-known rock climbing spot, a mecca of sorts and one of the spots that jumpstarted the modern day rock climbing frenzy. It is absolutely gorgeous and I desperately wished at the time that I had stayed an extra day so I could do a day hike of it or something. But, instead I took a walk around the path for a mile or so, saw some fauna and some people rock climbing, and then returned to the hotel. I wasn’t dressed for a hike and even if I was, I didn’t want to hike too much as I didn’t want to compromise my run the next morning. But I’m definitely going back.
So I went back to my cabin, watched The Birdcage (holds up), and went to bed.
The Atmosphere
Arriving the next morning, I wandered around and got a quick warm up jog in before the race started. It was a great atmosphere. The whole event felt very chill and there were just enough runners for it to feel like an event, but not so many that it felt like a corporate event (*cough*shamrockrun). It was warm and sunny but not too much of either, and I brought my little water bottle and spritzed myself down with sunscreen just in case.
The Race
The goal I had set for myself for this race was 35:00, and I hit 35:25, which I’m happy with. I ran almost the entire thing except for a hill at the end that I just didn’t feel like running up. (Also about 10 seconds when I had to stop and tie my shoe.) I ran my ass off for this one though and was pleased with my body’s ability to keep up for the majority of it.
I’m getting to a point now where 35 minutes feels like it will soon be an average slower 5k pace for me. I can feel 11:00/mi creeping up, and I’m hoping by December to get as close to a 30 minute 5k as possible. Garmin thinks I can do one in 29:30 and hell, maybe I can. We shall see.
After the race they had a smorgasbord of easily digestible carbs. Like, they really went all out: cookies, fruit, bagels with cream cheese, trail mix, and more. I also grabbed a beer this go around, and the man pouring the beers let me know that very hoppy IPAs can damage your taste buds. So I didn’t get the IPA.
And that was it! I drove home, which was also beautiful. At one point you turn a corner and Mt. Hood appears from behind the trees, right there, gigantic and looming. Wish I had gotten a photo of it.
