Well, we’ve made it. Tomorrow, December 10th, I will be running my last official race: the Holiday Half. This will cap my 2023, which began well, went well, and then ended shittily. Is this the default for my life? Perhaps, but them’s the breaks.
I’ll be honest: I really don’t want to run this. My patience with this year had quickly run out, and the forecast for the 10th is rainy. And not just a light drizzle, it’s supposed to rain pretty flagrantly for the two+ hours I’ll be out there plodding along. What’s worse, the forecast for the days after are sunny. This is following days upon days of rain in Portland.
But I’m going to do it because I paid for it, goddammit. I paid a lot of money to run this half marathon and I’ll do it even if I walk most of it.
My training plan has been abandoned and I guess I’m “playing it by ear,” or really “running it by feet.” Here are my goals:
G Goal: 2:12:25 / 10:06/mi A Goal: 2:15:00 / 10:18/mi B Goal: 2:20:00 / 10:41/mi C Goal: Just do the damn thing. *G Goal is my Garmin Goal, aka the time Garmin predicts I can do.
These are all within my ability, I believe. 10:06 I know I can maintain for a few miles at least. Maybe even 13! I suspect my Garmin Coach training helped bolster my pace a bit. My stomach has been weird lately due to stress and poor eating because I’m broke because of my car getting broken into. Lots of stuff happening recently which has soured my overall life experience.
So, no real pace plan other than to try and keep a good one. I’m going to try, try, try my damnedest to start slow, but we all know how these things go. I’d love a negative split but I don’t know if my body is capable of it yet.
For fuel I have Clif bars and Powerade. Breakfast of champions. Honestly not sure if they will be adequate or not. They certainly didn’t feel adequate on my 10 mile run, but they settled a lot better than gels.
I appreciate that I’ve been at this long enough that I’m approaching a second half marathon with a bit of a blase attitude. It’s still so surprising that it’s December already. I’ve tipped over the 1,200 mile club for ORRC, and am well on course to hit 800 miles running for the year. Overall, huge success. Learned a lot about myself, about my ability to persevere even when I don’t wanna.
I’ll have a race report tomorrow. My last one of 2023. Until then.
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!
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.
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.
Official time was 30:09. This is a great PR but also 10 seconds away from a sub-30 5k is wild. The last two parkruns (#21 and #22) I didn’t write about because they weren’t very interesting. I ran slow on 21 and even slower on 22, mostly to prevent my watch from restructuring my future suggested runs–22 specifically was slow because I had a long run that Sunday that I wanted to be at least somewhat healthy for.
This week I was like, let’s go for it. At this point I know a sub-30 5k is in me. Even when my time was around 31 minutes, I knew, because the first half of Rock Creek Trail is uphill, in kind of a gnarly way, especially right before the turnaround to come back. As long as you can keep pace up those hills, the second half of the run is downhill except for one small uphill which I will talk about in a second. So you can expect a downhill second half, which is very helpful!
My downfall this week was that slight incline before the gradual downhill section called Deepak’s Torture Hill on Strava. It’s funny how that’s just a segment on an app, but like 100 years ago it probably would’ve officially been named that, after some guy named Deepak who keeps running up that hill. But I decided to take a short walk break there. According to Garmin it was only :18 seconds, but it could’ve been the difference between 30:09 and, say, 30:01, or even 29:59.
It ultimately doesn’t bother me that much, as 30:09 is more than a minute faster than my previous parkrun PR of 31:17. I’ll take it. But I know there’s a sub-30 time in me. Maybe we’ll find out … next Saturday, when I run the Beaverton 5k! It starts at 8am so my goal is to run it and then get in my car and try to get to parkrun after, because it’s Rock Creek Trail parkrun’s 4th anniversary! There’ll be cupcakes!
Sadly, I missed the July P&R 5k due to the stomach flu. That was in Columbia Park, which is in the smaller Portsmouth neighborhood adjacent to St. Johns, making it the most northern of the 5 5k races Parks & Rec put together. Westmoreland, meanwhile, despite being more west land, is actually in most southwestern part of southeast Portland, right across the street from Eastmoreland, a neighborhood that is, of course, east of Westmoreland and is about 20% golf course.
These are both named after Julius C. Moreland, a lawyer and then judge in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A realty company of which he was an executive wanted to make four neighborhoods in his name, for–you guessed it–the four compass points. But I guess only West- and Eastmoreland made it to final print.
Imagine if I had four neighborhoods like that. Northbelville, Southbelville, Eastbelville, and Westbelville. How annoying!
Westmoreland Park is one of the best parks in Portland, no doubt about it. It’s huge, has about half a dozen baseball and softball diamonds, tennis courts, a lawn bowling green, and the somewhat iconic duck pond, called Hall Pond, which was originally built as a fly-casting pond (and is still used for that purpose). Crystal Springs Creek, which runs nearby through the park as well, apparently has salmon in it during the appropriate seasons. According to the P&R page, the pond is supposed to be removed at some point and returned to a wetland, which I think is a great idea. Apparently the pond gets hot in the summer which isn’t good for the salmon or the ducks.
The 5k itself was fine; I ran slower this morning due to the heat and wanting to take it easy after the Garlic Fest 5k yesterday, but still managed an 11:08/mi pace, which is faster than I had anticipated. My heart rate was higher than I would’ve liked, but I was in the zone, baby. Plus it was roughly 10-15 degrees warmer than my usual summer run temperatures so I’m not sure my heart rate would’ve lowered enough to be worth slowing down.
One thing that was kind of funny is that near the start of the run was a very comically narrow bridge that we all piled up at because you could only run it single file. But then we got to run around the duck pond twice (which needed more shade for sure) and ran on lots of wood chips. I kind of hate running on wood chips, but they were good for my knees, I guess.
I’m also pretty sure there is a running group for, like, ex-convicts or something that participates in these 5ks, which is very cool. They were being filmed this time, probably PR for their program. The whole event is very much worth the $5 price.
Aesthetics: Big huge gorgeous park. The only drawback is that it’s right next to a busy boulevard and MAX light rail. Thankfully the way the park is set up you don’t see the street and cars and all that too much. 7/10
Function: If you want to Do A Thing, this is the park for you. Baseball, softball, basketball, just most anything with balls, plus tennis and fly-casting for some weird reason. Lots to do here with your family and friends. 10/10
Sketchiness: Not too bad. There were a couple of homeless people parked near an apartment complex, but nothing felt like anyone was in danger. To be fair, this was a public event, so I might have a skewed vision. 7/10
The last 5k run is in Gabriel Park, the only run on the west side because East Side is the Best Side. See you 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.
Well, this happened. What’s this, you ask? Only a nearly two minute PR from my last parkrun, three weeks ago. What happened, you may ask?
I mean, a lot of things happened, so let’s unpack it all.
First, I’ve just been running more. More volume to to have a steady mileage foundation for the Portland (half) Marathon in October. It’s like 9 weeks away. Nine weeks is October! Auuuggghhh.
And these runs have a lot of variety to them. Mainly base runs for mileage, but some speed work, threshold work, and long runs thrown in there as well. All good stuff.
Second, I bought new shoes. I have three new pairs of running shoes, specifically, all Saucony: The Ride 16 as a daily trainer, the Triumph 20 for my long runs, and the Kinvara 14 for speed work and races. So I wore the Kinvara 14s to parkrun. And they worked pretty dang well if I do say so myself. They are about 3oz lighter than my Nike Winflo 9s, have a lighter mesh top for breathability, and the new cushioning had a nice bounce to it that ended up helping propel me forward better, I suppose, than my Carl Winflos. I may have tied them a little too loose though; they felt a little slippery during the run, but thankfully not enough to be an issue.
These shoes are (to me, the novice runner at least) like driving a Lamborghini, in the sense that any little pressure on the gas pedal sends me hurtling forward. 0-60 in 3 seconds sort of thing. So while my idea was to hit 11:00/mi pacing, I ended up starting much, much faster, around 9:45/mi. And felt fine! I walked a few times but whenever I ran again, I was practically bounding.
Third, and perhaps most important: my mentality. I just felt like I could do it. Basically, Garmin was suggesting threshold workouts where I’d run at threshold (10:10/mi) for 17 minutes. And I would get through that no problem. So this morning I thought, “Well, if I can run 17 minutes at threshold, surely I can run 30 minutes at threshold, right?”
The answer is … kinda! I ended up walking a few times because my HR was at around 175bpm and I wanted to get it lower (the 160s) so I wouldn’t run out of energy. But at no point did my heart rate ever feel like it was out of control, which is a great thing. It reminds me of cars: cars are designed to drive fast. Cars like being at around 55mph. Your heart is an engine, and it likes beating fast if that is helping to run the machine, you know?
Anyway, a couple of other things that I did that probably helped are: I ate a bagel with peanut butter and honey about an hour and a half before the run. Just had some fuel in the ol’ belly. And I left my phone in my car and ran only with my car key, my parkrun card, and my trusty Snot Rag (which I ended up not needing). I think staying light overall helped.
This all bodes well for a sub-30 5k by the end of the year. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if I hit sub-30 by the end of the summer. We’ll see if I can sustain 32-33 minute 5ks in the future. (I probably won’t, and shouldn’t expect to.)
The Garlic Festival 5k is my next race and I’m hoping I can take my parkrun times and do that during a race. I haven’t gotten sub-35 in a 5k race yet. I think that will change soon.
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.
This was the second of five 5k runs Portland Parks & Recreation puts on (here’s the first), and the first that crosses I-205 into East Portland. This is the farthest east run, which makes sense if you remember that the city of Portland doesn’t give a shit about anything east of 102nd.
Lents is important to Portland, though, as it is the home of the Portland Pickles, our local baseball team. Minor league? Probably not, I have no idea. I know nothing about baseball. I know it’s the only sport I can think of where they count how many times you fuck up.
The park is huge and has a ton of stuff to do. This 5k was primarily a trail run, with a few bits on the sidewalk and paved paths. I’d say it was 75% trail, which was a nice change from my typical road runs.
I ran pretty good, considering I had run parkrun yesterday morning (and achieved my fastest 5k time of the year thus far). My feet keep going numb while I’m running and I’m not entirely sure why other than just your typical overuse injury, but this time it made me a little more nervous because it’s hard to tell where you’re stepping when your feet are going numb, and trail is uneven terrain … you get the point.
I think my 5k time was around 36:08 but Garmin has 3.16 miles at 36:33. It was a fun run so none of this really matters, other than I’m pleased with my time considering I ran fast yesterday. The atmosphere was cool and everyone was having a good time. Lots of kids running around too, which is fun. They do a little kid race before the 5k and it’s always great to watch these little teeny kids ambling toward the finish line, completely unaware of what the hell is going on.
Anyway, the park itself. Huge, tons to do. Sports sports sports. You’ve got three baseball fields (though I guess one is strictly for the Pickles), a turf soccer field, a grass soccer field, tennis courts, basketball courts … plenty of Sports Zones. The southern side also has a neat playground, a dog park, and a “nature patch,” which I believe Fernhill Park had as well. There are also a lot of neat houses in this part of town, the kind that remind you of a time before HOAs ruined creativity. Just a big, cool, dynamic park.
Aesthetics: Gorgeous, a lot of open air. Maybe a bit too busy with sports stuff. 8/10
Function: Function out the wazoo. Sports, big fields, go see the Pickles and take your dog to the dog park. Plenty to do. 10/10
Sketchiness: I didn’t notice anything sketchy while I was there, but considering how close it is to 82nd st (a notoriously sketchy street), I wouldn’t be surprised if stuff went down there. That said, I bet the Pickles have some kind of security to keep that at bay. Felt fine otherwise. 9/10
