CARDV 5k Race Review!

Hey, any race that has Benny the Beaver at the start can't be all bad. And so it was with Race #9 in the EPIC 2011 series: the CARDV 5k. A benefit for the Corvallis Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence, the CARDV 5k drew a decent-sized crowd to downtown Corvallis, but it definitely trended toward walkers - not a huge amount of serious runners. Which is fine with me - I've got plenty of races on the schedule for the serious runners (like next week, don't remind me), it's nice to have an unassuming 5k on a Saturday morning.

So for the second time in the EPIC 2011 calendar, I toed the start line next to my son, Payton. He's skinny enough to be a serious runner, but he's getting a little tall. Ah well, it never stopped Usain Bolt, now did it?

So we meandered around 2nd St and Western, waiting for the start of the race. The walkers were supposed to go at 9:00 and the runners at 9:15 (different courses), but it didn't seem to be shaping up that way. The runners were lining up in the road up front and the walkers behind. All right, fine. I punched the start button on the Garmin 110 to grab the satellites about five minutes before the start time.

About 60 seconds later, some guy came out to the front of the runners and shot off an air horn. Crap.

So for the second time this year, I didn't get my watch set up in time for the start of a race. For the love of peat!

Payton bolted off the line like a scared cat, which is par for the course with an eleven year old runner, while I tried to run and stare at my watch at the same time. "Acquiring Satellites," it continued to say.

Just like watching a pot boil.

Finally, I'm going to say about .16 into the race, the watch started talking to outer space, and I was able to look up and try to find Payton. Wow, he was really laying into it! I know my limitations way too well to take off after him. These days, I've got exactly one gear. I shifted into it and waited for Payton to come back to me.

We strolled through Pioneer Park and turned into Avery Park. The race actually had someone calling out mile times and I hit it at 7:55. Payton was still a bit ahead of me, so I figured he must have hit it at 7:40 or 7:45. Nice time, but way too fast for his first mile. He's not in that kind of shape yet. We hit the turnaround together and started back the way we came.

We stayed together for a few hundred more yards, then Payton started to fade a bit. I actually felt ok, and my splits improved a little bit on each mile, so that was nice.

Back through the same two parks and except for one woman about ten seconds in front of me, I didn't have a lot of company right around me. Ah well, at least that meant I didn't have to try to pass up little kids at the finish line like I saw some guy doing later!

Hit the line at 24:43. Not fast, but not bad for the one gear I currently use. Payton came in less than two minutes later at 26:39. Very nice run for him. Once he gets in shape, he'll be a quality 12 year old runner.

See you next week at the Mac 50!


Thanks to Carson and Jen Lommers for the photos!