Five Years...Ten Posts: Part 7

Getting toward the end of ten of my favorite posts of the last five years, as The Two R's celebrates its Fifth Anniversary! And this one was a favorite.

It took a full year, over $800 and a whole lot of running to put this one post together. On December 23, 2011, I celebrated running the 2011 EPIC, or in other words, I ran every single race in Corvallis for an entire year. Check it out.

EPIC 2011 REVIEW

All good things must come to an end...and so it has come to pass that the EPIC 2011, Every Pursuit In Corvallis, has hit the finish line.

And even with the last race of the year canceled, EPIC 2011 consisted of a full 27 races (although I only ran 26 of them because of this one right here). So that's an average of a race every other week for a year. Of course, we know they were not actually lined up that nicely.

Let's check out the numbers:

Races Entered: 28
Races Canceled: 1
Races Skipped because of late start: 1
Races Run: 26

5k: 14
8k: 1
10k: 4
12k: 1
15k: 1
Half Marathon: 2
50k: 1
Triathlon: 2

Trail Runs Out of the 26 total: 4
Runs All By Myself Out of the 26 total: 1

A lot of shirts come along with 26 races. A lottttt of shirts. As you can see below. I've already tossed a couple and gave a away a couple, but I'm still wearing most of them. Let's take a closer look.

Best Cotton T-Shirt: Midsummer Nights Run (Basic Black and cool design)
Best Tech T-Shirt: Good Sam Challenge (Basic Red, cool design and nice fit, which definitely doesn't always happen with tech shirts - tech shirt sizing and fit is all over the board)
Worst T-Shirt: OSU Pet Day 5k (Sorry, but that lime green is horrid - my son wears it though)

Cost of Entry Fees for the Year: Over $800, and let's leave it at that

Busiest Month: October with SIX races
Next Busiest Month: April with five races
Slowest Month: January and August, the only months with no races scheduled (although December had a race scheduled, it was canceled, so I didn't actually run a race in December either)

Favorite Course: Habitat Run Half Marathon (a fantastic trail run, with a fun course: A+)
Least Favorite Course: Midsummer Night's Run 10k (up, down, up, down, up, down: brutal)

Race Numbers: One yellow, one blue, a whole bunch of white, one rubber bracelet, one with no ID of any kind, one with the timing chip attached to the back of the number, and almost every one of them sponsored by Five Star Sports.

Races Run, at least partly, on OSU Campus: 10

All Time PR's Set: 2
Masters PR's Set: 4 (although two were distances I'd never run before - sure PR's!)

Races planned for the first six months of 2012: 2

So there you go. It was a good time, no doubt. But we're moving on. I'm ready for my next challenge. And as you can see by the races I have planned, 2012 will be a whole new year and a whole new challenge. Don't worry, we'll discuss it soon.

Coming up soon: the Year in Review!

EPIC 2011 Review!

All good things must come to an end...and so it has come to pass that the EPIC 2011, Every Pursuit In Corvallis, has hit the finish line.

And even with the last race of the year canceled, EPIC 2011 consisted of a full 27 races (although I only ran 26 of them because of this one right here). So that's an average of a race every other week for a year. Of course, we know they were not actually lined up that nicely.

Let's check out the numbers:

Races Entered: 28
Races Canceled: 1
Races Skipped because of late start: 1
Races Run: 26

5k: 14
8k: 1
10k: 4
12k: 1
15k: 1
Half Marathon: 2
50k: 1
Triathlon: 2

Trail Runs Out of the 26 total: 4
Runs All By Myself Out of the 26 total: 1

A lot of shirts come along with 26 races. A lottttt of shirts. As you can see below. I've already tossed a couple and gave a away a couple, but I'm still wearing most of them. Let's take a closer look.


Best Cotton T-Shirt: Midsummer Nights Run (Basic Black and cool design)
Best Tech T-Shirt: Good Sam Challenge (Basic Red, cool design and nice fit, which definitely doesn't always happen with tech shirts - tech shirt sizing and fit is all over the board)
Worst T-Shirt: OSU Pet Day 5k (Sorry, but that lime green is horrid - my son wears it though)

Cost of Entry Fees for the Year: Over $800, and let's leave it at that

Busiest Month: October with SIX races
Next Busiest Month: April with five races
Slowest Month: January and August, the only months with no races scheduled (although December had a race scheduled, it was canceled, so I didn't actually run a race in December either)

Favorite Course: Habitat Run Half Marathon (a fantastic trail run, with a fun course: A+)
Least Favorite Course: Midsummer Night's Run 10k (up, down, up, down, up, down: brutal)

Race Numbers: One yellow, one blue, a whole bunch of white, one rubber bracelet, one with no ID of any kind, one with the timing chip attached to the back of the number, and almost every one of them sponsored by Five Star Sports.

Races Run, at least partly, on OSU Campus: 10

All Time PR's Set: 2
Masters PR's Set: 4 (although two were distances I'd never run before - sure PR's!)

Races planned for the first six months of 2012: 2

So there you go. It was a good time, no doubt. But we're moving on. I'm ready for my next challenge. And as you can see by the races I have planned, 2012 will be a whole new year and a whole new challenge. Don't worry, we'll discuss it soon.

Coming up soon: the Year in Review!

EPIC 2011 Goes Out with a Whimper

That's right, the grand experiment that was EPIC 2011 is officially over, since race number 28 on the year, the OAC Holiday Multisport Classic, has been canceled.

Why the race website is still up and looking like there's a race? I couldn't tell you. I just know the OAC called me yesterday and said, "how do you want us to refund your money?"

Cash, please. Always cash.

Apparently, they canceled the race due to lack of participants. It's really too bad - I was sort of looking forward to this one. I mean, if I had to design a race for myself, it would pretty much be a sprint triathlon without that pesky bike leg getting in the way. Which is exactly what the OAC Aquathlon was going to be: a 5k run and a 400 meter swim.

That's money, baby!

Alas, it was not to be.

So, just like that, I'm done! No more races in Corvallis in 2011. Wow. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.

Well, that's totally not true. I have big plans afoot for 2012. But that will have to wait for a little later.

So over the next couple weeks, look forward to:

-EPIC 2011 Review, Highlights and Lowlights!

-Year of 2011 look back: training, what went right, what went wrong, and where to go from here!

-Preview of the next huge goal the R's has on the block for 2012!

Thanks for taking the EPIC journey with me in 2011. It was good, clean fun!

Cross Training at Wings and Waves

Did a little cross training workout yesterday at Wings and Waves Water Park in McMinnville. If you're looking for a good workout, just grab your children (borrow some, if you don't have any of your own) and hit the waterslides. According to the signage at the park, it's exactly 111 steps to the 747 sitting on top of the building where you jump into the four main slides. I went up those stairs 13 times. Yes, 13 times. If you don't have your abacus sitting next to you, that's 1443 steps.

That's a workout.

Let's race!

RACES FOR WEEK OF DECEMBER 12th TO DECEMBER 18th

December 17th / YMCA Christmas Run 6.1m and 2.5m / Boise, ID

December 17th / OAC Holiday Multisport Classic 5k, Aquathlon and Swim Meet / Corvallis, OR

December 17th / Frozen Trail Runfest 50k, 13m, 8m, 6m and 5k / Eugene, OR

December 17th / Holiday Fun Run 15k, 10k and 5k / Seattle, WA

December 17th / Santa Runs Tacoma 10k and 5k / Tacoma, WA

December 17th / Cable Bridge Run 10k and 5k / Pasco, WA

December 18th / 12k's of Christmas Holiday Run 12k and 5k / Kirkland, WA

December 18th / Winter Solstice Run 5k / Eugene, OR

OAC Turkey Trot 5k Race Review and Results!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, I'm impressed, Corvallis. On a cold, but not raining, Thanksgiving morning, at the early hour of 8am, over 500 runners braved the elements and toed the line for the OAC Turkey Trot 5k and 10k. Nice work!

Let's get right to the action!

So the entire R's family ran this one. Everyone decided to run the 5k. Payton and I wanted to see how fast we could go and Carson and Jen and Jen's Knees wanted to see if they could finish in front of someone.

Missions accomplished!

The 10k was supposed to take off at 8am sharp, but because of the huge crowds (unexpected?), they started about 10 minutes late. Only about 75 or so people in that race. Check out the results right here.

And the 5k. A whopping 446 runners for this one. Nice.

Somehow, this little Corvallis 5k was the first race I've done with the disposable chips that are attached to the race number itself. Seemed to work well. My online results looked to be correct and they got them up super-fast. I like it.

So my last words to Payton before the start gun were, "don't go out too fast. I'll check my watch and let you know how we're doing." Holy moly, can you say "foreshadowing?"

You'd think after 25 years of running competitive road races, I would know how to pace myself in a race. That I would know how to NOT go out too fast in any length race, even a 5k.

You'd be wrong.

See, I have this new problem. I'm actually in decent shape. Not amazing shape, but decent. I can run fast for short bursts and not pass out. And that's a problem. After we had gone around the first two corners (and there are a lot of corners on this course), I knew we were going sort of fast, but I didn't check my watch because I didn't feel that bad. When I did check my watch after about a half-mile and we were well under a 7:00/mile pace, I knew we were just being silly. There's no way Payton or I can keep up that pace for even a 5k. I told him to slow down and tried to notch it back myself, but we still hit the first mile at 7:17. Not that much faster than I was hoping for the first mile, but it was only because we had slowed up considerably after the first half-mile. I knew there would be a price to pay later.

The second mile was at about the pace I was looking for, 7:26, but by the end of that mile, I was starting to feel a bit tired. And my stomach. Oof. If there had been a Honey Bucket sitting around, I would have been in there without a second thought. That's not a good thing in a short, little 5k, but something was just not sitting right. The second mile was also where I got a reminder that runners are horrible at paying attention while they're racing. We were coming up to an intersection. We were clearly turning left. There were runners just in front of us turning left. You could see them going around the corner. There were also 10k runners coming from the left and turning left up ahead of us on the same street we were currently on. It was all pretty clear.

The two runners just in front of me didn't turn left. Didn't even think about it. They just kept going straight, right into the back end of the 10k pack. I yelled, "Turn! Turn!" and they got it back around fairly quickly. It always amazes me. People just get locked in and don't look around at what's going on.

So, mile three. Stomach not right. Lungs feeling that first half-mile a bit. Definitely slowing down a bit: 7:41. Still, I headed into the Linus Pauling Middle School track looking like I had a pretty fair shot at breaking my Master's 5k PR of 23:11. Just had to get around one lap of the track to the finish. No problem.

Holy crap, that was a long lap. As Maxwell Smart would say, "missed it by that much." A 23:18 - seven seconds off the PR. I wish I had felt a bit better in the second half of that race, because you won't find a flatter 5k in Corvallis. An total elevation gain of six feet for the race. Shoot-fire. Check the results here. I did manage to snag 8th place in Masters and 29th overall in a slow T-Day crowd, so that's not too bad. Payton did quite well with a 3rd place out of 33 runners in his age group, and 67th overall. And Carson and Jen did, in fact, beat a few people, so it's all good!

Ah well. I guess the 5k record will have to wait for number 28 in the EPIC schedule: the OAC Holiday Multisport Reverse Aquathlon. Pow! See you there.

Here's the shirt. Like most Turkey Trot races, it has a cute cartoon Turkey. I mean, that's almost a guarantee, right? And it's white, so I've got no issues with it.

One left. See you on December 17th.

A New Corvallis Race? In December? Really?

Apparently, EPIC 2011 will not be finished on Thanksgiving Day, after all.

A new race, a first year debut, has appeared. And it's a "Reverse Aquathlon" of all things! Check it out here. Officially, they're calling this event the Holiday Multisport Classic and it takes place on December 17th.

There's also a plain old 5k, if you'd rather. Personally, I'm all about the swimming, thanks.

So...the pain train rolls on! Event number 28 on the EPIC 2011 list.

Holy schmoly.

McDonald Forest 15k Trail Run Review!

So after missing out on running the Corvallis 5k earlier in the morning, I had to quickly clear my head, and my irritation, and get ready to run a tough trail 15k at the McDonald Forest Trail Run.

We arrived at McDonald Forest with the rain coming down pretty good and the promise of mud awaiting us on the course. Which was fine by me. Really, I haven't had a muddy race all year and with only this race and one more to the end of EPIC 2011, I was sort of hoping for a little mud!

This race was looking like it would start right on time, so a quick trip to the Honey Bucket, then I lined up in the starting chute.

And POW! Off we went. The 5k runners quickly went left, around the lake, and the 15k runners went right, around the other side of the lake, and that was the last I saw of the 5k folks. The first two or three miles of this one is pretty nice. Mostly flat or downhill, with nothing too steep up or down. But as soon as you hit that three mile mark...OOF. This race goes up.

This is an interesting course in that there are a couple spots where you can see the runners ahead of you, but then you take a quick turn and don't end up back where you just saw the other runners for a number of minutes. Tease!

At one point, just past four miles, and going up a nasty hill, my Garmin told me that it lost satellite reception. That's the first time its ever done that to me. It was very cloudy and raining, and we were deep in the middle of McDonald Forest, but it's still annoying to know that your trusty Garmin isn't keeping track of where you're going any more! And if you look at the pace chart above, you can see where it loses it - right where my pace goes to a spiffy one minute per mile pace!

Eventually the Garmin came back online and we were finally nearing the top of the brutal, never ending climb. And then came the part that feels so good the day of...and so bad the next day. The screaming steep downhill section. It's all you can do to keep up with your feet through miles six and seven. You're just flying through the woods! And strangely, even though it was still raining, there were very few patches of mud. The course was actually pretty solid.

So after one last uphill at the nine-mile mark, we were back to the lake and then downhill to the finish. Yes!

I crossed the line with a 1:24:21 time. Not stellar, but hey, that's one steep course. Over 2900 feet of elevation gain, according to my Garmin. I finished dead on in 100th place. Woot! Check the results here.

You might notice that World Champion Mountain runner Max King finished in second place. What?! I know, right? One Chris Reed beat him to the finish line, in an upset for the ages. But as you can read here, young Mr. Reed does in fact know how to run. Still, that's quite an upset. Congrats to Chris!

Also, note the winner of the 5k: Case Regan, a 7th grader from the cross country squad at Linus Pauling. Go LP!

And of course, we've got the always cool McDonald Forest 15k shirt. This year, it was a quality tech tee in a sweet purple color!

And the back, as usual, shows the pain!

Well, as far as I can tell, the EPIC 2011 train has but one race left. Oh noes! And that would be the OAC Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning. Be there!

Corvallis 5 Race Review!

Or not, as the case may be...

So this was the first of a race double header for me on the 30th. The Corvallis 5k, at 9:00am, was to be my 25th race of the year and the McDonald Forest 15k Trail Run, at 10:00am, was to be my 26th.

Didn't happen.

Hey, I was ready and willing, but the Corvallis 5k wasn't.

All of the runners were literally lined up in the starting chute, at about 8:55am, when the race director announced, "Looks like we'll be a couple of minutes late. The 5 mile race will start a few minutes after nine, and the 5k will start at 9:15."

What?

I mean, WHAT?!?

Hey, it said in the flyer that the race started at 9:00. It said at the website that the race started at 9:00. I was on a tight schedule, with no room for error. I had to start at 9:00!

So I stood there and talked it over with my manager, otherwise known as my wife. Even if the 5k started right at 9:15, which was debatable, it would only leave me about 15 minutes to drive from downtown Corvallis to McDonald Forest and find a parking spot and get to the start line. Too tight. We came to the conclusion that I had no choice but to call this one and take off for the McDonald Forest 15k.

Not happy about that. I'll probably run the course later this week just to make myself feel better, but it's not the same. Here are the results. Yeah, I'm not in there.

Shirt is pretty boring, except for the fact that the back says, and I quote, "Spread the love like you spread butter! Mad Love!" Um, ok.

On to the McDonald Forest 15k!

Mighty Oaks Acorn Run 5k Race Review!

We're getting close now - on Sunday the 16th, we had the Mighty Oaks Acorn Run 5k, the 23rd race on the EPIC 2011 schedule. And a fine race it was. The race was a benefit to raise funds for the Mighty Oaks Children's Therapy Center.

So we lined up at Willamette Park in Corvallis on a foggy, cool morning. No wind at all and it didn't look like rain - perfect running weather. We started out north, toward the baseball fields, for just under a mile. I had a lot of kids around me for the first few hundred yards (more on that later), but got by most of them before the turn-around. I still had one boy in front of me, setting a decent pace, at the turn-around.

These out and back courses at Willamette Park are always interesting, because the bike/running trail really isn't wide enough for a lot of passing, and when you've got people, and strollers, going both ways, it gets tricky. A little boy, around four years old maybe, totally took out a kid running beside me with a nice, no-look, swerve across the entire path on his little bike! Good times.

But my pace after the first mile was good, 7:16, and I felt all right. Of course, the first half of this course is as flat as it gets. The second half is a touch hillier, so I knew I would have to save just a bit. We made it back past all the walkers and strollers, and the girl on stilts (no, really), and passed the start/finish line heading the other way. Clear sailing. At about mile two, I got past the only female in front of me, but couldn't quite catch the kid that was just in front of me the entire way so far (one Nick Graham, 14 years old, according to the results). I would reel him in on the flats and downhills, then he would just toast me going up the hills.

I actually could have went by him at the second turnaround, as Nick kept going (to touch the fence, about 20 feet away?), instead of just going around the tree, as we were supposed to do. But who does that? I yelled at him to turn around and get going, then waited for him to get just by me and started the chase again (see the pace chart - that steep down spike into the 12:00 area is me waiting).

So we headed back, and I thought I could maybe get by him, as it's mostly downhill back to the finish line at the park...but I forgot there was one last, steep uphill. My man Nick just left me in the dust, as you can see clearly on the pace chart. Ah well, nice run, Nick.

Check the results on this one. Very, very weird. It was like an invitational for Masters and runners under 18. Note that there isn't a single runner in the top 28 finishers that was between the ages of 17-37! That's just bizarre. And there were some decent times. A 51 year old running an 18:11. A 16 year old running an 18:24. But not a single runner from the prime age groups at the front of the run. Just strange.

Personally, I was happy with my time. At 23:15, it was my fastest 5k of 2011, although if I had looked at my watch just a little before the end, I could have taken off five seconds and had a Master's PR of 23:10. Doh!

Interesting shirt. The colors and butterfly design were in honor of Cassie-Jo Robinson, an 11 year old that passed away earlier this year. Her family was at the start of the run and gave a moving tribute. Read an article about the race and the cause in the Gazette Times. Thanks for a nice shirt, Cassie-Jo.


So we're definitely getting close to the end now. A small, on campus, 5k this Friday afternoon. Then a twofer, yes a twofer, on October 30th, with a 5k and a 15k Trail Run.

Rollin' on!

Great Pumpkin Run Race Review!

And number 22 on the EPIC 2011 countdown was the 21st Annual Great Pumpkin Run, 10k or 5k, depending on your state of mind. And although I didn't come away with a new 10k PR (Doh!), I did pick up a first place in my age division...yeah, there weren't a whole lot of runners in this race.

So anyway, as we huddled in one of the buildings at the Benton County Fairgrounds, the rain came down and down and down. It wasn't a heavy rainfall, but it was a steady mist, to be sure. I lined up next to Payton's former 5th grade teacher, Mr. Joseph Williams, while we listened to some quick instructions from the Race Director. Basically, he only had one: finish in the correct chute! There was a 5k finish chute and a 10k finish chute; he was very clear on which was which, and said they'd be yelling out the same at the finish (this is called foreshadowing - please pay attention!)

Ready, set, go! And Mr. Williams was off like a shot. I mean, I knew he was fast, but about half the time, he runs pushing his daughter in a stroller, which brings him back closer to my pace. Not today. We ran out of the Fairgrounds, out to the road, then right back in on the Midge Cramer path toward Bald Hill.

The group spread out fairly quickly, which was good, because the first part of the Midge Cramer is a bit narrow. No issues though and we quickly got into the rolling hills, which we would have for the first five miles of this one. I probably went out a bit too fast. I was shooting for around a 7:45 pace in the first mile or two, then wanted to hang on in miles three and four and speed up to around 7:30 for miles five and six. Except for the "hanging on" part, that's pretty much what I did. But I looked at my watch a little before a mile and noticed that I was hitting a 7:10 pace - way too fast for me in a 10k. I pulled back a touch, but who knows, that may have been the start of my troubles, right there.

Coming out of the other side of Midge Cramer, we headed west on Oak Creek Drive. Now, there really wasn't any issues with traffic, but this just is not my favorite road to run on. First, it's got some serious rollers. Nothing steep, but constantly up and down. Second, and worse in my opinion, this is a 50mph speed limit road, and as such, the corners are canted. I absolutely hate running on sloped roads. If there's one thing that can mentally take me out of a race, that's it. I don't know why, but it just throws me. So needless to say, miles three and four were really tough for me.

So my pace coming out of mile four was not good. I knew I was really going to have to pick it up on the last two miles to have a shot at my PR of 48:57. And I felt like maybe I could do it. After the turnaround, I started to feel a little better mentally, and once I got past the rollers for the second time, I thought maybe I had a chance. Coming back by the Midge Cramer path, we 10k'ers got mixed in with the back end of the 5k race. Even though most of those people were walking, there's still a slight energy boost when you're passing up a bunch of people, no matter how slow they're going!

So swinging back onto 53rd, I took a quick glance at my watch, knowing I would either have to make an all-out sprint for it or just forget about it...and I just forgot about it. I eased up just a touch and came in at 49:39. The Garmin measured the course a little long at 6.28, but we were crossing roads and paths back and forth, so maybe I just didn't take the right line on everything. The awesomely named Seven Richmond took the win. Check the results right here. And here's Seven himself.

Oh yeah, the foreshadowing. This guy right here, one Thomas Weller, did not beat me. Although the race results would tell you otherwise.

I didn't see Mr. Weller at any point in the race until about 10 feet from the finish line. Yeah, I'm guessing he's one of those folks that the Race Director was warning us about. So Jay, yes, Jay Sexton, I believe you actually took second in your division, not third. Hope you didn't lose out on a bunch of prize money.

And the shirt!

No time for resting. Up next Sunday, as the EPIC train rolls on, is the Mighty Oaks Acorn Run 5k.

See you there!

Beavers Building Haiti 5k Race Review!

Well, 5k plus...

First, this is a good cause, building a school in Haiti, and unfortunately the turnout at this fundraiser 5k was really poor. Maybe 50 runners, and most of those were students. Check out the organizations right here that are working to build the school in Haiti and help out already!

OK, now to the race itself. The Beavers Building Haiti 5k started at Kearney Hall, right on the OSU campus. When I picked up my race number before the race, they had a course map printed out that you could take. It looked like they had made it on MapMyRun.com or something similar and I noticed something right away...that last tenth of a mile after the Mile 3 marker looked really long. Really, really long.

So the route was quite familiar, since it basically followed most of the Fall Festival route from last week, except it cut out the long trip out and back to 53rd. Fast course, pretty much completely flat, except for the small hill in front of Dixon. Another one of those races where people quickly ended up on their own. I passed a guy right around the one mile marker, then that was it. Never got very close to the guy in front of me and no one caught me. Forever alone, right?

Coming up to the turn to the final straightaway, which was right at the 3-mile mark, my fears were confirmed. The finish line wasn't even in sight - it was way down there. The Garmin said the course was actually about 3.30 miles long. Which, as it turns out, was ok, because I was hoping to run a 23:11, but I wasn't going to make it anyway. I figure, if the course was correct and actually 5k, I would have run about a 23:39, so I was bound to be disappointed either way. On the positive side, it's my fastest 5k of 2011, so at least my speed is still going in the right direction.

The shirt is all good. Cute design, not too many ads on the back, and it's white. They should pass a law that all race shirts have to be white, black or grey. Lime green or pink race shirts get you six months probation with an ankle monitor. And I noticed the shirts were made in Haiti. Nice touch.


So, that's it for EPIC # 21. We're moving right on next week with #22 - the Great Pumpkin Run on the 9th. See you there!

Fall Festival 10k Race Review!

So we roll into the first official Fall run, the appropriately named Fall Festival 10k and 5k, and what's there to greet us? Yeah, wind and rain. It's Fall, baby!

Of course, the first problem with early fall runs is what to wear. You can check the skies heading out the door, but that doesn't mean you'll get that weather during the actual race. And indeed, during the 10k, we had sun, overcast, rain, wind, then finally overcast again.

I played it somewhat conservatively and just wore a light, long-sleeve tech tee and my sunglasses. Good enough!

I believe this is the first time I've run the Fall Festival 10k since I've been in Corvallis and right away I realized that the start times were not well-designed. The 5k runners go first, at 9:10, then the 10k runners go five minutes later, at 9:15. Hmmmm...five minutes is not enough of a gap to get slow runners, and walkers, out of the way. I'm not sure why they don't make it 10 or 15 minutes in between the two starts to at least get the bulk of the 5k runners out of the way, but...oh well.

So off we went at 9:15 and immediately crossed the never-ending 9th street construction. Hey, nothing like a little gravel and dirt road to start off - man, they've been working on that street for months! Let's go!

We quickly moved onto the OSU campus and then across and onto the Campus Way bike path that goes out to the covered bridge. It was about there that the wind really picked up. And the rain. It was ugly for about two minutes and I was struggling against the wind. I thought for a second that my PR try could be in trouble if it didn't let up.

But then, as it's wont to do in the Pac NW in the Fall, the rain went away, we turned around at 53rd to get the wind at our backs and I stopped complaining!

The third mile split was the only one that worried me - my only split over 8:00 on the day - but I hit the mile 4 marker back under my pace, so I relaxed a bit as we came back onto campus. A nice downhill section on 30th all the way down to Reser Stadium and then around and back up the hill in front of Dixon. Crested that little hill and then I knew we were flat or downhill for about the last half mile.

Right about then, some Five Fingers-wearing guy asked me three times over a quarter mile how much farther we had to go - he must have seen the awesome Garmin 110 on my wrist - after the third time, I almost told him to go buy a stinking Garmin for himself, but hey, it's all good. I just don't have a lot of oxygen left for talking when I'm trying to set a PR here!

I knew about there that I was going to have a PR, it was just a matter of how much I could beat it by. I was shooting to beat 50:41 and I brought it in at 48:57, so I'm very pleased with that. Slowly but surely, I'm getting some speed back. Maybe I can go after that old 5k PR next year after all.

But I didn't have nearly as much speed as the first female finisher, one Helen Rarick from Beaverton, who ran an absolutely smoking 35:43, for a 5:45 pace! That was good for fourth overall! Wow, nice run, Helen. Check all the results here.

Here's a view of the Fall Festival Run shirt. Hey, it's not art by the famous Fall Festival poster artist Jen Lommers, but it's not bad.


So that's two PR's in two weeks. Do I have another PR in me for 2011? You bet your sweet bippy! Because in a couple weeks, I have the McDonald Forest 15k, and I far as I know, I've never run a 15k in my life. PR, baby!

See you next week at the Beavers Building Haiti 5k.