As with any household that includes children that attend school, there are some weeks where a sickness makes it rounds of the family. We just had one of those weeks. Luckily, the day it really hit me was already a non running day, so it didn’t mess with my training in that sense. I was just crossing my fingers I would be well in the days leading up to the ORRC Champoeg 10K, as I love running there and was hoping for a good performance. Since the race was closer to me than both packet pickup locations, I opted to get my bib on race day, and got there a bit early to avoid the lines.
As expected, bib pick was easy and painless. The light drizzle that had been falling since I woke that morning continued through the day. Luckily, it was warm enough that heavy clothing was not necessary. I took advantage of a few nice trails and the beginning of the race course to get my warm up in. After that, it was time to start congregating at the start. As with most local races, there were a lot of familiar faces and chatting at the line. Then came the standard race instructions along with a non standard identification of me as the 5 minute mile guy. Nothing like starting a race with a target on your back, especially when I was pretty sure I knew who the winner was going to be ( I was right).
The course is a primarily an out and back, with a slight deviation. We started down a dirt road where about 15 people surged to the front. I took it easy, but still managed to roll my ankle on a diabolical pine cone. After a few gimpy steps, it felt better and I got my stride back. We ran across a small parking lot and took a right on a road, where I moved to just behind the leader. As we approached a t intersection where a volunteer was standing, the leader banked to the right. Luckily, I had listened to another participant talking about the course beforehand, and I yelled for him to go left. The next mile or so was all on that road and we hit the first mile at just over 5:20. Definitely faster than I had planned, but I decided to hang with the leader and see what happened. Which happened to be me getting left in the dust, bit by bit. Luckily, as we came to the second major turn that would put us on the path the rest of the course ran along, I was again close enough to direct him.
The rest of the course was out and back along paved trails. Gradual turns, slight inclines and declines, a couple of bridges, and beautiful woods awaited us. Mile markers came in handy, as it was hard to judge distance in that terrain. The turn around point came just after a gradual climb and we headed back. The narrow path was not an issue, as everyone did a pretty good job of keeping to the right. It was nice to hear the cheers and claps as we passed by and the run began to take its toll.
The last few miles were quiet and relatively uneventful. It ran on the path roughly parallel to the road we headed out on. The leader has a significant gap on me, so I concentrated on attempting to hold the pace. It was very scenic and mostly flat, then came back into the initial parking lot and climbed to the finish. Luckily, I managed to avoid rolling my ankle on the way back in. Results were instantly accessible and post race food was plentiful. Overall, it was a good experience, and a fun race. I really enjoyed the location and friendliness of the participants.
Find the full 10K results here
Male Winners
1, Rob Shlegel, 33:57
2, Brian Bernier, 35:48
3. Jason Schroeder, 36:51
Female Winners
1. Super Woman (subtle alias?), 39:21
2. Karla Hoggard, 41:49
3. Melissa Mocklin-Dwiggins, 42:47
Male Masters
1. Philip Demontigny, 37:31
2. Mack Stilson, 37:49
3. Mike Mertens, 38:07
Female Masters
1. Kimberly Workman, 42:59
2. Angela Allen, 44:54
3. Ruann Donnelly, 47:28
Find the complete 30K results here
Male Winners
1. Chris McGinness, 1:50:56
2. Daniel Bartosz, 1:53:22
3. Jeff Smith*, 1:53:44
Female Winners
1. Sarah Horn, 2:06:45
2. Stephanie Henstrom, 2:06:45
3. Susan Smith, 2:08:17
Male Masters
1. Alan Rozendaal, 1:55:30
2. Ian Little, 1:58:13
3. Peter Carleson, 2:00:46
Female Masters
1. Kelly Chang, 2:11:39
2. Willee Broberg, 2:20:25
3. Leann Rice, 2:22:46
‘*’- denotes masters
