Race Recap: 2015 Tar ‘n’ Trail 5K

On Sunday, Oct 11th, I joined several of my “running friends” for the Friends of Mt. Tabor Tar ‘n’ Trail 5K and 10K.  All of these amazing people I call “friend” (and are very good friends!) I have made only because of this crazy hobby of running.  Janna (who contributed a guest recap of this event last year) met some of her best running-buddies at this race.  How cool is that?

This is a small, community event and one it seems likely to walk away from with a new friend or two.  As the race was finishing up and I was walking away to meet my family at the park’s playground, I heard several runners inviting others out to coffee.  I wish I had a little more time to join them!  The event is small and 2014 hosted 61 participants in the 5K and 41 for the 10K.  This year the event has grown with 104 participants listed on the results for the 5K and 42 for the 10K.  My running buddies and I started the race by singing Happy Birthday to Janna and found it to be the birthday of another runner stand close by and then yet another came over with the same birthday.  What are the odds?  It was little moments like this that gave me such a sense of “community”.

 I’ve been hobbling a bit lately with aches and pains and two of my running pals (who I have missed tremendously with my not so small hiatus from group runs with friends) stayed with me the whole time (for what I know to be their slowest 5K ever!!  That is dedication).  Results are available from Huber Timing.

We traveled through the ups and downs of Mt Tabor enjoying the fall leaves, the misty morning and beautiful views.  Between myself and several friends taking pictures before and during the event, it is hard to narrow down the pictures to post in this recap.  The weather could not have been more perfect with cool temps (but not too cold) and lacking both sun and rain.  The fog lifted slowly, but for most of the event we were running through the drifting clouds floating down to earth.

We circled three reservoirs, looked out through the clouds and fog for glimpses of Portland below us and I savored the feeling of bark dust and compact dirt under my feet.  I have missed trail running!  The weather has been a little wet lately, and the trails were perfect and if there were any technical areas to be weary of, it might have been the actual asphalt with thick patches of wet pine needles piling up (and that appeared to be fine, as well.  Just something to watch out for).   The proceeds of the event help the Friends of Mt. Tabor “weed warriors” who help care for the park and make it such a beautiful place to enjoy.

The stairs proved to be a little more brutal that I was anticipating with my hip/lower back injury… but this vow is in writing:  I will be back next year and will be a lot stronger and ready to tackle these stairs (with proper running form and not crawling).

With the price for this no-frills event, I hope to see you out there next year as well!  Did I mention raffle prizes?  There may not be a lot of extra goodies with registration such as t-shirts or finisher’s medals, but this is a gem of an event with ribbons for the age group winners, plenty of awesome raffle prizes (such as an entry into Uberthons Halloweenathon, Nike jackets, nut butter fuel packs, wine, goodie bag full of yummy treats from safeway and much more).  So, see you next year and I’ll clear my morning schedule to go out for coffee afterwards as well!