Race Recap: 2015 Cause + Event 5K

On Sunday, October 18th, I arose in the early morning, sipped my coffee and listened to the rain pitter pattering on the patio outside my kitchen. Normally, this is the perfect recipe to enjoy the moment of solitude with my hot coffee and snuggle in the sofa with my cat and read until the rest of the family arises… well, despite the damp and cold October morning, I had to fight that temptation and lace up those running shoes!

Off to Bethany Village in Portland, I participated in the Cause + Event 5K in defiance of the reservations I had with the drizzling morning weather. Let’s face it, with Oregon and fall weather we are all bound to face a little (or a lot of) rain at some point with running. If we let a little precipitation frighten us, we’d do a lot more sitting on the couch (with a cat) than running.  And, the rain stopped! I was hunkered down with my water resistant wind breaker and my favorite running gear, my hat, but didn’t really need them. Go figure.  

I walked about, mingling with the other excited runners queuing up for their race. The event is very well organized, and if you haven’t given this one a try, sign up for it next year and run it! The beneficiary? Glad you asked. “Every race has a cause.  No race has EVERY cause…. until now.” The participant chooses their favorite (Guidestar registered) 501-c-3 nonprofit when registering for the event and their cause will receive a set donation amount from the participant’s registration (at least half of the fee, the other half covering the event costs). How cool is that? Along the course, I could see signs highlighting the many different organizations represented by the runners and walkers at the event. Many I had not heard of before.  This event not only helps organizations of each participant’s choosing to get additional support, but it helps these causes get more exposure. Before the race, I stopped by all the booths to chat with the organizers and learn about the causes dear to their hearts.  At this year’s event, 123 organizations were represented.

The course starts and finishes at the Bethany Village shopping center and winds through some of the surrounding neighborhoods onto asphalt trail/paths and crossing a couple wooden bridges before looping back to the finish area. As I was making my way through the paths and eventually to the open roads of the shopping center, someone was playing a very loud brass interument on their back balcony. I presume it was for the benefit of the runners to help cheer us on and not to annoy the neighbors on an early Sunday morning… Needless to say I giggled my way through that area of trail as I thudded along to, what I believe to be, a rendition of Verdi’s “Anvil Chorus”.

I felt at first that the course had a “gradual decent, but just noticeable. Otherwise pretty flat.” But I quickly changed my mind.  It looks decpetivly flat, but it is not. The course offers plenty of gradual changes from up to down, and I would go ahead and label this one as “hilly”. As I slowly lumbered toward the finish, that gradual decline I would have thought nothing of at first had turned into quite the climb back. I had visions of runners picking up the start/finish arch and carrying it down to me. Needless to say, I survived my quirky thoughts and powered through to the finish with a happy smile on my face. A cheerful volunteer donned me with my finisher’s medal and a red water bottle full of water. Thank you volunteer! This race is 100% volunteer powered.

The finish is quite the festival with a stage and live music (this year provided by “Hit Machine” doing several popular cover songs) and plenty of dancing. Beer or hard cider samples were available with plenty of delicious (and wonderfully hot) soups and other goodies such as bananas, orange wedges and the like. It is hard to imagine that this event is only in it’s third year. The event runs like a seasoned pro and is very well organized. Mark your calendars for next year’s event and register early! This year, the October event was sold out in early September.

If you’d like to check out this year’s race photos, those are available from Charles Chu Photography and race results are provided by Nomadz Racing. Stay tuned to Cause + Event’s facebook page or website as they continue to tally the final total of all the fundraising efforts for this year’s event.