Can you knock the leaders off?
My husband is addicted to Strava. All of his runner-friends use it, and so do a lot of mine. He’s so addicted to it that whenever another runner-friend’s name comes up in conversation, he makes offhand remarks like, “She has really been upping her mileage lately. You should ask her what she’s training for.”
So I’m putting him to work with the “Strava Segment of the Week .” Note that this is not sponsored by Strava, nor endorsed or supported in any way by Strava. It’s just a fun thing we’re going to do to give some speedy shout-outs to area runners and pose a challenge to those of you willing to take on their segment. Two weeks after each segment is introduced, we’ll check on the records to see if there have been any changes in the leaderboard and post it here. Apparently, if you hold the segment record and then someone beats your time, it’s easy to become obsessed with getting the record back. I like the idea of what it could do for someone hoping to get faster: a virtual head-to-head race, run whenever you feel like it.
This week’s Strava Segment of the Week is one in downtown Portland, called “Sellwood to Steel.” It’s a 4.9-mile point-to-point run that has been recorded on Strava 32 times by 14 people, as of the writing of this post. It has a 0% average grade (it’s flat) and the lowest and highest elevation points are 13 ft and 68 ft respectively. Some things to keep in mind on this route so Strava records it properly, you’ll need to start just South of the Sellwood Bridge. Also, be careful when you get to OMSI, as you’ll stay on the roads for a few blocks before turning back to the Springwater. I’m thinking this route may have been created while the Tilikum was under construction. You can look at the segment’s route on the Strava website or app. As of April 20, 2016, the course records are:
Women’s: Becky Crump from September 2013, 51:06
Men’s: Bill Aronson from January 2014, 28:44
So, can you beat their times and become the leader of this segment? You have until Thursday, May 5 at noon to try and break the record and see your name in “lights” on Run Oregon! We’ll post a new Segment next Friday at 11, and then starting on May 6, posts will include a new Segment and an update on the one two weeks prior.
Strava is an online training and racing log for runners and cyclists. The basic account is free and requires you to create a login. There is also a premium version, but in order to run and record routes as described in this post, you do not need to subscribe to their premium service.
