A mild breeze may have turned the Tigard Festival of Balloons into the Festival of Balloon, but it helped cool off a great Twilight 5k Run on a warm June evening. This 8th annual event is presented by the Foundation for Tigard Tualatin Schools and has always done a great job at creating its own mini-festival within the bigger one.
I have run this once before, back in 2013. Honestly, not much has changed – which is actually a really good thing. The pre- and post- race festivities are all within the east part of Cook Park, which is extremely shaded and really a perfect place to stretch out, relax, and warm up (or cool down). There were 10-15 tents set up handing out fliers, doing contests and giveaways, and live music was being played. It continues to be a perfect location.
The race course starts on the paved roads within the park, but quickly connects up with bark trails and bike trails. Aside from a few sections, it stays pretty dang level and straight. I was surprised by the number of participants – 574 to be exact. Considering how the trails can be relatively narrow at points, it is a testament to the organization that things didn’t become muddled. Between Huber Timing and the race directors, runners were brought to the start line and were stopped every 20 seconds or so to keep things spaced out.
I was in the first clump of runners, still feeling fast (for me) after the previous night’s Salem Summer Solstice 10k. After maneuvering over a few speedbumps and circling around the parking lot, we hit a narrow trail until meeting up with paved bike path. I ended up settling in with a group of about 6 near a 6:55 pace – a group that I essentially ended up trading places with throughout the length of the race.
Just before the first mile, we took a sharp right to head south and cross over the Tualatin River. In 2013, I remember circling back via a trail in the Tualatin Community Park, but this was modified by a 180 degree cone turnaround instead. Heading back into oncoming traffic is always a little scary, but everyone seemed to be minding the rules of the road. Even with a relatively narrow path (narrow for 575+ runners plus non-running spectators), I did not need to break my pace or have any near-collision experiences. Good job runners!
Now heading north and passing the busy section, we veered into Durham City Park – a paved trail system with a little more rolling hills and definitely more twists and turns than at any point in the course. My pace started to waver a little at this point, my body and it’s PR-ready pace not ready for the changes. Mile 2.5 saw us turning back on the final stretch towards home. Considering that the same crux of the T-shaped course is crossed three times, and given that the water station is also right there, I didn’t find it too crowded. This could have been due to my pace, but I never found it an issue.
I ended up getting passed by a few guys in the last home stretch and I offered them encouragement as they cruised in ahead of me. As someone who has little to no idea what any of my PR’s are (I know – it’s blasphemy), I am pretty sure a personal 5k record was achieved. I don’t ever remember breaking the 7 minute mile pace in a race, so I was pretty happy about that. It’s no Joe Dudman or Brian Bernier, but I’ll take it!
Afterwards, I stocked up on pretzels, bagels, fruit, and a small free Jamba Juice – a very smart thing considering that my wife texted me from the balloon festival carnival regretting her grease-filled dinner. This is really a great event and a great way to incorporate your running into a larger experience. I hope not to wait 3 years next time.
Full results can be found here.