On an unseasonably warm and unseasonably dry Saturday morning, over 250 runners and walkers met up at the PRC Beaverton store for the second race in this Winter’s 5k Running Series. My Facebook throwbacks had reminded me of the snowy race #2 I ran at this time last year, but I was thankful for the warmer weather. Bib pickup was quick and easy again, and I grabbed some coffee before standing in line to get my second race patch pressed onto my event shirt. While waiting, I also spotted fellow RunOregon bloggers Kelly and Nikki getting themselves ready to run.
Around 8:45, everybody headed towards the start line, just a block north of the store, to take part in Paula’s warmup before the 9am start. The anthem was sung, we lined up to race, and after a 10sec countdown, the group was off. I was feeling pretty good, and in preparation for next month’s prediction run, I tried to look at my Garmin as little as possible. Since I participated in last year’s winter race series as well, this was my fifth time on this course, but it’s a little bit different each time. This time there was no ice, no snow, and no flooding, so things went really well. Volunteers were positioned at the important turns and offered a smile, a wave, and encouraging words. The first half of the third mile is an uphill, followed by a gentle downhill towards the finish, and I sped up a little towards the finish. My chip time was within 30 seconds of last month’s result, so I have a pretty good idea what finish time to list for next month’s prediction run.
After the race, participants gathered inside the PRC store for breakfast catered by Stanford’s Grill, awards, and raffle prizes. To speed up the raffling, loaves of bread and packets of running socks were thrown into the audience as well. I also took advantage of the 25% off discount and got myself a new pair of running capris that I had been eyeing.
The top overall finisher was 23 year old Danny Martinez with a time of 14:42 (more than two minutes ahead of the #2 finisher). Top female finisher was 36 year old Lydia McRae with 17:58. Complete results for the race can be found here.
There is one more race left in the series, and it is a prediction run during which no timekeeping device is allowed on the course. The winner will be the person who finishes most closely to their predicted race time. The race is on February 10th at 9am at PRC Beaverton (Scholl’s & Nimbus Ave). Registration is open online.
