It was a gorgeous day for a 5k with Oregon Brewery Running Series at Threshold Brewing on May 15th! As always, the atmosphere was relaxed and fun, with our hosts in good spirits and our race directors as cheery as ever.
I dragged my husband along with me for this 5k race, and since he’s not much of a runner and his knee has been giving him some issues, we decided to enjoy a walk rather than a run. That’s one of the great things about the Oregon Brewery Series 5k races – These are untimed events and there’s no pressure to run them at all if you don’t want to. People come out with their kids in strollers or with their dogs on leashes, and they just move at any speed they feel up to. The distance is “5k-ish” and the Threshold event was just shy of the 3.1 mile mark. However, it was one of the more challenging routes since it climbed up Mt. Tabor and back. What that makes for is a beautiful scenery that takes you off the Portland sidewalks and into pretty parks and gorgeous views of the city.
The Oregon Brewery Series has some great safeguards in place since we are still living through a pandemic. For one, they have been starting small groups of about 10 runners at a time in waves. Also, everyone at our event was still required to wear a mask in the brewery, despite the garage doors being open. Facial coverings were also still required in areas where keeping 6 feet apart was difficult, but once we took off on the course, people felt comfortable enough to remove them. We chose the 10:00AM start time, which was the first wave, and the race directors played DJ and asked the group if we had any particular song we wanted to hear for our epic start to pump us up. So the next thing we knew, the beats of “Eye of the Tiger” sent us off and running (or walking for some of us.)
There is no bag check and no aid stations on these courses, and there were no volunteers to lead the way. However, there were maps available at the start when we checked in, and even a bar code that you could scan with your phone to lead you to a handy map. We did not have any trouble finding our way and we honestly were just glad to enjoy an absolutely beautiful day away from our children.
We were done before we knew it and as always, had a few swag options to choose from. I noticed that there is now a punch card, so if you opt against any of the swag prizes, you can get a punch on a card instead! A couple of punches will get you a free beer, 6 punches will earn you a tee shirt, and 12 punches gets you a growler fill. So if you’ve already collected all the swag or none of the options are tickling your fancy that day, get a punch instead!!
The best swag!!
As always, we were rewarded with a free beer of our choice after our walk in the heat. There was also the option of a cocktail for $5 off if that sounded better than a beer did. I went for a delicious black currant cider and my husband got a Milkshake IPA. There were raffle prizes and general cheer and shenanigans afterwards, and we were kind of sad to leave and have to return to reality. It’s been a wonderful return to running!!
Get in on the fun! The next event is at Trap Door Brewing in Vancouver on May 29th. After that, there are several more events coming, as shown below!! I highly recommend you make the trip out!
The Oregon Brewery Running Series current lineup:
- Trap Door Brewing (Vancouver, WA) – 5/29
- Crux Fermentation (Bend) – 6/26
- Migration Brewing (North PDX) 7/3
- Portland Cider (Clackamas) 7/10
- Public Coast FARM (Banks, OR) – 7/24
- Loowit Brewing (Vancouver, WA) – 8/7
- Abbey Road Farm (Carlton, OR) 8/29
- Ferment Brewing (Hood River) 9/18
- Ninkasi (Eugene) 10/2
- 54°40′ (Washougal, WA) 10/9
