Race Recap: ORRC Y2K Run

Two medals - One for finishing and one for winning my age group!

For so many reasons, I look forward to the Oregon Road Runners Club’s Y2K Run every year.  For starters, I have to love any race that starts a mile from my house and doesn’t require me to get up before dawn to run.

Add to that the fact that the 10K, which I have run each of the last three years and four of the last five, is on a course along the southwest corner of Forest Grove is one I run on a regular basis (albeit the opposite direction).  It has a reputation as a well-organized race and, as the first in the ORRC’s annual 10K Series, is well attended with over 600 entrants in both the 10K and the run’s longer distance (this year a full-distanced half marathon).

With both my wife, Melissa, and I entered in the 10K Series this year, the Y2K Run was again a no-brainer.  While she drove down to Tom McCall Upper Elementary for the race, I ran the mile as a warm-up.  The temperature was cool, around 45 degrees, and the skies were overcast, but no precipitation fell, which made for a pleasant morning to run.

With the new half marathon distance, adjustments were made to the start that had it curving around the school’s bus loop.  The change made for a narrow starting line, but that was not a problem as the race was chip timed.

While still coming off the Holiday Half less than a month ago, I wanted to come out and get a strong run in to start the year before I settle in to marathon training.  Like the Holiday Half, my goal was to try to be able to run at a consistent pace (6:45 per mile) and maintain that for six miles.  That would be a challenge considering the three hills on the second half of the course, including the long climb up Ritchey Rd., past Forest View Cemetery right at mile six.

The narrow starting line had me funneled back more in the crowd than I would have liked, but I managed to break free from the pack before making the turn onto Pacific Ave., into town.  I settled into a steady pace as we entered the Old Town neighborhood, but quickly figured out that I was faster than I would have liked.  I cruised through the first mile in 6:27, but figured I would see how well I could hold that pace.

As it worked out, not too well.  Despite running on flat surfaces, I went through the second mile at 6:39.  I settled in behind a woman with a Portland Running Company Race Team singlet for much of the third mile and came through at a 6:44 mile.  Well…at least I was back on the pace I was planning for.  Had their been a 5-kilometer mark, I would have come through in just under 20 minutes.

Not long after the third mile marker was the first hill on Stringtown Rd.  I went ahead and put a surge in so I could allow for some slowing on the hill.  I made it through the fourth in 6:47, charged again up the small second hill and made it through the fifth mile in 6:45 and 33:23 cumulative time.  I ran for the next third of a mile with a fellow racer who lamented that the last two miles had pulled him off his pace as well.  When the pace felt too slow, I went ahead and surged on, trying to hammer some of the flat on Ritchey before heading up the hill.

While I did a training run on the course the Tuesday before the race, nothing prepares you for that kind of climb in a race after six miles of giving it your all.  The hill was a challenge, but the good news is that once you reach the top it is only a quarter mile to the finish line.  I crossed the line in 41:38, slower than the year before, but still feeling like I put in a solid effort.

Then there was Melissa.  She had only been running again for two weeks after injuring her toe the night before Thanksgiving.  She was determined, especially with committing for the 10K Series, to make it out for the Y2K Run.  Not only did she make it out, but she cruised.  She finished in 59:49, running a 9:39 per mile pace and finishing in under an hour.  A great effort.  I am proud of her.

As we prepared to take off and get our girls to a birthday party, I talked for a few minutes with some of my colleagues from Oregon Distance Runner magazine.  Melissa came up to me and surprised me with the fact that I had placed 12th and won my age group!  I believed her, but I had to see it for myself.  Sure enough, I had won my age group for the first time in forever and convinced Melissa that I needed to stay behind and collect my age group award.  And it allowed me to enjoy a couple of the tasty post-race pancakes.

The Good: This race is always well-managed, and race director Barb Schimmel put on another great event.  There were plenty of volunteers to monitor the course, direct traffic at major intersections and man water stations.  The partnerships developed with the Forest Grove High School cross country team and Liberty Fit helped provide those volunteer bases.  The course is challenging, but not too challenging for a first race of the year.  Being the race’s 30th year, the race shirt commemorated the various incarnations of the event (the longer distance used to change to match the year.  Since 2000, it had been a 20K, 20.01K, 20.02K, etc.).  The post-race pancake breakfast is a long-standing tradition and there is always enough for anyone.

The Bad: There was one spot where course management could have been better.  On mile three, runners cross over from the Hwy. 47 bike path onto Stringtown Rd.  At that point, runners took it upon themselves to move to the right side of the road (running with traffic) and went a half-mile before moving back to the left side of the road (opposing traffic).  As it is an open course, it would be safer to have course monitors made sure runners stay on the side of the road opposing traffic.  As mentioned earlier, the starting line was a little too narrow for a race with 600-plus runners. 

Of Note: Not long after the race, Barb Shimmels and Bonny Benton announced that they were stepping down as the co-race directors for the Y2K Run after a six-year run. As this is the time I have run the race, I can't express my gratitude for their work in having put this race together year after year. Well done, ladies!

Race Recap: Foot Traffic Holiday Half

Signing up for a race in December in the Pacific Northwest is always a chancy proposition.  Not only is it in the middle of the holiday season, but also you never know what Mother Nature will throw at you.   It could be sunny, could be mild.  Chances are it will be rainy and cool, with a dose of east winds if you are in Portland.

I knew all of that when I signed up for the Foot Traffic Holiday Half, and thankfully Mother Nature was kind to me and the other 2,000-plus runners who gathered at the Adidas North America headquarters that morning.  There was a nip of cold in the air, but the fog burned off to reveal the sun just before the 8 a.m. start, making my choice of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt the right choice for attire.  The race announcer let the crowd know it was the best weather in the five years of the event. Lucky us!

Unlike my previous runs in 2014, this final run had tangible goals attached to it.  After my Achilles’ injury reprise last winter, I ran the Eugene Marathon half without any expectations and nothing more than base training.  I finished just 19 seconds off my half marathon PR (despite having spent the previous four days on my feet working at the IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships).  There wasn’t much expectation for Hood To Coast either, except to have fun and enjoy the experience.

The Holiday Half was to serve as a litmus test, to see if I was ready to make another charge at a spring marathon in 2015 and to see how well I could hold a pace that would put me on track to qualify for the Boston Marathon. 

The course, an out-and-back along Willamette Blvd. past the University of Portland and into the St. John’s neighborhood, was flat for the most part.  The part from the St. John’s Bridge to the Adidas campus is part of the Portland Marathon course, which bred familiarity.  While the course set up well, I knew that the winter weather could make a race challenging.  I would give it my best shot anyway.

As part of my test, I planned to do keep mile splits on my watch.  During races I usually just glance down, note the time and figure my pace accordingly.  Somehow, at this race, keeping the splits seemed like a good idea.

Positioned well at the start, I got out well over the first half mile, but had to caution myself not go too fast.  I started into my pacing mantra, “If it feels too slow, it is probably about right.”  Through the first mile I was at 6:56.  Just about right.  The second mile was 6:54, a little faster, but not too bad.  The third mile, at University of Portland, was 6:56.  I slowed a bit on the fourth mile to 7:03, but made up in the fifth mile to go back to 6:54.

I was hitting my pace, but my body also felt right.  In the Thanksgiving 4-Miler I had run three weeks earlier, I felt winded when I tried to push to a 6:45 mile.  In this race, my body seemed to know that this is what it needed to do.

The next two miles were 6:47 and 6:55 before I finally slowed down to 7:03 in the eighth mile.  This mile included the race turnaround (longer out than in) and also saw me take in my race day fuel of gummy bears.  By the ninth mile I cruised back into the central part of St. John’s at 6:54.  While I needed some positive self talk to remember to hold my pace, miles 10 and 11 were right on target at 6:58 and 6:54.

In the 12th mile I could feel my body dragging a bit, but part of that was searching for the mile marker.  Either no mile 12 marker was put out or I missed it, so I spent the last 2.1 miles wondering if I was slowing or hitting my pace.  When we reached the split between Willamette Blvd. and Killingsworth, I knew that I had gone past the 12-mile mark. 

What I didn’t realize was how close to the finish I actually was.  Two more curves and suddenly I was on N. Greeley, with the finish line a quarter mile in front of me.  When I saw the time on the clock, I surged as fast as I could.  I crossed the finish line in 1:30:59…a PR by five minutes!  The fact that I went under 1 hour, 31 minutes, was an awesome bonus.  The fact that I ran 6:56 per mile pace proved that I am ready to tackle a spring marathon and a Boston qualifier.

I knew I was in shape to run well, but I had no idea the Holiday Half would be that successful for me.  The strategy of keeping splits worked well.  The clock kept me honest with myself and allowed me to more accurately gauge my speed and effort.  It may become a regular part of my racing strategy.

Outside of the missing 12-mile marker, the Foot Traffic and AA Sports crews put on a good race.  The start/finish area was well put together.  The aid stations were adequately staffed.  The indoor warm-up area in the Adidas gym is a major plus on a cold December morning.  The bus shuttle, allowing runners to park on Swan Island and take a “big yellow sleigh” up the hill to Adidas did a lot to keep the area around the start/finish uncluttered.  The shirt was one of the best I have gotten from a race in a while and the medal with the Abominable Snowman is awesome.  Both are quite fitting for a race during the Christmas season.