Groundhog’s Day found me in the little town of Scio, Oregon, running in the 2nd annual Roaring River 5K. They also have a 10K and half marathon. I was still chasing the 20:00 minute barrier on my 5K so went with that race.
I will start with the results. I finished in 21:05, improving my PR by 12 seconds. I finished 2nd overall and was the top adult finisher. Only person to beat me was a 12 year old boy who ran 19:18. Dude has skills! Very nice kid as well. Sought me out after the race to find out how I did and congratulate me.
The race itself was good. Course promised to be fast…yes and no. Starts out going downhill for about 3/4 mile and then flat for almost another mile. Then you turn around and go back. That 3/4 climb kicked my butt. Didn’t help that I went out WAY TOO FAST. Really need to work on my pacing. If I need to go 6:25 pace there is no reason I should run the first mile in 6:07. Just wasting energy.
This event is put on by the Lebanon High School cross country team to help them raise money. Was one of the reasons I ran it. Overall they do a pretty good job. Nothing fancy but everything you need for an event. Since it is a small town race I thought one of the best things they did was really try to announce everyone’s name as they crossed the finish line. Just something special about hearing your name called in my opinion. They also put on a pretty good spread after the race with water, gatorade and oranges. Then they do a potato bar with pretty much all the fixings. I’ve never been one that likes to eat right after racing but it looked pretty good and people seemed to be enjoying it. The awards ceremony left a little to be desired but I could just be nitpicking. They had one of the students running it and it was very hard to hear him as he is obviously not used to talking on a microphone. They didn’t do overall winners, just age division. Plus they gave out ribbons. The first place ribbon (which I got) were nice as far as ribbons go, but second and third place looked like something from the Dollar Store. Gave it kind of a cheap feel. Plus they didn’t announce finishing times. Oh well. Still a good event.
Not sure if I will go for another 5K before I start training for the RnR Half next month. If I don’t, my chase for sub 20:00 might have to wait until end of the year or maybe a resolution run in 2014. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing if I run the same one as this year as it is definitely a PR friendly course.
The picture I’m posting is of me right after I checked in for this weekend’s race. Yes, I like bright colors. Kind of my thing right now.
As of right now I don’t have another “race” planned until the Shamrock Run on March 17th. Running the 15K as part of my training for the half marathon. Not really planning to race it, rather than just run it. But who knows what happens once the gun goes off.
Until next time.
Happy Running
Lonnie
Team Neon Running 