RIVALRY CLASH 5K PREVIEW

Tomorrow morning is the first annual Rivalry Clash 5K at the Portland Expo Center. I stumbled upon this race because it was on Groupon for a discount, and I'm a sucker for a 5k at a discount. Actually, there was a 10k option as well, but I knew I wanted to focus on speed this winter so I went ahead and signed up for the 5k.

This race should be a lot of fun because it is all about Beavers vs. ducks (I cannot capitalize their name, it gives them too much respect). When you sign up for the race, you either have to sign up for the Beavers or ducks team. Before the race starts, each team lines up in separate corrals and then when the gun goes off you run right toward each other before merging and heading off on the same course (basically you start at a "T" in the road). So hopefully no punches are thrown! I think it should be a friendly good time.

Eventually the first 100 finishers or so score points for their team, and whichever college has the most points is crowned champion, which means pretty much nothing, but still, you want to beat them! So hopefully I'll be finishing in the top 100 and scoring points for the Beavers. Regardless, it should just be a good time and extra motivating if there is a dumb duck in front of me to beat.

The course should be pretty dang flat. It is at the Portland Expo Center and I previewed the course a little bit on Google and it will be very flat. A few tiny movements in elevation, but nothing major. Definitely the flattest 5k I have ran. My two best times so far have been in Corvallis and that course is far hillier than what will face me tomorrow.

Overall, I hope it run it hard and leave it all out there. This race was kind of a last minute deal and so I'm not too worried about it, but still want to have a good race.

Goals:

A Goal: New 5K PR! 21:44 or less. I hope to achieve this, but I've only been interval training twice so I'm not entirely sure I'm any faster than before.

B Goal: Sub 22. This is 7:04/mile or less. Unless I feel like crap the morning, I think I can get this.

C Goal: Sub 24. While my main focus is sub 22, should something go wrong, just have fun and finish. While my muscle strain seems to be healing, it tends to rear up when I run fast, which I will be doing tomorrow. There is a reasonable chance it'll flair up and I'll have to ease off the gas.