RIVALRY CLASH 5K RACE REPORT

Me before the race. I'm sure I looked this good after too...

Had a lot of fun yesterday at the 1st annual Rivalry Clash race. Like I said, I signed up because there was a discount on Groupon so it ended up being only $25. Normally it's $50, which is pretty steep for a 5k with no beer or medals or anything, so I would only do it again if I were able to get a discount (or they lowered the pricing).

Saturday night/Sunday morning was the end of Daylight Savings so I ended up getting an extra hour of sleep. I stupidly went to Monte Carlo bowling Saturday night and had a little too much to drink, so I was not feeling so hot Sunday morning despite the extra hour. Kind of sabotaged my changes of an amazing race right there, but I loaded up on Tums and soldiered through it. Overall I don't think it hurt me too much, but it certainly wasn't ideal.

I picked Alejandro up and we drove to the Portland Expo Center for the race. The turnout was fairly even on both sides, maybe a few more duck fans, but the Beaver fans ended up winning the event overall, so HA! In my race 5 of the top 6 finishers were Beavers (spoiler alert... one of them was me).

The race course at the Portland Expo Center.

Anyways, the organization of the race wasn't the greatest, but it was alright. The guy who was MCing the event was HILARIOUS so that made up for that in my eyes. Eventually the 10Kers went off and then the 5K race lined up to go. They had pace signs for each minute pace from 5:00/mile to 10:00/mile. There was a kid lined up at the 5:00/mile sign for the Beavers and then nobody until Alejandro, myself, and a young woman at the 7:00/mile sign. Apparently this race wouldn't have the greatest field.

Before I knew it the gun went off for our race. I was very nervous before this race and I think it was because I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to PR, which I knew would be a challenge. Aside from the Portland Marathon, most my races had been for fun recently, so while I still ended up running near PR times, I wasn't pressuring myself like this.

I didn't feel super great when the race started. Take a look at the video linked right here. I am the second orange shirt that appears on the left hand side (darker one). Notice how I am kind of running like an old man/have a limp/giant stiff? I seriously was not feeling great! I probably should have done a warm up jog or something. It wasn't the free and easy feeling I was hoping for, but eventually after a quarter mile or so my body adjusted to the fact I was going to bomb a 5k.

The course was very flat and I was grateful for that. Most my 5k races have not been flat, so this was a nice break. It wasn't completely flat, there were some small rollers of 15 feet or so, but honestly in Oregon, this is about as flat as it gets. After passing a few people in the first quarter mile I settled into fourth place. Alejandro shot off ahead with two others so I was the first person after that lead pack.

Mile number one I ran way too fast. It came in at 6:29. That is the fastest mile I have ever ran and I was certainly feeling it. I knew I couldn't maintain that for two more miles, so it really was a matter of holding on for the best time I could. I got a little caught up in the PR and trying to stay with the lead pack for the first 500 yards or so. Oh well, in a race as short as a 5k going out too fast doesn't necessarily trash your race like it could in a half marathon.

Hey look, I am on the Leaderboard!

The second mile was a struggle and part of it was running directly into the sun. That wasn't fun because despite it being only 50 degrees outside, it felt way too hot. By then I had settled into my own pocket with only me and some girl about my age 15 feet behind me. The mile time came in at 6:51, which is kind of what I wanted to run except in even splits. Oh well, as long as my overall was below that then my first mile wouldn't hurt me.

At this point I was very ready to be done. Those mile signs seemed to be coming so slow. In some ways a 5k can almost seem as long as a half marathon because the whole entire race you just feel like dying. I could tell my pace was dropping off but I didn't care too much, I was just trying to keep going as fast as I could without passing out. At some point that girl behind me passed me and I was more than okay with that. Just concentrating on running my own race. Alejandro fell off the lead pack and was now being hunted by that girl as well. He was about 45 seconds in front of me at this point.

All told that third mile was hard but probably not as hard as the first mile. I had settled into a "want to die but I can hold onto this" pace and could smell the finish line. The whole race my legs felt heavy which is not typical for a 5k. Normally my legs feel pretty good and my lungs are holding me back. My lungs were still the ones screaming this time, but my legs weren't quite there like I would have hoped. Oh well. Just keep on chugging. It was a slight uphill finish to the finish line. I picked up the pace a little and secured fifth place.

Once I crossed the finish line I doubled over and tried to catch my breath (counter productive, I know). Alejandro was sitting down near the finish line looking pretty drained. We were both exhausted. I was way more wiped than the Corvallis race a month before. I had left it all out there and was very proud of my effort. Eventually we were able to stumble our way back to the main post-race gathering area. They had laptops set up so you could look up your time right there on the spot so that was very cool. I saw that my time was 21:08, a new PR by 37 seconds. Awesome!

Overall a very successful race. I hated every second during the race, but that is typical with a 5k. Once you are done the feeling is great and I was on top of the world for the rest of the day. I had a shiny new PR by 11 seconds a mile. Improving that much in the 5K is a lot of work! I'm excited to do another 5k in a few months after more speed training and see if I can get a sub 21 minute race. The focus now is a new 10k PR at the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving Day!

Overall results: 21:08, 6:48/mile. Mile splits: 6:29, 6:51, 7:09.