SOLES2SOULS 5K RACE REPORT

There was a CRUSH of children lined up at the start line. This also makes it look like I signed up and won a kid's race. While the field wasn't great, 103 runners were 18 or older, okay? :P

Very successful race for me Saturday at the Soles2Souls 5k at Greenway Park in Beaverton. It was a great local race and very well put on. Any concerns about the organization were calmed pretty quickly as the whole thing was well done from beginning to end. As for the race itself, I got my "A" goal, set a new PR, and happened to come in first place overall.

Now, the first place. I don't know quite how to feel about this. I've now "won" two races, including the half marathon last summer, but the only way Thomas is ever going to win a race is if the field kind of sucks. And the field kind of sucked. So I don't want to strut around or pretend this is some giant accomplishment. I personally ran a great race, set a big new PR, but winning a 5k with a time over twenty minutes isn't something I'll plaster everywhere. Was it still kind of cool? Yeah.

Walking back to the start after my
warm up.

Let's start at the beginning. The race went off at 9am, thirty minutes after the 10k at 8:30am. I arrived around 8:15am to pick up my bib. That went fairly quick so I headed back to my car to put the race freebies away and put my bib on. I had planned to run a warm up mile in the park before the race to loosen up. By the time I started my warm up the 10k had already gone off though and they were in the park and I didn't want to confuse anybody who would think I was a lost 10k racer, so instead I did the warm up in an adjoining neighborhood.

I ran the first six tenths of a mile or so at an easy 9:00/mile pace before kicking it into "race speed" at somewhere near 6:50/mile. Maintained that for a third of a mile and then slowed to a jog for the final tenth of a mile. My legs felt good and I think that brief stretch before the race really helped. The race pace seemed like a challenge but that third of a mile was comfortable enough, so maybe I could maintain it.

By the time I walked back to the start line it was less than ten minutes until the 5k went off. I had a concerned volunteer think I was a 10k runner limping back to the start line and ask if I was okay. Yes, I'm fine, I'm actually a 5k runner. Pretty soon we lined up but a bunch of kids beat me to the start line. There must have been fifty kids all packed in the front of the chute. I knew that would be an issue to get around them but I wasn't going to elbow out a bunch of kids to toe the line.

Pretty soon they shouted "GO!" and the race started. Getting around those kids was no joke. They bolted out of the start line of course, so I wasn't going to sprint to get past them, but within fifty yards they were slowing and getting in my way. I ended up weaving into the grass to get past them and almost tripped or rolled an ankle three of four times. I'm really lucky my race didn't end there honestly.

I was able to get through the pack though and pretty soon settled toward the front. Within a half mile I was in the top two, behind a kid I would have guessed was 14 (turns out he was an older 12). After some 6:20 pace to get past the kids and toward the front I settled into 6:40/mile or so. When I first broke from the pack the kid was a good 60 feet ahead of me but I slowly was reeling him in. I was very concerned with running my race and not getting sucked into chasing him though. I kept looking at my watch and making sure I was maintaining the pace I wanted.

This kid was a champ.

Eventually the kid got closer and closer. He kept looking me and checking where I was. I knew if he was this concerned about me not even a mile into the race I was probably going to be okay. I had a feeling he might have started too fast and would burn out. Once I got within about ten feet he picked up the pace and increased the lead to twenty or so. I just kept up my pace and eventually he came back to me though. At mile 1.1 as we rounded a corner off a bridge I passed him. He give me a high five and told me good job. Total class.

After that it was just me and the lead bike. I've never had a lead bike before. It was kind of weird but kind of cool. The boy behind me was keeping up a really good effort and I could hear him breathing for almost the entire next mile, but it slowly faded away. I was passing some 10k people going the other way and they were telling me good job, keep it up, etc.

I was feeling good and able to maintain my speed. The Rivalry Clash 5k, the last 5k I raced, I was in pain the entire second mile onward. This race wasn't comfortable, but I wasn't in pain wanting to die. It was manageable. It was cool to be running 6:40/mile and feel like I could maintain that for three miles. I think I did a really good job of setting the right pace for my abilities and then working to maintain that pace during the race.

Eventually I hit the turnaround for the 5k at about 2.1 miles. I turned around and was eager to see if anybody else in the 5k was close to me. Turns out the kid was still in second place but I had put a good thirty seconds of distance between us. We exchanged high fives and encouragement. He had a couple of older guys on his tail that also encouraged me (and likewise back). Less than a mile to go. I was really focused now. I could actually win and was on pace to set a PR.

That last mile was fairly unremarkable. The pace was starting to catch up with me a little but I knew it was almost done. The park seemed bigger than I remember but it didn't feel anything like the eons between miles at the Rivalry Clash. At mile 2.8 or so, when we turned up the path back to the school, I did glance back. The kid wasn't in sight but I did see a guy about forty yards behind me. This gave me some motivation to pick it up for the final sprint. I was not going to get beat at the line. It was only a quarter mile... I could do this.

My friend Karen from PRC and I, who finished third overall
female in the 10k. Free cake pops to podium finishers!

Turns out that guy was a 10k runner and not in competition with me, but whatever worked. I charged hard and crossed the finish line, stopping my watch at 20:39. Official time ended up being 20:38. After catching my breath I grabbed a water bottle, which were in giant shrink wrapped cases near the finish line. Trying to jimmy one out of there with race brain was not fun, but twenty seconds later I had my water.

The kid crossed a minute and twenty seconds after I did, and by then I had collected myself enough to think of extracting a water bottle for him and handing it to him along with a high five as he finished. Awesome job by him, holding off the third place finisher by three seconds. Other finishers rolled in, including an 8 year old boy who ran a 24:12. As the announcer hilariously said, "doesn't that just make you feel terrible about yourself?" Haha.

Anyways, I stuck around for awards and collected my first place medal. Wohoo. Met some people there I knew and also hung around and chatted with them. The race had a good spread of food and free coffee so I definitely took advantage of that as well. Eventually I put my bib and medal in the car and then headed out for six more miles so I could hit ten on the day and convince myself that I did a long run this weekend. Those six miles actually felt pretty good and were a good cap to the day.

In the end, I set a new PR by thirty seconds and also happened to finish in first place. Pretty successful morning!

Official Results: 20:38, 6:38/mile. 1/171 overall, 1/72 male, 1/103 adult.
Mile Splits: 6:31, 6:41, 6:49.