If you live in the Portland metro area, and run or walk, and haven't been to Fit Right NW's First Thursday Urban Adventure Run, DOOOO ITTTTT!!! May's run was a blast, since it was finally sunny and warm (ok, maybe a little too warm). Our group took it easy this month due to some injuries and the heat, and did a casual 3ish mile run and came back early for the beer ;)
Race name: Uberthons Spring Half Marathon
Date/time: Saturday, May 3, 2014; 8:30 am Registration/price: $75 Location: St. Josef's Winery; Canby, Oregon Events offered: Half marathon Number of runners: 168 (capped at 300) Beneficiary: UberJogathons Race name: Cinco de Mayo Run/Walk
Date/time: Sunday, May 4, 2014. 7:45 am half marathon, 8:20 am 10k; 9:00 am 5k Registration/price: 5k $29-44; 10k $34-54; Half Marathon sliding scale (suggested $40-99). Upgrade to VIP for any race distance for an additional charge. Location: Pioneer Courthouse Square; Portland, Oregon Events offered: Half Marathon; 10k; 5k; kids race Number of runners: ~1800 Beneficiary: Candlelighters for Children with Cancer My race recap of the inaugural Capital City Half Marathon is now up on Run Oregon! Also, fellow Run Oregon blogger Matt Rasmussen also wrote a recap.
Race name: Hop Hop Half & 5k
Date/time: Saturday, April 19th, 2014; 5k @ 7:30am, Half @ 8:15am Registration/price: 5k $35-40; Half $68-80 Location: Marine Drive; Portland, OR Events offered: 5k and half marathon Number of runners: 689 for the half, 299 for the 5k (capped at 1500). Beneficiary: Society of St. Vincent de Paul - Portland Race name: Blooms to Brews
Date/time: Sunday, April 13th, 2014 Registration/price: 10k - $37-50; Half $60-75 Location: Horseshoe Lake; Woodland WA Events offered: 10k and Half Marathon Number of runners: about 800 Beneficiary: Scott Hill Park and Sports Complex Race name: Bridge to Brews
Date/time: Sunday, April 6th, 2014; waves start at 8:40 Registration/price: 10k or 8k $34-54; VIP 10k or 8k $89-99 Location: Lilis-Albina Park (Portland, OR) Events offered: 10k and 8k run/walk Number of runners: About 3800 total Beneficiary: Molly's Fund Fighting Lupus It was announced on facebook but I forgot to let you all know on here ... I'm officially blogging for Run Oregon now too! Click here to read my very first blog post: a race recap of the Monument Peak 10 Mile Trail Race on Run Oregon Blog!
Race name: Shamrock Run Portland
Date/time: Sunday March 16th, 2014 @ 7:40am Registration/price: I paid $40 for the 15k Location: Tom McCall Waterfront Park Events offered: 5k, 8k, 15k Number of runners: 35,000 (the largest running and walking event in Oregon and the second-largest on the US West Coast) Beneficiary: Doernbecher Children's Hospital Foundation Packet pickup: I registered as part of NW Personal Training's team ($4 from registration went to charity), so I just picked up my packet from their gym. I did feel like I missed out a little on the expo--friends said it was fun--but I liked the convenience of picking it up in Vancouver. Swag (t-shirts): This year's shirt was fitted green Adidas shirt (NOT Dri-fit fabric!) and for 15k only bottle opener medal. The whole reason I ran this race was to take on Terwilliger in a race and earn the Shamrock 15k medal. The bottle opener medal is okay and the lanyard is a little hokey. T-shirts ran ridiculously small. Apparently it was a production error, and Shamrock's organizers ordered extra shirts available for exchange (although I didn't find that out til the day of the race). Fortunately I'd brought my shirt with me just in case and was able to exchange it for a larger size. Also included: a tiny cup of salmon chowder and a beer but I didn't want to wait in line--we headed to Rock Bottom instead. Parking: We arrived one hour before the start of the race and parked just two blocks away! Bag check: Because we parked so close, we did not do bag check, but it was available. Course: I've only run Shamrock once before. I did the 8k a few years ago when I first started running, and while there's a certain energy and tons of people hitting the bars for more beer afterwards, I didn't love how crowded the course was or the after party. So I swore off Shamrock... Until this year. A ton of friends were running it, and I wanted to take on Terwilliger in a race just once, earn my Shamrock 15k medal and just get it out of my system. The 15k course is medium hard. There's slow gradual uphill on Broadway before you hit the awfulness that is Terwilliger (an unrelenting uphill climb that lasts for miles) before heading downhill for a few miles to the finish. The race: I was tired. Just a mile in I wished I'd signed up for the 5k instead of the 15k. Every step felt difficult, my legs felt heavy and I felt like I was breathing hard. By the time I got to terwilliger, I just thought AW HELLLL NO. my only goal was to run the entire race, no matter how slow that meant I was moving. And it got slow. Really really slow. But I did it. My favorite part was the bacon and beer aid station at mile 8. I didn't take any bacon but I did grab a little paper cup with about a shot of beer in it and drank that. It didn't feel right not to ;) Post-race: There were signs pointing toward the 15k medals and water but better, bigger signage would have been helpful. I do appreciate that they attempted to avoid the fiasco of a previous year when non-15kers grabbed the medals that were being handed out at the finish line by having the runners pick up in a separate area and have their bib marked to indicate that they had received their medal. Cell reception sucked for most people. I was lucky that my Straight Talk iPhone 5s didn't seem to have any issues. But just keep in mind that you may not be able to use your cell to find your friends. Have a plan of where you'll meet. Photos: I looooove that race photos are available for FREE! There were lots of photographers on the course, and I probably found a dozen good ones of me. Results: Not great. 1:27:54, 9:25 pace. As much as I don't like huge races where you're constantly weaving around people, Shamrock Run Portland is a really fun and crazy experience. On February 27th, Fit Right NW hosted Brooks Bash: Pure Project Fashion Show. It was super fun! Discover what the NEW Brooks Running Pure Project Apparel line has to offer! Premium fabrics and cutting edge designs make for a superior performance in these technical yet stylish pieces. *Apparel presentation with live models *Food, Beer & Wine *DJ *Raffle Prizes (including FREE apparel from the collection!) This was really a fun event! The DJ created a fun atmosphere, and we just kind of shopped and mingled for the first part of the event. Then there was an informal fashion show with about six models (male and female). The Pure Project collection was cool--I liked the mix of technical fabrics and runner-friendly details, mixed with cool street-wear styles and patterns. The womens' apparel was cut very short (while loved the short shorts but most of my gal friends weren't interested in shorts that short, and the reflective jacket we all loved didn't fit any of us very well). I was kind of tempted to buy the reflective jackets in a men's small... but at $130 I wanted something that would fit me like a glove. The food was delicious (little meatballs that I didn't eat, and delicious quinoa cakes from Elephant's Delicatessen), there was a 10k IPA from Ghost Runners Brewery, and two kinds of wine. There were a ton of nice raffle prizes (Fit Right gift cards, Pure Project apparel, etc). but I didn't win anything. The first 25 to sign up online received a cool Brooks Pure Project drawstring bag with a glass waterbottle, soap on a rope, and a little travel kit, and I did get one of those!
Check out Fit Right NW on Facebook to stay in the know about future events! :) |