Last 5k of the Season

I signed up for two 5k’s this year. I completed the first one last month, about a week after throwing my back out. 🙁 Despite not being 100%, I was able to run a lot of it and I wasn’t running at a snail’s pace. I was happy with the outcome. Of course, I was hoping this one would be a little bit better!

I signed up for the Westmoreland Park 5k, which was part of the Portland Parks and Rec $5 5k race series (which I love). This one was two laps around Westmoreland Park (on race day, it was actually 3 laps!), which is a really nice and big park in SE Portland not far from Reed College.

I ran my last 5k with Michael (and it was his first!). This time I ran it with my dad! My parents came down from Seattle for the weekend so we could run it together. And by “together” I mean we started at the start line together and then met up at the finish line later. LOL. Yes, my 60+ year old father is a much faster runner than I am. Oh well! I knew I’d be slow and I warned him to go at his own pace.

Saturday morning I did a quick, easy workout on the elliptical. I took it easy and was basically just trying to loosen up and stay limber for race day. I usually don’t workout the day before a race but last month I did a similar short, easy elliptical workout and I felt like it helped.

Saturday evening we had a little dinner party at our place with my parents and Michael’s mom and stepdad. I made a veggie tray with homemade onion dip and Michael’s mom brought over freshly smoked salmon. By the way, get the veggie chips from Trader Joe’s. They are so tasty!

Michael mom made a delicious Caesar salad and we got pizza! It was nice to hang out and catch up.

Apparently there was a big game going with Oregon State and…someone… :/ I’m not a football fan! So we watched that, too. I practiced sleeping with my eyes open. 🙂

It was kind of a late evening but I got an ok night’s sleep and got up early, ready for race day!

Race Day

This was first organized race my dad has done in years–my mom said 20 but I don’t know if that was accurate. In the Marines my dad was a runner and he was the fastest in his company.He spends a few months every winter in Arizona and runs every day. It’s cool that he’s still doing it, too.

We were ready!! We watched the little kids do their “fun run” (which was adorable) and then it was time.

I told my dad again that if I was too slow he could go at his own pace but he stayed with my the whole time! Which was nice. 🙂 We got in the middle of the pack, between the 10 and 11 minute mile pacer.

The time started and we were off! Westmoreland was a nice park for the race. First, it was completely flat. A nice change from the other parks I’ve done. Second, the terrains was a lot different. We ran on pavement, bark chips (which were nice), grass, dirt, sand, gravel, and wood bridges. It was kind of nice having a little variety.

We ran the first lap (without any walking!) in 11 minutes flat. It was a good pace for me. My dad usually runs a 9 minute mile, but he seemed content to go at my pace so that’s good. That first lap my legs felt awesome and not tired or slow at all.

The second lap I was about 1/4 of the way through and needed a quick walk break. Took about 30 seconds to walk, let my heart rate come back down from absolutely crazy-high, then started running again. Ran the rest of the 2nd lap around 12:30 minutes. The third lap was okay. I took a few short walking breaks but not too long. My lungs were feeling okay, my legs were starting to feel…fatigue. And a little groin/ligament pulling a little bit.

We got to the home stretch and the last 1/4 mile of the race was straight, flat and on the nice and comfy bark chips so we sprinted to the finish!

We got our ribbons!

Took a few minutes to walk around, cool down, stretch, get water and a banana then stopped my watch. Our official chip time was 36:41! I am very happy with my time and the race! And it was cool to be able to run it with my dad. 🙂

We went home and cleaned up and then drove downtown to Tilt for lunch. It’s a restaurant I’ve heard tons about, Michael loves it, but I’ve never been. It was nice to finally be able to try it. It was a cool restaurant in the Pearl District with concrete floors, super modern designs and tons of space. It had a very awesome vibe to it. I ordered the brisket, bacon and egg sandwich that came on a homemade biscuit. It was amazing!

My mom’s burger, the teriyaki and pineapple burger:

My dad got a brisket sandwich with coleslaw and Michael also got a crazy burger:

We shared a giant order of fries at the table. The fries were fantastic! One of my favorites. And the sriracha mayo dipping sauce was so good. Loved it.

After lunch I could have used a nap. I was in a serious food coma and race coma! But there was stuff to do. My parents were helping us get rid of some stuff and donate it to Goodwill. It was a huge help since we don’t have a truck. Got rid of a bunch of bags of stuff, an old shoe rack and my old Ikea loveseat. It was time to get rid of it. A little sad, but it wasn’t something we used (except to pile crap on it) and we needed to make space. It was nice to have the help.

It was a great weekend. Got a lot of stuff done and it was such a cool memory to run a race with my dad!