It was the Run for the Cheetah, the last in a series of 4 races around the country to help raise awareness about the endangered cheetah and to raise funds to support the Cheetah Conservation Fund's programs.
Appropriately, the race started and ended at the Portland Zoo.
A couple things about this race had me apprehensive:
(1) portland was going through a bit of a "cold snap" just in time for the race, and the weather forecast placed that morning run somewhere between 35 and 38 degrees Farenheit. Brrr!
(2) this was more or less the same route as the Reach the Bridge run I ran in late June... only, the Reach the Bridge was 1 way all the way down the hill to the Burnside Bridge. Run for the Cheetah was a loop. We ran approx 2.4 miles downhill, and then turned around and ran 2.4 miles back up that stupid hill. ugh.
Since they had dropped plenty of hints that we should take the MAX instead of planning on parking at the zoo, I went ahead and planned appropriately.
The schedule was as follows:
7:00 a.m. Day of Race Registration
8:00 a.m. Kid's Run / Walk
8:30 a.m. 8K Run / Walk
8:45 a.m. 5K Run / Walk
9:00 a.m. Food, Fun& Festivities
10:00 a.m. Awards/Prize Drawing
I was shooting to get there by 8am... and I think I JUST made it, by catching a 7:30am MAX train from the Lloyd Center station (for $2, I could get a 2 hour 2 zone ticket). I munched on some electrolyte snacks, drank some water, and put myself together on the MAX train (wiring my ipod headphones for running so the wires go along my back instead of my front, etc).
I got off at the Washington Park exit, and took the elevator up to the zoo. The race start/finish line was right next to the elevators. I was picking up my packet right about when they were sending the kids off on the kid dash.
It was cold. It was DERNED cold... but I knew I'd warm up as soon as I started running. I wore my full leg running tights with a pair of thermal tights underneath and a running skort over top. I was also wearing my puma long sleeve running hoodie, with a tanktop tech layer underneath for heat retention. Last minute I went ahead and threw the event Tshirt overtop the hoodie. And, ofcourse, I had my hat and my running gloves... but I also decided to wear earmuffs.
I pinned my number onto my front, and tied my chip onto my shoe... then hurriedly put my gloves back on and zoned out for a bit while the kids were running.
It was a hard decision to check my coat into the clothing check, but a necessary one. Then I found myself bouncing around and running in place in a desperate attempt to warm myself up... or atleast, keep myself from cooling off too much before the race start.
There weren't many people around, which wasn't too surprising given the weather, and the fact that I'd seen virtually no advertising for this event (I heard about it from another person... someone who ended up not even doing it herself). I noticed that the race bibs were color coded tho. I had a yellow number, but most of the people at the start line had a white number. I found out later that the white bib was for the 5K run... and the yellow was the 8K. WAY more people were doing the 5K run than the 8K run.
They lined us 8K'ers up on the start line... but not before I helplessly watched a lady fall over the timing mat machine. She hit the ground, and her leg dangling over the mat and her timing chip strapped to her shoe kept making the thing beep. I was worried about her, but she seemed to just shake it off. The officials got her bib number and zeroed out the timing machine of her entries.
Finally, at roughly 8:35am, they let us 8K runners go.
Here is the course map:
We started exiting the parking lot uphill, and then turned a sharp right turn and then it was 2.4 miles more or less entirely downhill, with some areas steeper than others. I was faced with the dilemma of not wanting to wear myself out TOO much, but also wanting to take as much advantage of the downhill before having to really work on the uphill portion of the run.
I think this photo was taken of me in the first mile or so:
It did take me about a mile and a half to really warm up unfortunately. We passed an aid station at a little over 1 mile. The highschool (or middle school? I really can't tell anymore) girls they had working the aid station were more into talking to eachother than handing out water... and I had to stop and wait for one of them to notice me and hand me a cup. They also said it was water... but it was watered down gatoraide... which I really didn't appreciate. I only wanted plain water. I was only able to get half a gulp down before needing to pour it out and throw it away.
One strategy that I was using, since the route was winding, was I decided to run the tangents to the curves instead of always running on one shoulder or the other. This way I think I actually shaved some distance off the run, and I did noticeably pass other runners specifically when I was refusing to stick to the side of the road. I'd always check behind me for automobile traffic or faster runners before doing it... but I never ended up having a problem with that.
I didn't fall too far behind the front of the pack. I did let people go ahead of me, but I was determined not to bring up the rear. After I FINALLY warmed up, I was able to run faster, and was able to pass a number of people who had passed me in the first mile.
We hit the Lewis and Clark circle at the bottom of the hill, the turn around for the 8K race, and I saw one or two fast looking runners already headed back up the hill, having already gone around the circle. As I ran around the circle, and passed another person, I was stealing myself for a 2.4 mile uphill climb. It wasn't going to be easy... that's for sure.
Exiting the circle to go back uphill, I noticed a handful (maybe 5? maybe more) slower runners just entering the circle... that made me at least feel a little better about my pace.
On the initial uphill I ended up leapfrogging 2 ladies quite a bit, until one gave out and started walking. At about 3.5 miles in we reached the 5K turn around point... and there were a lot of people turning around there right then when I reached it. The good news is, I seemed to be slightly behind my pace for the 5K runners, so I was easily passing a good number of 5Kers once I was among them (passing people really does feel good). And then... on a particularly steep grade I finally gave out and ended up walking for a little bit. But as my heartrate recovered I found myself walking faster and faster and adopting the Portland to Coast walking techniques I had worked on all summer, till I was walking a 12 minute miles uphill. It was just something I thought I'd give a try.
I learned tho, that you really don't give yourself a break by walking fast uphill in place of running uphill, and the transition from walking fast back to running wasn't very painless. I did get back to running before long tho.
I think this photo was taken with close to 1 mile to go:
Back to head-down running up the steep hill (the best way I've learned to not feel overwhelmed by the amount of hill you still have to conquer... you focus on where your feet are, and on your next steps only), I knew the end was near cause I could hear the music in the parking lot somewhere to the left of me... I just needed to reach the top of this hill and then it was a drop back down into the parking lot.
At the top of the hill, I allowed myself a second or two to breathe, and then I pushed like hell to the finish line... using that hill as best I could. I passed 3 or so people on that last stretch who had been able to stay in front of me up most of the hill... so that was neat. I just zipped by them like they were going slow. Man, I love downhills!
Over the finish line, the announcer said my name, and I twirled my forefingers in the air in celebration as I slowed down in the finisher chute. I noticed some of the people who finished infront of me were not having a chip clipped off their shoe, and I remembered that the timing chip was only for those people who cared to be timed. They had a no-timing option. Why wouldn't you want to know your time if you're running? I mean, I could see walkers possibly not really caring, but if you do decently well and you ran, wouldn't you atleast be curious? Ah well. I went and had my chip clipped off my shoe by a volunteer.
Back in the parking lot, I saw that a booth was giving free chiropractic adjustments... I decided why not? So I filled out the form and asked for a pelvic adjustment and help stretching my hamstrings. The chiropractor had me lay down and checked out my back and stuff, then had me lay on my side, curl kinda into a ball, then he braced himself on my femur with one hand on my knee and the other feeling the back of my pelvis... then a big twitch and I felt my pelvis pop in a delightful way. He had me lay on my other side and did the same thing with my other leg. Ahhh.
Then he had me put my leg on his shoulder and did some intervals where I push down on his shoulder for 30 seconds at 20% intensity... then I pull my leg up as far as I could, and he would move to where that was... and then 15 seconds at 40% intensity... then I pulled my leg again and he moved with it... and then 10 seconds at 60% intensity... and we were done... and by gum, if that didn't take away all the weird stretched achy feelings in my hamstrings!! weird. I thanked the chiropractor... but then realized my core body temp was falling pretty quick. Sure, I was warm right then... but it was still under 40 degrees outside, and I was soaked in sweat now.
I found my checked clothes, and quickly put on my coat. I then wandered over to the results booth and found my stats. I got 4th place in my age group (out of 6). There pretty much was no way I could have beat 3rd place. She ran an 8:57 minute mile pace... a pace I have YET to achieve on any race. I'm nowhere close to running that right now.
I finished my 8K in 47:23, or a 9:32 minute mile pace. My Reach the Bridge 8K time was better, but that was also entirely downhill, where this really was a more challenging course. I decided I was happy with that time given the uphills I was running on. Overall, of the 8K runners I was 32nd out of 66.
For women, I was actually 12th place out of 44! Almost in the top 10! Neat.
This is what my garmin recorded for the course and the elevation gain.
I decided to hurry and head back to my car instead of hang out. It was just too cold to watch the award ceremony when I wasn't getting one. I suppose there was a chance I could have won something in the prize drawing, but really, when it was that cold out? I didn't much care anymore.
I checked my MAX ticket for the expiration time... and realized it was pretty much 5 minutes past when the ticket expired. I was ready to claim ignorance for the expiration time on the ticket and hope, if I got caught, it was close enough that they'd be nice. I wasn't caught though. I made it back to my car without incident.
I blasted the heat in my car and drove home. Another good morning!
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