Portland Holiday 5K - PR!

To be perfectly honest, I chose the Portland Holiday Half and 5K because of this guy:

Those of you who know me aren't at all surprised :)

Foot Traffic offered several packet pickups at different times at their various locations. I went Wednesday to Lake Oswego and grabbed my bib and shirt, along with some discounted running gear. Ho ho ho!

Sunday's weather report looked dismal, but we're tough. Cold rain and wind aren't going to stop us. Especially when I have my race outfit all picked out!

We picked up Mom and Dad at 7 a.m. and headed to the Adidas campus in North Portland.

Thankfully, the pre-race festivities were in the parking garage. I assumed we'd be standing out in the rain, so this was a very welcome surprise.

OK - let's do this! (Really, before I freeze)

Mom dropped us at the start and then ran around to catch some pics on the course.

We realized recently that Brad has never raced a 5K. He's only run with me, never to his full potential. So this time, he went out by himself to test his short-distance speed.

Dad did his run/walk:

Coworkers Leslie and Sue:

About to round the corner to the finish line:

Waiting for Dad to finish:

Here he comes:

My first 2 miles were fast, and then I started to fade a bit during the 3rd mile. A strong headwind didn't help. (Brad says the headwind is my arch nemesis!) I sprinted to the end and finished in 27:55, a 8:36 average (when measured with my Garmin distance of 3.24 miles):

I am super excited about my pace - a record over my previous PR of 8:44 average from July.

PLUS... I took second in my age division!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's second out of 50! And I was 72 overall - out of 493.

I realized that if I could have held my pace during that 3rd mile, I would have taken first - WOW! That's motivation for next time when that headwind kicks up :)

Brad took third in his division and 23rd overall! YAY!

A fun race for sure - and a great excuse to wear a tutu :)

PS - I experienced some hip and knee pain this past week and wasn't sure if my IT band was exploding or something. My hip was feeling better Sunday morning, but my knee hurt a bit while I did a little warm-up jog. I decided to try racing and then slow down if the pain was too much. But I was nearly pain free during the race and didn't feel much after either. I'm still taking it easy, but I'm very thankful that it seems to be a temporary issue :)