Had the pleasure of doing two 5Ks, both fun non-timed races,
on May 31st. What a way to end the month. It was a beautiful spring
morning in Portland for the AIM at Melanoma Walk in Wallace Park. OHSU was
doing free skin spot checks, the sunscreen flowed from the various vendors and
my buddies from Uberthons provided the music and race direction. It
was a pretty laid back walk excluding bibs, chips and an on-course water
station, but the wonderful volunteers made sure no one got lost as we wound our
way through the trendy NW streets. As it was a completely volunteer-organized
event, my hat’s off and a round of applause to them. This was an area of
Portland where I haven’t done a race yet nor have I spent much time there so it
was nice to “explore.” Even saw a staging area for the Starlight Parade (more
on that later).
This race had special meaning as I was walking in memory of my
grandpa Leo who died in 1985 of melanoma. (Here’s the PSA – WEAR SUNSCREEN and
get ANNUAL SKIN CHECKS). But chiefly I was there to support my best friend
Aimee, a warrior chic currently fighting the battle against the nastiest form of skin cancer out there. Aimee’s Army was decked out in our pink camo shirts,
hats and bandanas and we had a blast and some Krispy Kremes. My husband, Jason,
joined me as we power-walked the course (we also promptly got lost leaving, but
had a nice drive doing it).
The great thing about this fundraiser is that all the money they/we
raised, over $18K, will stay in the community and be a part of the Knight
Cancer Challenge funds. If you don’t know what that is, check it out here and consider making a donation. It’s
a very worthwhile cause and could be the end to cancers.
After finding our way out of the north hills and a power brunch at IHOP (quickly becoming an
after race tradition), I spent my time between races napping and icing
my knees. Then it was time to don my tutu and meet my running buddy from Girls on the Run for the Starlight
Run. While waiting for the race to start at Lincoln field, I got to see all the
cool costumes (and some scary ones) for the costume contest. My favorites were
the Up crew and the Iwo Jima group. There were some creative kids, too, especially
the pirate claw vending machine. I also got to see one of my best buddies,
Kristin, and chat with her as she decided last minute to join in the fun. As
the sun went down and it cooled off, the perfect
running weather signaled time to start!
This was also my first time doing the Starlight Run and
while I’ve been in a couple parades (as an ROTC color guard, an animal shelter
volunteer and even as a clown!) this was the first time leading one off,
especially one as big as the Starlight! The streets downtown were packed with
people, both on and off the road. Had a great time keeping pace with my 11-year-old running buddy while high-fiving kids all along the route. We even got some
residual glow from the ever popular Spiderman who was with us for a while. With
8,000 runners, there was a bit of navigation involved and the occasional line
of kids in the streets for their high-fives presented some obstacles, but we
kept good time (better than I had expected at an average 12:13) and only had to
do a couple lengths of walking in the last half mile. I was extremely proud of
my Running Buddy SAM who made me work for it at times and I look forward to being a RB again next year! It's quite a wonderful experience to share my love of running with a youngster, especially since I don't have one of my own (and I think I burned the nephew out on it already).
At the end, SAM got her medal and a wonderful sense of accomplishment and I got to make some new friends. To top it all off as I rode the MAX back to the car, I got to visit with my good friend Jea, who was also a RB for GOTR and share our stories.
Overall,
it was a good day for a 5K - times two!
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