Running interstate.

So we missed the Trek Triathlon because we were signed up to do the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  But not in our home city of Seattle.  And not even in our state of Washington.  We were taking this business out of state.  Ok, so barely out of state.  Portland, Oregon to be exact.  It’s different.  They won’t let you pump your own gas there.  Anyway, my cousin is a breast cancer survivor and she has a team every year and we were on it.  I had heard it’s a good time for everyone.  Again, someone lied to me.  More on that later.

I knew Seattle had a good showing for their race in June.  It was held the same day as the Furry 5k and though I briefly had aspirations of running both races I stuck to just the Furry 5k. I figured the Portland race would be a quaint affair, maybe 8,000 people.  No.  I had to log onto my fundraising site and then I saw the participant numbers.  OMG!  35,000?  Was that right?  could it be a typo?  A serious mistake?  How could I possibly be around that many people at one time?  Then, after some searching around the internet it got worse.  Apparently Portland has the 2nd or 3rd largest event in the nation and they estimate 46,000 participants.  Oh god.  This is going to be worse than the Danskin.

I tried to put the amount of people out of my mind.  This was a fundraising event and I would spend time with my family.  I tried to make that my focus.  But 46,000 people?  And 22 of those would be my teammates.

the team

Twenty two people at once are hard enough for me to handle.  Maybe if I raise enough money I can buy my way out of it.  Nope, I guess not.

We headed down to Vancouver – we were staying with friends (thanks Carla and Dany) – on Saturday morning.  We made a quick pit stop at the local REI which ended up with me throwing a temper tantrum (hardly my first, or my last) and not buying anything and swearing I would never buy anything there again.  Words I would eat in less than a month.  Well, anyway, we found out that we needed to check in on Sunday morning to get our timing chips and race bibs.  Why they couldn’t put them in with our packets I’ll never know.  We had dinner at carb load central – The Old Spaghetti Factory – and met a childhood friend at a tavern for a beer.  Then off to bed for a 4:30am wake-up.

As it turns out, the wake-up happened around 4:15.  We got up and got our shorts on.  Shirts, hats, long pants and sweatshirts, shoes, too.  We headed out to the nearest Starbucks for coffee and something to hold me over.  We arrived at the shuttle just before 6am.  We checked in with my cousin who had not yet arrived at the mall parking lot.  I told her about having to get our timing chip so we decided it would be best to take the shuttle without them and meet everyone over at the race.

We get to the expo and there are alread a ton of people there.  We check in and get our chips and bibs and get them put on.  Then we try to find our teammates.  It wasn’t all that difficult actually.  My cousin had a sign with our team name on it and it was easy to pick out.  We gathered around and chit chatted for a while.  Our race was about to begin so we shedded our long pants and sweatshirts and handed them over to our friend Dany.  Our plan was to run the 5k then reassemble with our team and walk the 5k together.

Again we are asked to queue up according to our pace times.  There is a large gap between us and the group in front of us at first but it eventually fills up.  And the next thing I know, we are off.  Away we go.  Through the balloon arches and down the street.  Four lanes of road all to us.  We pass an inhaler, broken and strewn on the road.  Hope nobody needs that later.  We go a few blocks then make a right turn.  Then it’s a long, straight stretch for some distance.  And then, what’s this?  Is that a hill-like incline?  Oh, it’s the exit from a bridge that we need to run up.  Yippee!  But it doesn’t last long then we go back down the other side and then another right turn.

The photographer is dead ahead and I try my best to ignore him, as I usually do.  I see a left turn ahead.  This must be the down and back portion as there are already people coming back down it.  I make the turn carefull not to trip over the train tracks.  Finally, I’m at the turn-around.  I guess it must be about a mile to the finish.  Oh how wrong I was.  It was closer to 1 3/4 mile probably.  Morrie was right behind me as we trotted along.  Then, up ahead, the railroad crossing arms started coming down, lights flashing and alarms sounding.  Here comes the Coast Starlight (or was it the Empire Builder) into Portland.  We timed it so we didn’t need to stop.  The train passed and the arms lifted in plenty of time.

I keep thinking the finish line must be getting close, but it isn’t.  I can’t even see it.  There is a group of drummers playing so I figure this must be the last push but where is it?  I’m starting to hear announcers and there are more and more people so yes, this is it!  Oh, the finish line, I can see it!  I start to pour it on and I’m almost to the blue mats when the woman who is running in front of me stops on the mats.  Hello?  Do you think you are the only person in this race?   I nearly run into her but she’s still oblivious which irritates me to no end.  I want to push her over.  But I don’t because this is a fundraiser.

ribbon

Morrie and I immediately head over to the water bottle and banana area.  My goal for the race was to beat my best 5k time by one minute.  I didn’t make it.  I beat it by a mere 27 seconds, but still, a personal best.  We gather up with our teammates and we’ve got about 30 minutes to kill before the walk starts.  By now there are a lot more people here and it’s starting to warm up a bit.  We meander around and meet up with more teammates.  There is some talk about getting into the line for the walk since it starts in 10 minutes.  But nobody moves.

Finally we decide to get in line and when we get over there I can’t believe the amount of people.  The walk starts and they have us diverted down two different streets.  Half turn onto the first one and we head up to the next block.  Oh, and it’s less of a walk as it turns out and more of a shuffle.  There are so many people here that it’s difficult to move.

several of the 50,000 people in my way

I can see how someone could be crushed or stampeded.  We finally make it to the first real turn and omg!  All 4 lanes of the street plus the turn lane are shoulder to shoulder with people!  I decide that this is the perfect time and pace to take photos so I dig the camera out and start snapping.  One team has turtle balloons.  Another team has horse heads.

We make our way to the bridge incline and people are starting to spread out now.  Thankfully.  But it’s still pretty crowded.  We go up the incline and down the other side.  By the time we make it to where the run turned left toward the turn-around they had eliminated that from the route.  Ok by me.  Pretty soon the finish line was near.  A welcome sight let me tell you.  As we cross the finish line, a mere 1 hour 49 minutes after starting, the announcer claims there were 50,000 participants.