Pacific Runderland 5k

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The Pacific Runderland 5k

by Karl Johnson
with photos by Bruce Fisher

‘Twas a grand, late summer day for a race. The sky was overcast, temps were cool, and the rain held off until later in the day. Perfect for running. The course was a straight out and back. A hill at about the ½ mile point caught some of us by surprise on the way out, but made for a nice downhill into the finish. It’s a very beautiful and scenic run along the White River. The path is broken up by roots growing up through it, though, making it a little tricky to navigate at times. And I got another hat at the post-race raffle!

There was a great turnout of Silver Striders, 66 of the 217 runners were 50 and over. Bruce had quite the time trying to corral us all together for the pre-race photo. The first female Silver Strider was Amanda Hoskins with a time of 23:00. Chris Fisher was the first male Silver Strider with a time of 20:50.

Lots of good camaraderie before the race. Almost too much as Phil and I were having a conversation about Renton parkrun and nearly missed the start. The starting horn startled both of us. (Sorry, Phil! You’re welcome, Brent!) We ended up having to make our way through the walkers before we could get up to speed. I ran on the side of the path for several minutes myself trying to get around people. Still wasn’t too bad, for me at least, as I ended up doing better than I have for the past few months. Had I not missed the start I might have broken 30 minutes.

Afterwards we went to Oddfellows for the post-race lunch where Dennis regaled us with stories of his European adventures and STP ride and we talked and shared about upcoming races and goings on in our lives. Always a great time to catch up with friends.

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Results in Photos by Bruce Fisher