Can you believe we are thirty-three events into the 50@50 Project?! I know, neither can I!! And here at HQ we thought this was gonna be tough. Ha! Easy peasy schmeasy.
Event 33 in ye olde project was the Viking Vengeance 5k, a fundraiser for the Forest Grove High School cross-country program. The run was held in - you guessed it - Forest Grove. Being one of those pesky weeknight runs, I drove out to the dreaded Beaverton Transit Center to meet up with Camera Crew. Once I acquired the better half of this here couple, we went west. We decided to avoid the whole Highway 217 cluster eff and the equally sketchy Sunset Highway 26 , and took Highway 8 which is sort of backroad-y. I think they call 26 the Sunset Highway because if you're on it in the afternoon, you usually end up watching the sun go down while you're stuck in traffic.
Speaking of... traffic was actually pretty darn good on the way out to Forest Grove. We arrived early and got our ginormous race packet envelopes which contained, among other things, the all-important bib number. These precious commodities are our keepsakes as we track the number of events. We said howdy to Heather, who is one half of Huber Timing, the folks who do the timing chips and the cool finish line arch at some of the events around the area. www.hubertiming.com Be sure to click on the 'Learn More About Us' tab to meet the other highly trained members of their staff.
We wandered around a little, then sat on the curb awaiting the race start. Did I mention we were early? It was a very warm evening, with temps in the high 80's. There was a nice breeze which helped but it was going to be a warm run, for sure. The event had a kids run, which we expected to take place where they were staging the 10k/5k, in front of the Forest Grove School District offices. It's where the start/finish line was set up, and where everyone seemed to be gathering. Little did we know that they were doing the kiddies race out back, on the playground. We missed it - oh well.
The Lady with the Bullhorn gathered up the 10k runners and after announcing pretty much every turn on the 6.2 mile course, the Man with the Air Horn sent them on their merry way. After about a 15 minute stagger, it was our turn. The Lady with the Bullhorn again described the 5k course in great detail, then counted down from ten. At zero, the Man with the Air Horn frightened us and, with hearts racing, we were on the road.
XDog's conch shell send off is way cooler, FYI.
The route meandered through one of Forest Grove's older neighborhoods. Very nice houses, some were rather large. This stretch was mostly shady, which was nice. While it lasted, anyway. Eventually, we ended up running a stretch on the multi-use path parallel to Highway 47 which was in full sun. The breeze helped but it was pretty damn warm. Meh, it's only 3.1 miles, right?
Pretty non-eventful other than the copious amounts of sweat, most of which somehow ended up in my eyes. Camera Crew was in right behind me and that was that. We both felt a little shaky due to the heat and the weirdness of running in the evening. Or maybe it was just withdrawals since evening time is usually wine time. We found water and PowerAde but could not find the cooler with wine. So we settled on water and had some orange slices. Then we grabbed some cash from the SUV and lined up to order some food.
One great thing about the 'burbs is the fantastic authentic ethnic food. For this event, the Viking Vengeance folks secured Taquerias Hermanos Ochoa's Mexican Grill to set up shop and serve their delicious food to the crowd.
In the words of the great Kyle Miller: Yum. Yum.
There is something about the tacos they make that is utterly amazing. They are very simple but, wow, are they good. I could eat a dozen of them, easy. But they were also making their tamales and enchiladas, so of course we tried it all. They had the full spread of salsas, sauces, guacamole, cilantro, lime wedges, chopped onion, cheese, sour cream. An incredible deal, heaping plates for $7. We washed it all down with mango soft drinks!
Feeling full and happy, and still feeling good about the run, we headed for the SUV. As the sun set behind us, we headed east to home. All in all, it was a great evening.
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