Some adventures in road and trail running.
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Monday, April 13, 2009

2009 Spring Burst 5k and 10k


April 11, 2009 was the first running of the Reason to Run Spring Burst 5k and 10k.

We had ~150 people come out to Cook Park to tackle the trails for the 5k and 10k events.

We were blessed with warm weather and no rain and I believe the sun even made an appearance or two.

These races are urban trail runs: more challenging than a traditional 5k or 10k out on the road and a great way to mix it up and try something new and different.

After an inspirational prayer to set the tone for the runs, we counted down and the runners were off promptly at 8:30 am. They followed the road within Cook Park (SW 92nd) towards the boat launch on the Tualatin River. Then it was off the road to enjoy a section of bark mulch trail. After this warm-up, the runners picked up the pace on the paved bike path towards the Ki-a-Kuts pedestrian bridge and over the Tualatin River.
Over the bridge and down on the paved trail into Tualatin Community Park, a U-turn and the next bark mulch trail section coming back to the bridge. This is the section of the course that has an explosion of trilliums!. Then back over the bridge and into Durham City Park for more paved bike path. After a "lollipop" out and back the runners returned to Cook Park and the finish line within the Butterfly Garden.
BUT WAIT...it was only the finish line for the 5k runners. We happily directed the 10k runners out for 3.1 more miles of fun on the out and back trail along the Tualatin River towards 108th Ave. This is the challenging section of the course were you have to dig deep and push to maintain your pace. One more section of trail once back into the main section of Cook Park and then the 10k finish!

The winning times were impressive with both winners getting under the 6 min/mile pace.
The 10k results can be found here.
The 5k results can be found here.
The race day pictures from Evan Pilchik Photography are here.

Some of the other blog reports on the event can be found here, here and here.

We have also conducted a survey with all the participants and we really appreciate all the positive feedback about the course and the event in general. As well, thanks for the suggestions for how to make the event even better next year!

We would like to thank all the participants who trusted us with their Saturday run. We were also very excited at how many first time racers we had finish. Once you start running on the trails...do you ever fully go back to be a road runner?? ;-)
Our sponsors, Clif Bar, Haggen, Road Runner Sports, Al's Garden Center, The Great Urban Race, Sledge Athletic Solutions, Gigi Fit, lululemon athletica, and Banana Blossom Press were amazing Reason to Runand really helped us to put on a first class event.

We look forward to doing this event again next year and hope you will join us.
We are deep into the planning of other events for this year including a trail run in September. We will keep you posted!

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