7/4/2020

Raintree 5K

Green, Ohio

Jobadiah Christiansen

Finish Time:  16:12

Overall Place:  1st Place

Scott Orlando

Finish Time:  21:36

Overall Place:  29th Place

Mike Williams

Finish Time:  24:03

Overall Place:  42nd Place

Steve Zenar

Finish Time:  24:42

Overall Place:  47th Place

Race Review By Scott Orlando

I have to admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect come race day for the Raintree 5K.   I wasn’t sure how social distancing would work being one of the first live races to happen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  I wasn’t sure if runners would be open to the idea of a live race.  I wasn’t sure of the idea of running on fairways.  Finally I wasn’t sure if I was ready physically for a race.  I was pleasantly surprised regarding all of my concerns surrounding this race.  I felt very comfortable and safe with the social distancing measures in place.  Nearly everyone was wearing masks when not running and the staggered heat times avoided mass gatherings at the start line.   Everyone moved quickly through the finish shoot and maintained social distancing staying long enough to take a few pictures.  No awards or post race gatherings were held.   The race hosted about 110 runners last year but this year saw 180 make it across the finish line.  The increase is probably a result of so many other competing races being cancelled along with building on the success of the previous year’s race.  I quickly learned that it was a highly competitive field of runners who had all been waiting months to get back on a race course.  My concern of running on fairways quickly went away as I warmed up.  The fairways were soft but not to the point of significant speed loss and I actually found them to be very comfortable and enjoyable.  A sprinkler on one of the fairways in the first mile was on leaving runners to navigate under it like a giant fountain.  I don’t know if this was done on purpose to help cool off runners in the hot sun or it was just a mistake but either way it created a nice element to the race.  The overall course was a true cross country style design taking runners from fairways to cart paths, onto residential roads and back to fairways for the finish.  Anyone missing their old high school or college cross country days would have felt right at home on this course.  In fact, I believe that their were more than a few current cross country runners out on the course hopefully preparing for the upcoming season.  The race was well organized with a beautiful start on the 15th fairway and finish on the 17th fairway.  The top 25 male and female finishers were set to receive awards with no age groups.  I believe this was done to try to simplify the process and maintain social distancing.  I finished as the 27th overall male just missing the awards tier.  My goal for the race was to finish with an average pace of under 7 minutes per mile.  My GPS had me with an average mile pace of 6:53 per mile so I am happy with my performance.  Team ER member Jobadiah Christiansen made a last minute move to take the overall win with a time of 16:12.  Mike Williams and Steve Zenar also had solid showings.