Raintree 5K Review

This was my 4th time running the Raintree 5K in Uniontown, Ohio.  I enjoy running this race because of the unique course.  It isn’t every day you get to run down the fairways of a golf course.  This race is a true cross country running style event.  The course features golf course fairways and cart paths as well as a short road  loop through a housing development.  Weather for this year’s race was less than ideal.  Temperatures weren’t that bad but did continue to increase with every minute of the race.  The biggest factor was the humidity soaring at over 95% making for steamy hot running conditions.  To make things even more challenging rains from the days leading up to the race made for some soggy soft fairways to run on.  They weren’t muddy and there was no standing water, but the soft fairways made for slower running conditions for sure.

The race started on the 10th Fairway.  I got off to a little slower start than I would have liked.  I think the combination of high humidity, soft ground, and incline had me working hard than I would have liked to in the early stages of the race.  There were a lot of young high school aged runners who quickly made their way to the start of the race pack setting the early pace.  This course is a little sneaky with what feels like a lot more up hill sections than flat and down hill sections.  I wouldn’t describe the course as rolling hills as the elevation changes aren’t all that visible to the eyes at times but you certainly feel them.  After the first mile I finally settled into my pace.  Again it was a little slower than what I would have liked but under the conditions I was content to not push harder to keep some energy in reserve for a strong finish.  By the second mile the race field was spreading out.  I was able to increase my pace on the road section of the course and passed a few runners that were slowing down in front of me.  I was surprised to see how many runners ahead of me were stopping for a quick breather.  The humidity was really sucking the energy and pace out of even the fastest runners on the course.  We made the turn back onto the golf course from the road.  The course here was downhill which made for some faster running.  A quick right turn up a small steep hill slowed the pace again.  I was ready for the hill and went with a slow but consistent pace to tackle it know that I could push hard through the next two fairways to the finish.  After the hill my pace increased on the flatter fairways.  There wasn’t really anyone in front of me other than one younger runner and no one was behind me.  I let the younger runner pace me as we headed down the 18th fairway with both of us opening up and striding it out through the finish.  I finished with a time of 23:30.  This certainly wasn’t my best 5K time, but it was good enough to win my age group and finish 17th overall.  I was about 15 seconds slower that last year.  I am sure the high humidity and soft running conditions accounted for the lost time.

The race was once again well organized by Ritchie Sporting Goods and North Coast Multisports.  Mickey Rzymek made the day special for Team ER members by announcing the Team ER affiliation and all of their names as each member crossed the finish line as well as when each Team ER member stepped onto the podium for awards.  Race swag included tri blend soft style t-shirts, custom race bibs, protein bars, and fruit.  Winners received pies and Ritchie’s Sporting Goods gift certificates.