Portland Marathon - Full Report

Jenny, Rick, Eric and I started Saturday morning at coffee with the running club. We peeled ourselves away around 9:30 and hit the road to Portland. We called Rob just before we reached Oregon, then drove straight to the expo. Rob got there as we were wandering around, checking out the free samples. Rob and I were standing there chatting when someone said "You two look familiar" - it was Scott! He picked us out from blog pictures. We talked for a while, then confirmed our dinner plans and left. Rob followed us to Jenny's parents house and got to hang out for a little while. Jenny's Mom had cooked up a big pot of spaghetti, we added in bread, pizza and salad. Scott arrived, then Sarah and her family. Patch and Sonya were already there. We had a good time talking running and telling stories.

The next morning came early - 4 am. We wanted to get there early enough to find parking - there was construction all around the start/finish area and roads were blocked. Needless to say, we got there with time to spare - 5:15 for a 7:00 start. The good thing about that is 1) good parking 2) fresh and clean porta potties with no lines. It wasn't too long till we ran into Sarah, then we discovered that our meeting spot was blocked by construction so we called Rob to tell him where we'd be. He was stuck in traffic and looking for parking. We didn't find him before the race, though we did run into Bella on our way to our pace group. We also missed Scott. Bonus though - Hippo found us while making his way through the pace groups.

Rick and I settled into the 5:00 spot, a little ahead of our true goal, but an effort to be in front of most of the walkers. We had fun chatting with those around us while we waited for the gun, then while we stood waiting for our wave. It took us eight minutes from gun time to start mat. We spotted Ray and Jane (from our running group) a little ahead of us, but the crowd was too thick to get to them. We managed to work our way forward during the eight minutes so we could start out with them.

Once we crossed the mat, we heard Jenny, Patch, Sonya and Eric whooping it up. That was really exciting and gave us a boost to start on. Next big boost was the drum corp - they are incredible and I love hearing them. We wiggled our way through town. Seemed to me like it was taking forever to get warmed up, but finally about three miles into it, I started feeling good. We had fun seeing Ruth (another from our group) on the first little loop, then as we were coming back, spotting Jenny and Patch in the five mile run. We saw a few other local runners on this section too. We kept moving ahead at a good pace. Rick was stopping at aid stations, while I ran through, then he'd catch up.

We got to the long out and back in the industrial area - my least favorite part of this course. Two miles out, two miles back past warehouses, foundries and rail cars. There are a couple of bands along here and some great high-school cheerleaders at the turnaround. Though I don't like the running scenery, I loved seeing the streams of runners going in the opposite direction. I was wearing my Marathon Maniacs singlet, which has to be the single most ugly shirt around, but it served it's purpose. Other Maniacs spot the shirt and wave - I felt like a farmer giving a little wave to everyone I pass. We did some leap- frogging through here with a couple of local ladies, saw Rob, Sarah, Ray, Jane and Hippo go by. Rob actually trotted over to our side of the course to give a high-five. That all made the ugly shirt and ugly industrial area worth it.

We left here and began the trek towards the St. Johns Bridge. The nice surprise was swinging around a corner at about 12 miles and finding Eric. I didn't expect to see him there. He got our pictures, cheered us on and said he'd see us on the other side of the bridge. I started feeling a little tired somewhere in here. Looking back at the Garmin splits, I see our first mile was 10:45, then it ranged between 11:17 and 11:58, then another 10:46 at mile five, then continued to range between 11:17 and 11:49 till mile 14 - where it tipped over 12 minutes for the first time. Coincidentally, that's right where I started to feel tired. Mile 15 we got back down to 11:47, then it ranged from 12 to 13:45, right up to the last half mile when we managed an 11:59.

I was tired as we began climbing the hill to the bridge, so we decided to run two light poles, walk one. That got us up to the peak of the bridge, then we took advantage of the downward trend. Another climb coming off the bridge and I was toast. I told Rick I thought I was bonking and he said "No you're not". I thought, "Okay, I'm not". I downed some soy milk, ate part of a granola bar and swigged some Nuun. It helped a little but I was pretty tired and a little nauseous from mile 20 on.

My pack, the one I love, was killing me. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I finally figured it out on the drive home - on the Six Summit run, I readjusted all the straps when I put my coat on, and I didn't adjust them again yesterday when I ran in a singlet. I'm pretty sure if I had I would have been fine. Anyway, I was really looking forward to seeing Eric again, because I had every intention of dumping the pack. Rick offered several times to carry it, but I will admit, I can be a little bull-headed at times. My response was, "I brought it out here, I have to carry it." Don't ask why I think like that, I don't have an answer. Stubborn I guess.

As we were running along, probably about mile 21.5, a police car went flying by, then pretty soon an ambulance. Not too long after that, I could see Eric out on the course, but just after I spotted him, he started running away from us. I was feeling frustrated - I was thinking he thought he'd missed us and was leaving. It looked like he stopped but he was so far away we couldn't tell, so we kept pushing forward. As we ran up to him, he told us about the train-bike accident. That was sobering. I handed him my pack and we kept going. Right by the accident, there was a short section where the course narrowed down to single file. As we ran by, the police officers and paramedics were laying on the ground peering under the train, the mangled bike laying there beside them. I was tearing up and other runners were stopping to look. Rick put on his police officer voice and kept repeating, very calmly, "there's nothing to see, keep moving forward". I don't know if the others heard him, but that calm voice really helped me. (Found out later, he survived with minor injuries!)

Four more miles. Four really long miles. I struggled, we ran post-to-post, we looked at the watch, we knew my time goal was close, we ran, I struggled. I told Rick we had seven minutes to make a half mile. Looking back, it seems like I should have been able to do that. In fact, looking at the mile splits, it should have been possible. According to the garmin it took me 6:07 to go the last half mile - but that doesn't compute, because I was five minutes off goal. I think I was tired and I wasn't quite doing the math - I must have had a mile to go - which does make sense because my pace was right around 13 minutes at the end. Regardless, we made the turn, and headed for the finish. Our names were on our bibs, so I heard lots of people yelling my name - but one was particularly loud and I looked over to see some running friends I didn't know were there, then I heard more ruckus and saw Jenny, Patch and Sonya going wild. Ray ran up behind us just before the chute and congratulated us, then passed us by. Rick and I grabbed hands and crossed the line together. It was awesome.

We wandered through the finishers area - lots of good food, and my tummy too rebellious to take it. We sat for a couple minutes, then left to begin looking for the rest of the gang. We spotted Eric just outside the area, then everyone else found us. I sat on a curb changing to my Birkies, because - yep, blisters. Two big ones. (No pictures though!)

Back to Jenny's parents to shower and change, and eat yummy homemade rhubarb crisp, then off to lunch and home. It took me till well after lunch to start feeling normal again. I didn't manage my s-caps and hydration very well. I loaded three water bottles worth of Nuun into my pack, and only drank one and a half, plus probably 15 ounces of soy milk. I only took three s-caps in 5 hours. I've felt best when I've had about two and a half water bottles, plus the soy and an s-cap an hour. Hydration and electrolyte balance is always a challenge with my medications. I'll focus on that a little more in San Francisco.

On the way home, I made up my mind about Autumn Leaves. I signed up for the 50k this morning. Jenny, Eric, Rob and Steve will be there too, so it should be a fun trip.

I know this is a long post, but I have to say one more thing. That was hard work! That PR did not come easy and I think I found out what Eric means by Hester Joy, and I found out what Rob means by "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun." That said, I like my version of fun way more! I'm happy with my PR, and of course I hope to get another, but not at San Francisco. I signed up for SF and the road trip with fun in mind - that one will be all about the journey and the friends. Now I have a week of recovery, then a week of taper to get through. If you have stuck with me through this long, long post - then you've put in a marathon of your own!