Portland Marathon race report

PORTLAND MARATHON 2008

Portland was my first marathon way back 9 years ago. Even though I bonked hard at Mile 18, that race has always been one of the highlights of my running career, because I got to do the race with my dad. That bonk, though, left a bad taste in my mouth, and I always knew that one day I would get back there and do this race right. So the stars finally aligned in 2008. My training was pretty good after our trip to Europe, and I felt very confident that I could set a PR and go sub 3:30.

We left Spokane at 5am on Saturday, and picked up Andy's sister Megan at the train station in Portland, then we headed off to packet pickup and the expo. We ran into fellow Tri Fusion-ers Dave and Tasha Gordon in the parking garage below the hotel, which was actually the lower level of the expo. Weird... But cool to see some familiar faces in the crowd. I had a nice "9 years later" nostalgia moment walking into the hotel; I was momentarily taken back to that very first marathon...pretty cool. After a quick cruise thru the expo, we headed for my parents place out west, and chilled out for the rest of the afteroon.

After a restless night of sleep (why the heck was I nervous???) the 3 of us got ready and headed for downtown. It was cloudy out, but not raining. Yet. In 37 years of this race (in rainy Portland, Oregon, mind you) it had never rained on race day. That's pretty shocking if you know anything about Stumptown or if you grew up in P-town. Well, today, the Portland Marathon's luck had run out. It started raining shortly after the start and would not quit until well after the race had ended for most. I was psyched about this turn of events, because I love running in the rain, and it kept the temps down in the "perfect" range for running marathons.

In the days leading up to the race I wrestled with how to tactically approach my race, trying to balance my confidence with my recent race performances. I decided to take advantage of the pacing services offered by Portland's Team Red Lizard running team and run with the 3:30 pace group, for a number of reasons. First, my Disneyland Half experience reinforced the lesson to go out slow, especially in a marathon. Second, 3:30 equates to 8:00 pace, which is way easier for me to remember and calculate splits from than 3:20 pace (which is 7:38 pace....boo non-round numbers!) Lastly, I thought that, on the off chance that I felt really really really good at Mile 19 or 20, it would be better to try and chase down the 3:20 group than to try and hold off the 3:30 pace group as I died the last 6 miles.

The first mile or so of any big race is always crowded, and I'm used to being boxed in and having to fight to find clear running room. No difference here, but the one thing I failed to think about was the effect that staying with a pace group would have. Apparantly 3:30 is a very popular time goal, and so this group was at least 100 strong thru the first half of the race. I kept expecting things to thin out as they always do in big races, but it doesn't happen when you are in such a big pace group. Oh well. No worries. I contented myself to yo-yo'ing off the back of the group, a) in an effort to conserve energy, and b) to get some clearer running room. Looking back, this was one of my best moves of the day.

I remember looking around at Mile 10 at this huge group and wondering "how many of you people feel as good as I do right now? How many of you will be left at Mile 24?" I knew I would still be there, cause at this point, I felt incredibly good. In fact, at every aid station where the group inevitably slowed up some, I always found myself zooming up to the front of the group with seemingly zero effort.

I'm super-glad that I put some semi-serious thought and course recon in before the race, because I had decided that I would not move ahead of the 3:30 pace group until Mile 19, no matter how good I felt. I won't lie, it was hard, but I ended up playing a game with myself to see how close I could get to the pacer without going in front of him.

We hit the half in 1:43, just a shade under pace, but these Red Lizard guys knew what they were doing, banking a bit of time for the big climb up to the St. John's Bridge that hit at Mile 16.

Portland's version of "Doomsday"

Everyone always freaks out about the hill up to and over the bridge, and with good reason. Its not really all that steep, but the fact that it comes at Mile 17 makes it tough. But, I had run over this bridge plenty of times in college, and when we got there, it felt like I was back on my home turf. Doesn't hurt that I love to run up hills! I zoomed up the hill with no problem, staying right on the shoulder of the pacer.

This picture must be from last year....cause I don't see the rivers of water flowing down the back side of the bridge :)

I did the ceremonial "spit off the middle of the bridge" at the top, then freaked out as the group pulled a Steve-o and tried to lose me on the downhill. Aaaakkk! I managed to stay with them this time, then we settled back into what still felt like an easy pace. Off thru the neighborhoods of North Portland and then we arrived back "home" at the University of Portland. I stupidly looked for some familiar faces up on the Bluff, then realized that I had not lived there in over 10 years. Ugh. I'm old!

Mile 20, and it was decision time. Ironically, this is the point 9 years ago where I was in full bonk mode. My my, how far I've come! I couldn't hold back any longer. I finally moved ahead of the pacer, said my silent goodbyes to the friendly lizard on a stick, and set off in search of my PR.

I think its kind of funny how warped your brain can get during a long race. Once I moved ahead of the 3:30 pace group, I was feeling great and flying by a ton of people, thinking, hey, that was me 9 years ago. At least at the time it felt like I was flying by them. Because of these sensations, my brain tricked itself into thinking that within a measly span of 1 mile, I must have put at least 3 minutes on the pace group. Ha ha ha. After they caught me at Mile 25, I came to the realization that I probably never got more than a minute in front of them. Just funny how brains work after 3+ hours of running.

Anyway, I didn't walk until almost Mile 24, which, even though I've done 11 marathons, is the farthest I have ever run non-stop. It was just a 10 second break to get my last GU Roctane down. Then I was off again, still thinking that I had at least a few minutes on the pace group. Up the hill to the Broadway Bridge with no problem, then my legs said ouch as I descended the hill to the last aid station. Just like in CDA with Steve, that last downhill did me in, and I was forced to walk again at the bottom. What got me running again was the shock and surprise of seeing that damn lizard on a stick go by me. No way I'm gonna let that thing beat me! Turns out, in a wonderful twist of irony, that the Red Lizard guy who paced the 3:30 group thru the second half of the race was named, of course, STEVE. It was fate. Meant to be. Of course I was going to beat him! :) Well, either that, or he'd run my ass into the ground over the last half mile. I responded to the pass and somehow managed to get back to the lizard, just about the time I started to try and count the number of blocks I had left. Looking at my watch, and it was gonna be close. Stay with the lizard, and I wouldn't make it. Beat him, and I might just get my sub-3:30. As I predicted way back at Mile 10, at Mile 25 all that remained of our once-powerful group was Pacer Steve, me, and 6 others. It felt great to be one of the proud "survivors".

Huge thanks to the Team Red Lizard pacers, Jacob and Steve!

I made my last "lizard pass" with 15 blocks to go and gave it all I had. Kendra Edlin, another Tri Fusion-er screamed at me and told me I looked great. I was thankful for the many great moments I have had this season, because I needed every one of them. I thought of Jessi talking me into racing Onionman with my road rash. I thought of my A+ team willing me to a sub-12 Ironman in June. I thought of Steve pushing me at Tiger and kicking my butt at CDA. And I suddenly found the strength to fight for what I wanted. 6 blocks to go, one last look at my watch...I hope I can run a block in less than 30 seconds! :) The last 3 blocks were a slight uphill (where you at now, Steve????) but I couldn't feel it. I saw my brother and mom and dad yelling for me at the last corner, and took one last look at my watch. 3:29:15 with less than a block to go. YES!!! Victory in the rain! 3:29:34!! I wanted it, I fought for it, and I got it. So satisfying!

Sure...now it stops raining, after we are all done!

Always good to be back home...only wish the weather looked like this for race weekend!

It was a great way to end my season. And now I'm happy to be done for awhile. I am sure my body needs a break.

Who knows what next year will look like...but 2008 was definitely a success! (read on to the next post) :)

Disneyland Half Marathon

Not sure how smart it was, but a mere 5 days after flying home from Paris, we hopped on another plane and headed to SoCal to run the Disneyland Half Marathon. This is the 3rd running of this race, and we've done them all, so we just had to keep the streak going.

The day before we left for Anaheim, I started feeling the onset of a cold, and by the time we got to the hotel, my sinuses were "fully engaged". Even though I had done one semi-hard run on Thursday with Steve, my body was still feeling the after effects of jet lag. Adding a cold on top of that was not a good sign.

I tried to tell myself that my goals were still achievable, mainly hoping that I could tough out 90 minutes and then let my body fall apart. This race is huge (over 10,000) but it is super anti-competitive. Most people run it for the scenery and chance to run through the Disneyland theme parks, and the last 2 years I have placed pretty high. Last year, I was 10th in my age group, so this year my goal was to try and get in the top 5 so I could get an award. I was a bit suspect of my training (or lack thereof) in Europe, and when I started feeling sick, the quiet voice in the back of my head saying "don't count on a top 5 this year" started getting louder.

Even so, I decided I would try and go out fast and try and hold on for as long as I could. Uh, bad move. Turns out that after a 6:40 first mile (which, assuming I was in good shape would have been my goal pace), it was all downhill after that. Or maybe that's uphill. Whatever is harder. I knew by mile 4 that I was in trouble and had no shot to break 1:30, so I began to ease off and not fall apart too fast. It was very frustrating watching runner after runner fly by me, but I knew that it just wasn't going to happen. Didn't matter how "tough" I tried to be. Sometimes, it just isn't there.

By Mile 9, I started to feel a little better, maybe because of the few aid stations that I walked thru. In the last half of the race, there were a ton of groups of boy/girl scouts, cheerleaders, bands, etc out cheering, and that gave me a nice boost to keep plugging along. As we went around Angel Stadium, I found that I was actually keeping up with and, *gasp* gaining on a few other runners. Maybe they went out too fast too, and just died a little later than I did. I'm not sure how many people were stupid enough to go out so fast that they died 4 miles into a half marathon. I know of at least one! :) I did end up passing a few folks, which buoyed my spirits somewhat, and by Mile 11 I decided maybe I should try and pick it up for the last 2 miles. Not really sure how much I actually picked it up, but it felt like I was running faster. At least there's that! Coming into the park for the last time, there were cast members and characters out cheering, and all I could do was give a little "oh well, that sucked" shrug of the shoulders. I think I may have even said that to a few people.

In the end, I somehow (ha ha ha) managed to run a 1:41:32, which considering how darn sick I was isn't too bad. Just way slower than I had hoped to run. Oh well. I was 333rd overall out of 10,000+ and 37th in my age group. I still think its kind of weird to be disappointed in finishing that high, but it is definitely my worst performance at this race. I managed to get over it pretty quick though, mainly because the 3 days after the race I couldn't get out of bed. Yeah, guess I was pretty freaking sick. And maybe still a bit jet lagged too :) Here's hoping for a better race next year!

The best run EVER!

One of the main reasons we took our trip over to Europe in August was to be the witnesses for our friends Lisa and Peter's wedding in Switzerland. When they lived in Spokane, Peter and I used to run together, so I was excited to try and get in a run with him during our stay in the Swiss Alps.

Running in Amsterdam and London was cool (got to run with my friend Eric thru St James' Park, which was awesome), but getting out of the big cities and into the clean, crisp air of Switzerland was, literally, a wonderful breath of fresh air. The Interlaken/Grindelwald area is a hotbed of outdoor sports, so I was psyched to do a run and soak in at least some of the energy.


On the morning of the wedding, Peter and I got up early and headed up the valley to the small town of Lauterbrunnen. All of the towns around Interlaken look like they are right out of the movies...exactly what you would picture of a Swiss Alpine village, and Lauterbrunnen had its fair share of chalets.


We took off up the main road at a crazy pace thanks to Peter, and after about 5 min my legs and lungs were screaming for some more oxygen. But the sights that I had all around totally took away any pain my body was feeling. After leaving town, we set out up a narrow road with small farms and chalets on either side, jammed up against the sides of the sheer gorge walls. I am not kidding when I say the gorge we were in must have been 1000 feet deep. Made the Columbia River Gorge look like a small drainage ditch. Every now and then, we passed a thin veil of water cascading down the walls of the gorge, and within a mile, we found ourselves running beside a raging glacier-fed river. I couldn't decide whether to stare at the strangely emerald-green water (due to the minerals in the glaciers) or up at the glaciers themselves, which were on all sides. We came around a bend and were treated to an amazing view of the Jungfrau, one of the most famous peaks in the Swiss Alps.


Thankfully, as we continued to climb, Peter slowed the pace, but the scenery just would not stop. 3 miles in, and we decided to head back down the valley. As we made our way back to town, we watched para-gliders and parachutists who had jumped off the top of the cliffs, and were buzzed by helicopters ferrying tourists up to the glaciers.


It was about this time that I started noticing that there were kilometer markers out on the road leading back to town, and people were out putting up sponsor banners on bridges and houses. Hmmmm, could a race be in town?? As it turns out, later that weekend was the Inferno Triathlon. Peter guessed that it was "a big dose of hell in this little part of heaven" After checking out their website, he could not have been more right. Something like a 2 mile swim in a glacier-fed lake, a 90 mile road ride up (and I do mean UP) to Grindelwald, a 19 mile mountain bike thru the mountains, and finishing up with a 15 mile run from Lauterbrunnen UP to the top of the gorge. One of these days, I am so doing this race!!! Check it out: http://www.inferno.ch/


Anyway, we got back into town and Peter promptly dropped me with a devastating downhill kick (I think that he and Steve must have conferred before we came over), and I totally flailed down the hill to the car. We mapped it out later, and it was a good solid 10k. My legs hurt like hell, but I desparately wished it could have been 100k. Amazing scenery, clean mountain air, running with a buddy who I haven't run with in forever....I have run thousands of miles in lots of different places, but this one was without a doubt the best run I have ever had. I just wish we had thought to bring a camera. Damn! But, these picts capture some of the scenery...






And to top off the day, Lisa and Peter got married! Overall, it was a pretty great day.