Portland Marathon

Dad, Heidi and I arrived in Portland on Thursday to a weather report calling for cold (50's) and rainy for the rest of the week. We spend the couple days before the race checking out the city, driving to the coast, taking a brunch cruise on the Columbia Gorge... and stocking up on warmer clothing the race expo!! Race day arrived sunny and beautiful though, in the 60's -- excellent!!

The first few miles had a couple hills, but nothing too terrible.. the problem here was there were a lot of people who did not line up properly in the starting corral and were walking 5-6 across, so you really had to work hard to get around them, which zapped a lot of energy.. Otherwise though, the race support, spectators and fellow marathoners were fantastic, and I engaged in several conversations with quite a few interesting people that really made the time go by. I maintained my 3/1 intervals for the entire first half of the marathon, which I was really proud of! I then switched to 2/1's but sadly ended up walking more than I'd wanted that second half.

The view from the top of the St. John's bridge was the reward for the only real significant climb around mile 17.. after that it was smooth sailing (and slightly downhill). With an 8 hour time limit, they were well prepared and there was no shortage at any of the aid stations.. although only one stop for gummy bears and no other food stations :(

About 10 minutes after we got back to the bungalow we were renting and spent a little time in the hot tub, it started POURING -- couldn't have asked for better timing on that!

This was my first marathon, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I thought it was a great race, well organized and terrific support -- and Portland is a fantastic city with tons to do. I would definitely recommend this race!