Portland Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon

Yesterday was the inaugural Portland Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon. I signed up for it a year ago on the first day of registration. A co-worker told me if you sign up then the cost was only 55 bucks! What a deal! As I put in my last post, I've been really slacking on my running lately so I didn't expect to do very well, was just hoping to finish in around 3 hours.

The race experience started when they sent out a notice that the I5 bridge was closed the morning of the race. So instead of dealing with bad traffic in the morning I stayed with my friend Jody in Portland. Race morning I got up and drove to the start line, there were a few sprinkles coming down which I didn't expect because I thought it was supposed to be sunny for the race. As we waited to start the sprinkles kept coming down, nothing to big but enough to realize it wasn't going to be a nice sunny day like I expected.

At about 8:20am my corral finally crossed the start line and we were off! I was excited to get going but did my usual reminder to myself to not start out too fast. We started off running the regular streets in downtown Portland, but around mile 1.5 we crossed over the Hawthorne bridge to the east side of Portland. It was exciting to have a race on that ran through the east side since most stay on the west side.

When I'm running I like to have little goals to get to, whether it's getting to the next mile marker, or the next water station, or where my supporters are cheering me on, either way I like having something to run towards. So for this race I wrote all the water stops on my wrist, right next to my breathe tattoo, so. Could have some more milestones to look forward to.

Things were going well around mile 4 or so. I'll admit, I had stopped to walk a couple times for short periods but was keeping a good pace when all of a sudden I could feel my toes on my left foot start to feel restricted and tight. I kept running and figured it would go away and I could just run through it but this time I couldn't. So I stopped, took off my shoes and adjusted my socks (which are 5 toed socks). After the brief stop I was better and back on track.

Miles 3.5 through 5.5 were on Hawthorne which was a long, slow, gradual, sneak up on you hill. Oh it was painful. I knew my friend Jody was going to be cheering me on a little after mile 5, so I had something to look forward too. I saw Jody, did some high five-ing, and was on my way. As a sidenote: I know you only see the people you know who are cheering you on for a few seconds during the race, but those seconds really matter. It is something the runner really looks forward to. As a supporter you never know how much those brief few seconds of support can help the runner. For me, it gives me the perfect pick me up and dose of adrenaline I need, no matter how much pain I was in a few seconds before, seeing your supporters makes all that go away for a bit.

After I saw Jody I continued on, and about a mile later I felt the same restriction in my left foot again. I stopped again, fixed my sock again, and hoped this would be the last time.

Around mile 7.5 we turned on to Burnside, which meant we were over halfway there, and most of the rest of the race had a bit of downhill to it. :) I knew I was going to see Jody again around mile 8.5, so I kept my focus there. It was about this time that I could feel my ITB starting to act up. On the up and down hills I was having to limp a bit as to not flare my knee up even more. When I saw Jody it was at the very bottom of a hill and I was limping pretty badly. I saw her and wanted to get a quick picture with her. She was so great, standing out in the rain to cheer everyone on. Thank you Jody, it meant so much! So we got our picture taken and I was off for the rest of the race.

After I saw Jody I knew there was about 4.5 miles left and my goal was to finish it in just over an hour, to finish the whole race in less than 3 hours. Once I got to 9 miles I just focused on keeping my pace to less than 15 min per mile. Which was easy when running but there were some walk breaks in there, so I wanted to make sure I kept up a good pace when I did let myself walk for a minute or two.

In the last few miles of a race I look for those small milestones more than ever, next miles marker, next water stop, next band station, etc. Miles 9-12 were just that. Looking for anything I could to just keep going. I fully admit it helped that there was a slight downhill for a majority of these miles. My knee was in quite a bit of pain at this point, but I knew it would be over soon.

Around mile 11.5 I got stopped at a couple intersections for cars to go through. After the second time I was thinking about the stoppage when I felt a pop in my left foot. My left pinky toe had blistered and popped! So much for anti-blister socks! After the initial pop it didn't hurt, so I just kept on going.

Once I got to mile 12 I got excited. I knew the Steel bridge was coming up, which meant there was by about .75 of a mile after the bridge. After watching my pace I knew I would get in under the 3 hour mark, just how much under was the question. The downhill of the last few miles was really putting a strain on my knee but I knew I didn't have far to go. When there was only about .75 miles to go I really wanted to stop and walk just for a minute or two, but I was almost there, I wasn't going to let myself down. So slowly but surely I ran the next .5 of the race, trying to just do anything to not make myself stop. I saw a sign that said "don't walk now, people are watching", which is EXACTLY how I felt! With about .25 miles to go I just wanted to be done, I could see the finish line, and I wanted to finish strong so I picked up the pace. Not a sprint, but a good fast pace, and I crossed the finish line!!! Yea me!!!

I ended up finishing the race in 2 hours, 53 min and 11 seconds. Just under 4 minutes off my PR. I am very happy with the time considering I didn't train much at all. Then there is a small part of me that says if I didn't have to stop and fix my socks twice, or take a picture with Jody, I might have beaten my PR. But I would rather not have injured myself more, and have a fun pic with my friend who sacrificed her morning to cheer me and others on, than getting a PR. I was very very happy with my time, the race, even the weather! Rather have a consistent sprinkle than the heat any day!

And now my sixth half marathon is done! One more half to go, the Vancouver Half Marathon in June, then the full marathon in October. After this last race I am feeling pretty good about how I will fair in both. Can't wait to get out there again!


Days till Marathon: 139
Total training miles: 190.25