This was actually the first year that Portland was hosting the Rock ‘n’ Roll (half) marathon. I had done the Seattle last year on a total whim (I won entry the day before the race) and I guess it’s really responsible for my love affair with running. While the organization is a little large and bulky for my taste, they do a nice job and are well organized. I can appreciate that.
Anyway, this was my first real go at ‘racing’ the distance. This was a ‘B’ Race, as I have a full marathon in July coming up so I was unable to give it the taper it deserved but at the same time, I didn’t hold back during the race. Maybe we can call it a B+ race?
Jen couldn’t come this weekend but one of my best friends joined me. This was good because she is moving to Thailand in August and it is rare we get 1:1 time. We got to Portland just in time for me to pick up my packet. As in, I had to run (in my cute non-running shoes in short-shorts.)
After we got the packet and checked into our hotel we were on a mission: beer and coffee. I’ll tell ya, mission accomplished. If you are looking for beer and coffee, Portland is the place to do it…rivaled only by Seattle. A friend from college was able to meet up with us for the evening. So here we were, 3 lovely ladies on a beer mission. A group of drunken men begged us to join them outside of Rogue brewery. There was no other seating available so we did. It was entertaining to say the least. They were a group of cyclist and for some reason had whistles (rape whistles? I dunno…) and kept blowing them. Finally they left. Although they were entertaining I can’t say I was sad to see them go. We finished our beers and then moved on to the pizza joint across the street. Some more beer and pizza and geeze, it was 11:00 pm and time to head back to the hotel and go to bed.
6:40 AM, the story gets interesting. Sigh. OK so, I need to preface this with “It’s not my fault” but, the toilet got clogged. Bad. As in, I told my friend, “I don’t care if you haven’t brushed your teeth. You can’t go in there.” I called the front desk and asked them to unclog it while we were at the race. I tell you what, I kept thinking of that damn clogged toilet throughout my whole race…ffuuuuuuuu.
We got to gear check and then the starting corral in just enough time to get everything taken care of and then get really nervous. I get terribly nervous right before races.
I am a no-fuss kind of runner. No HR monitor, no GPS, no watch. I have even been going no music lately. It’s one of the most freeing feelings.
So here I am, standing in corral one during the national anthem. What am I thinking about? That god-damned clogged toilet. In fact I was still thinking about it when the gun went off.
BANG! There we go. It was so nice to be closer to the front of the pack. I didn’t have to do any weaving. Just run.
I got to mile 1 a little under 7:00. It was a little faster than I wanted to go out but it wasn’t out of my comfort zone. This is when the demons set in. I don’t really know how to describe it but I feel like I have this really negative-Nancy devil that sits on my shoulder during the first five miles of a race. Telling me to just quit and that I’m not good enough. The works. My legs always feel really stiff during the start too. I was having a really hard time getting comfortable. Also, the course was relatively hilly. For some reason I had mixed up the course descriptions with the other Portland race I will be doing in October. I haven’t been doing any hill training and it showed! I don’t know my mile-by-mile splits but due to a HUGE hill in mile 3 I imagine I probably laid down a minute slower mile. It was rough.
At about mile 5 I was feeling MUCH better. Geeze, took long enough. My positive attitude came back (and some of my clogged toilet thoughts went away) This chick had a “Honey Badger don’t give a fuck” sign and I made eye contact with her and just couldn’t help myself, “THAT’S RIGHT” I said and then she responded, “THAT’S RIGHT!!!!” and then another runner near me said, “DON’t GIVE A FUCK!!!” and we all laughed and kept running. A nice little moment. I was more or less on pace with this guy who had the strangest breathing pattern. His exhales were a very dramatic WHOOOOOOOOOO. It was driving me nuts and there was no getting away from it. Definitely the only con of not having headphones in.
By the time I got to mile 7 I was in a nice groove. Pretty much hitting 7 minute mile splits consistently. The only snafu I had was that mile 3 area where I am almost certain I ran an 8 or so. Some guy yelled out, “DAY-UM! Will you marry me?” but the way he said “DAY-UM” made me think, “Shit, I hope my shorts aren't see-through.” Since-you know- I couldn’t do a double check in the bathroom in the AM as it was “Closed for maintenance.” So yeah, I was thinking about that damn toilet again.
The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I hit extremely-freaky-consistent splits and finished out the race. I didn’t have a huge kick at the end or anything, just a steady pace across the finish. I DID however, manage a sweet heel-click over the line, I am hoping they got a pic.

It’s very interesting to me how much of a release racing provides for me. Sometimes I feel like it’s a lifetime worth of emotions packed into whatever distance the course is.

Oh yeah, it must be said, when I got back to the room the toilet was unclogged :)

More of a taper if it were an 'A' race

not much of a taper