2014 PORTLAND MARATHON RACE REPORT

Glenn and I minutes before the start of the 2014 Portland Marathon.

Third time is the charm? Well, for marathons, it looks like the first time was the charm for me. While I was three and a half minutes faster than last year and one second faster* than in Vancouver (yes, one second) I didn't run a great race and left some time out on the course. Had I have ran a better race I could have possibly ran a sub 3:30... however, I am not entirely sure of that due to the weather.

Year two of Portland started at 5:10am with a really unwelcome alarm clock. I had some trouble getting to sleep the night before and probably ended up getting 4.5 hours of sleep. Same as last year, and honestly not an issue because I got 9 the night before. After eating a bagel with cream cheese (same as last year) I met Alejandro, Glenn, and Jon to carpool into Portland.

The nerves were out in full force and I kind of felt like throwing up or just not racing. Normal pre-marathon feelings I guess! Anyways, I was in the B corral again, so I settled right behind the 3:25 pacer and waited for the race to start. Glenn was by my side but Alejandro moved up as he was shooting for a sub 3:20. Soon enough the anthem was sung and the race started shortly after 7am. The weather was a pleasant 58F at the time.

MILES 1-6: JUST HOW FAST ARE WE GOING? (7:33, 7:52, 7:52, 7:17, 7:26, 7:42)

This is about mile six. Lookin' good!

Once the race started I settled down and was calm pretty quickly. I hit what I thought my pace should be but the 3:25 group was starting to get lost in the distance, so I sped up to match. Some people say the marathon can be won/lost in those first few miles and if I had a chance to redo them I would certainly do things different.

The 3:25 pace group was absolutely, ridiculously fast. I don't know what the fuck they were doing. Normally the Red Lizards, the local group who paces, does a great job. The 3:25 group this year was way too fast. My friend Alejandro finished in 3:22 and they passed him during the final few miles. Seriously? I don't expect perfection, but I expect better than that. The pace groups also have different leaders for the first and second half of the race, so I think that first half group must have been at least five minutes ahead and maybe the second half group actually hit the correct pace.

Needless to say, my race plan was to follow that pace group, it's what my whole plan revolved around. They were supposed to average 7:49/mile. My plan was to follow them though, so I followed. Look at my mile times. Those two 7:52 miles are miles that each have 100 feet of elevation gain. I'm sure their target mile time on those was over eight minutes.

They were fast and I had a suspicion they were fast. The problem was the mile markers were jacked up. Apparently this happened last year too, the Portland Marathon slightly tweaked the course for 2013 but still used the same placement for the mile marker signs in previous years. So my watch said .91 at their "1" marker and pretty soon was consistently two tenths of a mile off.

Between the mile marker confusion and odd pace I thought maybe, just maybe, the pace group knew something I didn't. Anyways, at this point the miles were still coming easy so it wasn't a big deal. Had I a chance to do this again I would pace the entire race by my watch as the 3:25ers were worthless, but you live you learn. The sun was barely up at this point and the weather was still very comfortable.

MILES 7-13: ARE WE THERE YET? (7:34, 7:39, 7:36, 7:44, 7:47, 7:59, 7:46)

Random photo from mile 12. Notice the sun?

This is the boring part of the Portland Marathon course. I was still sticking with the 3:25 pace group at the front end of this section. This area of the course is completely flat, and considering their target pace is 7:49 on flat terrain, the 7:35/mile average was a bit fast. Enough bitching about them though. It was my stupid ass that followed them.

Running was still pretty comfortable though, although it did suck when we hit the turnaround and then had to run two miles back directly into the sunlight. Basically you just had to put your head down and grind along. I think the slipping times here were a result of that sun right in my face. Even though it was probably only 60 degrees, with the sun right in your face it was hot!

By the time I escaped the industrial sun hell portion of the course I had fallen back of the 3:25 pace group by about 30 seconds. I finally made the call that they didn't know what the fuck they were doing and I was going to burn out trying to follow them. That 7:59 mile was a re-adjustment phase in my race that also included some minor uphills in Northwest. If I could hit 7:50-7:55 from here on out I would definitely get my sub 3:30.

MILES 14-18: GRINDING ALONG, UP THE HILL (7:55, 7:52, 8:00, 8:57, 8:12)

Crossing the St. John's Bridge.

I hit the half marathon mark at about 1:40:30. According to their split I hit it in 1:39:06, which would be my 2nd fastest half marathon time ever. I believe my watch, because again, the mile signs were about two tenths of a mile off. Bravo, Portland Marathon. Anyways, this means the 3:25 pace group hit that same mark at probably 1:39:45 or so, which is a 7:36/mile. Want to know the marathon time of someone running 7:36/mile? 3:19:26. Yeah.

Anyways, by then I had finally dropped them and watched them fade into the distance. I was hitting the mark I needed now and just hoped I didn't burn myself out trying to follow their ill-advised pace for 11 miles. Honestly, in this section I was still feeling pretty good. I didn't know if I would be able to maintain it as it was starting to get warm, but I figured if I could make it up the hill to the St. John's Bridge and still have my legs I'd have a good shot.

I took the hill a lot slower this year because I was very conscious of my too-fast first half and the need not to kill myself up the hill. I ran it in 8:57 (8:34 last year). I remember last year still feeling pretty spry at the top of the hill (didn't last long) but this year I didn't feel that way. I just felt kind of worn down. I still had juice in the legs, but I could feel the race wearing on me. My parents, sister, and aunt were all waiting for me at the end of the bridge. It was awesome to see them and put a pep in my step for a little bit.

MILES 19-24: CRAMPING MY STYLE (8:02, 8:12, 8:24, 8:10, 8:43, 10:01)

It's a little sunny.

After the bridge I couldn't quite regain my 7:55/mile target pace, but I managed to settle into about 8:10/mile for a few miles. It felt just as hard as a 7:50 mile so I knew I was tiring. I couldn't believe my watch that I was going that slow when I felt like I was pushing it. Anyways, I knew I had a cushion so if I could maintain this pace, I would still hit my goal.

Well, needless to say, when you keep slipping into a new "target pace" every few miles that is getting progressively slower, that is not a good sign. I took a slightly extended walking break through one water station (the 8:24 mile) but otherwise I kept the wheels on the bus going around. Around mile 21 or so I had my first cramp in my left calf. I let out some choice words and slowed down for a bit to make sure it wasn't going to continue.

Another factor in all of this was the heat. This part of the course is very exposed and by this point in the day the sun was up and it was getting hot. By the time I finished it was 70F and at this point it was probably 68F, in my face, and when you are running a marathon that is not comfortable. I would have taken the 55 and drizzly of Vancouver earlier this year because the heat was certainly not helping with my energy level or the cramping.

More exposure evidence.

From that point on my calves were threatening to cramp the entire rest of the marathon. They began to a couple times, but I was able to slow down and adjust my gait to avoid them completely stopping me. I am pretty proud of myself for running through those and not walking. My body was screaming at me to walk but I fought it as long as I could. I just wanted to hit the downhill portion, let gravity take me down that, then assess the situation.

Once I hit the bottom of the downhill my legs were basically done. It was amazing how heavy they felt... as soon as the downhill stopped I felt like I weighed 300 pounds! So I was a bit of a shit show for about a mile or so. That 10:01 mile included two different walking breaks and a lot of ugly facial expressions. At one water station I stopped and stretched for a few seconds. Honestly, the fact that mile was only ten minutes is pretty good considering the shape I was in! By the time I hit the mile 24 marker I was running again and wouldn't stop until I crossed the finish.

MILES 25-26.2: SPRINT TO THE FINISH! (9:36, 9:24)

Mile 25!

I didn't say I was running fast though. Once I started running again I basically switched into my usual long run shuffle pace. I honestly don't think I could go much faster if I tried. Energy wise I felt okay, I didn't have the overwhelming sense of fatigue I had last year, but this year my legs were just not there. I was frankly lucky to be running at all given the shit-show the proceeded these miles.

Anyways, I was content with my pace and basically told myself that I was going to run this MFer in. By then I had conceded my sub 3:30 was out the window but knew I could still PR. It would be close, but I could PR. If no PR, then a course PR was all but certain. Shuffle along. This part didn't seem as long as it did last year, don't know why, but once I crossed the bridge that last section wasn't too bad. Not that I was enjoying myself, but I think I was content to just shuffle in and finish and knew my body could hold up.

When I got to the "chute" for the final quarter mile or so I was fairly content to just continue to shuffle it in. However, when I turned the final corner and looked at my watch, I noticed it read 3:33:02. I knew my current PR was 3:33:16. I didn't know I had it in me, but I sprinted the final thirty yards or so. I stopped my watch at 3:33:17. Fuck, really? I am pretty conservative with the start/stop so I was hoping for some "official time" relief.

THE AFTERMATH

Finish! A chin for each hour I was running.

Once again, I was kind of a mess in the chute. Limping around, just stopping and bending over to stretch, making noises, etc. That finisher's chute was so frickin' long! Eventually I had to stop and just plopped down on the pavement next to others. After a five minute rest there, I limped through the rest of the chute and met my family on the other side.

It was great to see them and I also met up with Alejandro, Jon, and Glenn. Alejandro and Jon both slipped off pace during the second half and missed their goals. So while I want to blame my failure on the early 3:25 group pacers, even had I paced myself who knows what would have happened. Here are two very in shape marathoners who both slipped off as well. Glenn, meanwhile, had an awesome race. He slowed a bit toward the end but had a pretty strong race. 3:34 this year after 4:15 last year.

I went out for lunch with my parents and sister. Strangely enough, I wasn't super hungry and really wouldn't be all day. It was nice just to be with them though and I appreciated them all coming out so much. Eventually we limped back to the parking garage and I went home and did absolutely nothing the rest of the day.

I'll have a post with more reflections next. But for now, I'll take the "official time rellief" and the ONE SECOND PR* thank you very much!

Official Chip Time: 3:33:14, 8:08/mile. 520/6258 overall, 402/3050 male, 77/357 M25-29.
* (edit) official time was revised downward one second, meaning it was a 2 second PR.