2015 PORTLAND MARATHON REFLECTIONS

Importance of tangents. Yellow=me, red=most other runners. Saved some time on a couple of these.

This will just be a random hodgepodge of stuff that didn't make its way into the race report or came up after that post.

No Bathroom Break: I didn't go pee this marathon! This ends the steak of two marathons where I had to take a break to go pee. Good thing too, as I only had 26 seconds to spare and that might have been the difference between me getting my "A" goal. I stopped aggressively drinking mid-day on Saturday and that might have been the difference.

Tangent Thomas: Also a good thing that I was running the tangents when I could (and when I was "with" enough to realize it). Again, this made a difference in my 26 second "A" goal achievement. I actually missed the Oregonian photo essay of 3:35-3:40 runners because I was running the tangent. Everyone was on the right side of this road on one turn when the tangent was clearly hugging the left edge. So I went solo over to the other side of the road and ran the shortest distance instead of hugging the right side of the road like everyone was doing. No photo taken, but probably a good five or ten seconds saved. Multiply that by about a half dozen.

Blisters and Chaffing: My feet fared pretty well this marathon, the only problem spot was a sizable blister on my left big toe. I've never gotten one there before and probably won't again for a long time. Also, I had some pretty noticeable chaffing on my right hip where my car key was snuggled against my leg in the little pocket the shorts provide. I also had a "tramp stamp" patch of chaffing right above my buttocks where my cell phone was sitting. All these have pretty much healed.

A slow down, but much more steady than last year.

Patient Pacing: I think my pacing really set up a "less worse" back half compared to the last couple marathons. Now, it still sucked, but when I think back to the other marathons I wasn't in nearly as much pain as before. My body was still yelling at me to stop, I still used the aid stations liberally, but overall I avoided any sort of real break down. I pretty much ran the whole race, which to me means I paced pretty well. I think I'll stick with the 3:35 group in Detroit too.

Lack of Desperation: Kind of going hand in hand with the above, mentally I was in a much better spot this time around than the last two. My last two marathons had me questioning not only running that distance, but running in general. I pretty much swore off both during each race and was super grouchy the last 10k. While this time around I wasn't necessarily enjoying myself, I didn't resolve to stop running and take up competitive eating during mile 24.

Healing Up: My healing pattern has been about the same this year as other years. Pretty sore Sunday after the race, really sore Monday, almost as sore Tuesday, better but still sore Wednesday, and only residually sore Thursday. I'll probably do five or six miles this weekend to shake off whatever crud is left, then only run once or twice more before doing it all over again in Detroit.

Back to Back: Surprisingly, I'm not dreading the Detroit Marathon much. Every year the big dread with the marathon is wondering if I am in shape for what I want to run and the "unknown" of what running a marathon is like, since it has been so long since I've done one. In Detroit I know I'm in shape, I know what the last six miles feels like, and I know I can do it. So really, it's not a big deal. I'll run for two and half hours fairly comfortably enjoying the new sights, struggle for just over an hour feeling like shit, and then it'll be all over. Easy peasy.

The Walking Dead: Starting about mile 20 there were a lot of people walking. It reminded me of my first year when I was in the Pearl District/Old Town and felt like I was in the middle of a Walking Dead episode. Seemed to start much earlier in the race this year, probably due to the weather. Anyways, while it made me want to walk and join them, it also gave me a boost. Feels pretty good to be running past a bunch of people who resorted to walking.

Shit Show in the Chute: While the race itself might have gone better, this race had me in the most pain afterward. Now Vancouver was pretty bad... I was in pain there too and actually started to have some core body heat issues. I didn't have a scare like that this year (much too warm for that!), but I think the actual level of leg pain was higher. I was almost in tears when I got out of the chute. I was barely walking and I'd be lying if I didn't say my eyes were watering a little bit. A fifteen minute sit down on the curb cured all though.

Still passing a good amount of people the last five miles!

I guess that's all for now. I am pretty pleased with my 3:39 and the way I ran the race. I'm not in love with marathon running, but I like the challenge. I'll probably do Portland again next year unless I get talked into some other fall race. I'd like to do Chicago or New York at some point but will need to convince a companion to join me.