BRUNCH RUN & RETROSPECTIVE

Mile 8 aid station at George Rogers Park.

After a two year absence it was back to the Portland Marathon Clinic Brunch Run on Saturday. This is the event where they bus you to a mystery location twenty miles away and then you run back to brunch. Usually pretty fun... in theory at least! Read about my experiences in 2013, 2014, and 2015. This is the run that introduced me to PMC and is usually my favorite of the training cycle because it is not the same old route and it always has great aid stations with lots of stuff.

About that same old route part though... yeah. So this year we did the Willamette Park (West Linn) to Willamette Park (Portland) route again. This was the route in my first year, 2013! This was also the route in 2015. This means that out of the four Brunch Runs I have done, THREE have been this same route! Ha! In 2016 and 2017 they did routes I haven't done before (Cook Park in Tigard and Kelly Point Park in Portland) but it's almost like they welcomed me back with this route like a homecoming or something.

I will say that this run went a lot better than back in 2015. I remember that one kind of sucking a lot. Now, that was in the middle of marathon training where my arthritis was starting to be noticeable a little bit (in retrospect). I was able to power through that cycle and a run a great time of 3:39, which was only six minutes off the year before when I was working my ass off to break 3:30. That 2015 cycle was more of a "survival" cycle, kind of like what I'm doing now. Get the miles in, but not worry about speedwork so much. Compared to the way I was feeling that training cycle, this year is going much better.

This was my third twenty miler of the season and I only have one more planned. Yikes! I'm going to have to do that one myself on the day before the Portlandathon. Will probably end up doing various loops from my house. Maybe I'll even buy some candy and shit for when I stop over between the loops. Anyways, crazy to think the dreaded twenty milers are almost out of the way. They've gone so well this year. Again, my legs felt fine during the run. Sure, they were tired toward the end, but nothing like I have felt in the past on some of these twenty milers. It gives me a glimmer of hope that with any inflammation tamped down, maybe, just maybe, the "20s" this coming marathon won't suck as much.

As for the weather on the Brunch Run, it was perfect. That certainly helped with feeling good. Do a twenty miler in 85 degrees and it's an entirely different story! It was actually sprinkling and about 60 degrees when we started. Most of the run was overcast, and then toward the end the clouds broke up a little. Still thought, it was probably 68 degrees when we finished. Very comfortable. I had to scarf down the brunch and jet because the Oregon State football game started at 5:00 and I earned some guilt free tailgating dag nabbit.

Finally, for a little fun, I was curious about how my training was doing compared to 2015, my last marathon training cycle. So far, I've been right on track, doing even more miles than I was doing back then. Awesome! Now, my long runs at the time were with the 3:30 group and averaging like 9:45/mile, so I was actually working harder. So it's not completely apples to apples, but the miles are there. Gives me confidence I can run the marathon. It's going to be a touch slower, sure, but I'm definitely on track and my attempt to "baby" myself a little through this cycle isn't really babying myself much at all!