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SRRC Race Reports

Portland Marathon: Portland, OR—October 9, 2005
by Phil Holt

I got up Friday morning for an early run before the weather turned inclement. It was still dark, and a very light rain was falling. No problem—it was certainly better than a hot, humid morning. It felt a bit like the Pacific Northwest, damp but temperate. A couple of miles from home, the rain became a little more insistent. Pretty soon it was torrential, and the water rushing along the curbs was occasionally ankle deep. I was soaked to the skin, my shoes were squishing and sloshing, and it was raining so hard that water was going up my nose. I'd seen the local forecast, but the rainy weekend ahead didn't bother me—I was leaving for Oregon in a few hours to run the 34^th Portland Marathon.

When I got home, I followed the standard shoe drying instructions, and toweled off enough to get to the shower without leaving wet footprints all through the house. After getting some work done, I packed a pair of dry shoes and running gear for the race, checked and re-checked tickets, confirmations, etc. and headed out the door about 1:00 for a 5:30 flight. After about three hours of wiper-slapping delays, I was in the boarding area at BWI, where I met my friends Brian and Marcia, who were also going to run the race. Marcia was chatty and excited—this would be her first marathon. Though Brian and I have run many races together, we were excited, too. Portland is a famously beautiful city, and the marathon course is considered one of the better ones in the country.

Beautiful Portland with Mt. Hood in the background

After an uneventful trip, some rest, a visit to the race-expo, a little tourist time at the Portland Saturday Market, and some Pacific Northwest drizzle, we headed to the arty Nob Hill section of the city for a delicious pre-race sushi dinner. (We did stop afterward and got some ice-cream.) We talked about our plans for the race. I was going to use my bell curve strategy like the week before (more on that later); Brian was going to take it easy; Marcia was going to combine running and walking so that she could finish in less than six hours. We adjourned early so that we could all finish doing things like pinning on race numbers, laying out clothing for the morning, and trying to get a good night's sleep before the race. The weather called for temps in low 60's and mostly cloudy weather—excellent for running. I hadn't committed to a time goal, but in the back of my mind I had the notion that it might be the day to go for a Boston Marathon qualifying time. I'd wait and see how things went.

The marathon starts at 7:00 a.m., which meant that downtown Portland was still dark when the gun went off. We ran out of the urban canyon of clustered high-rise buildings into daybreak among some local neighborhoods. Even at that hour, people were out cheering the runners along. The narrow streets and several turns created quite a bit of congestion early in the race. As I passed the first mile marker, a race official was calling out the time—10 min., 15 sec. That was almost two minutes slower than the pace I needed to average to finish in 3:35, my qualifying time. Fortunately, the streets widened, and we all found room to run. I still had to make up a couple of minutes. I reminded myself that I had another 25 miles to get that time back, so I didn't need to waste energy trying to catch up all at once. I needed to stick to my race plan.

St. John's Bridge, Portland

The plan I used for Portland was the same one I used at the Army 10, expecting my pace to approximate a bell curve—a little slower at the beginning (warm up) and the end (fatigue) with the most consistent time concentrated in the middle. The goal was to keep the top of the curve as wide as possible. I pretty much stuck to the plan, though I knew I had to make up for a little lost time at the start. I did this by getting back a few seconds a mile over the first 10 or 11 miles until I was running with the clock again and on my pace. I checked my time at each mile to make sure that I was sticking to my pace and resisting any temptation to speed up. I've heard many people describe trying to pick up the pace to "put time in the bank" but all that ever really does is squander energy and leave you staring at "the wall" at about mile 20. As the miles clicked by, I began to realize that I was on track to reach my goal. I tried to keep this from distracting me. I still had to make it past mile 17.

At around this point in the race, you cross what is called "Checkpoint Charlie," entering a side road to which only runners wearing race numbers are admitted and which begins a long steep climb from the river to the crest of the St. John's bridge. By halfway up the hill, most runners were either walking or running so slowly that walking would have been as fast. Those hot mornings running up Thomas Mill Road or up and down the hills out at Taylorstown really paid off here, and I was able to keep up a respectable pace to the top. From about mile 20 on, the race works its way back down hill, which allows gravity to help a little. Even with that help, though, I could feel the fatigue of the miles working on me. Looking at my watch I could see that even as I passed mile 20, I was still within range of my goal. At that point I kept telling myself that all I had to do was run a respectable 10K, and I'd be done.

I ran along thinking of the remaining distance according to a morning run around South Riding. I kept Coach Al's advice in mind about running from my core. (His guidance is posted on the SRRC web site, and it really does improve efficiency, and recovery after long runs seems much faster.) It all made a difference. As I passed the 26 mile mark I looked at my watch. I'd done it. I was far enough ahead of my goal that I could probably walk the three-hundred or so yards to the finish. No walking yet. I ran across the finish line almost two minutes ahead of my qualifying time. I've earned a lot of these marathon medals, but this one really felt special. I had not only reached my goal, but I'd done it running a good race.

Brian came in a little bit later, and Marcia met her goal of crossing the finish in less that six hours. After getting cleaned up and resting, we reconvened for a steak dinner at Jakes, a Portland landmark. We looked a little square walking around in matching finisher's shirts, but this really had been a day to remember. We didn't mind the attention from other finishers (also wearing their shirts) as well as passers-by who shocked our east-coast sensibilities with friendly questions and congratulations. I recommend this marathon to anyone who is looking for a trip that combines an excellent race with plenty to see and do. I wished I had time to stay longer and take a few day trips to the mountains, but I had to get back to rainy Virginia. Those wet shoes I'd left a few days before were bone dry when I got home. The instructions really work.

October 2005

The SRRC would love to hear about your running, racing, or crewing experiences! If you would like to submit a race report, to be posted on the SRRC website, please email srrunner@srrunners.org.