The Big Day

I completed a marathon!  Here's my recap.

My girlfriend and I had gone to a Fiona Apple show the night before so we were up way past our bedtimes.  This caused us to have kind of a slow start.  After stopping in Seattle for breakfast, we were on our way to Portland.  The drive down was nice.  There wasn't too much traffic and the weather was fine.  We rolled in to Portland at around 3 or 4 and checked into the McMenamins Crystal Hotel.  It's a nice place and was within walking distance to the Hilton, where the Expo was.

The Expo was kind of a maze but I managed to find where to get my bib without too much trouble.  They always set up expos so that you are forced to walk through all the vendors, which is kind of annoying.  I had to walk to the other end to pick up my shirt and then walk through more vendors to get out the door.

That evening we met up with some friends at The Doug Fir Lounge for dinner.  I had the mac n cheese because I thought it might be the most carbohydrate heavy item on the menu.  Some of their cocktails sounded tasty but I didn't think drinking booze would make the race any better in the morning.  After dinner it was off to bed for a sleepless night!

I got out of bed at 5:20 am and had a bagel and started getting ready for the race.  It was probably a little too early but I wanted to get at the starting line with plenty of time to spare because I screwed up on my registration and got assigned to the "fast people" corral.  I definitely would have been in the way if I started there so I wanted some extra time to figure out what a more appropriate corral would be.  I saw a pacer for 5 hours in coral D and thought that was close enough. I found a good spot and anxiously waited for the start.

The race started at 7 and it took about 15 minutes for my corral to get to the starting line. The whole time I was thinking to myself, "What did I get myself into?" That feeling went away as soon as the race started and the excitement took over. Portland sure knows how to start a marathon!  There were marching bands, Chinese dragon dancers, rock bands and a ton of fans.

Things started pretty smoothly for me.  I was careful to keep my pace in check and kept the 5 hour pacer ahead of me.  I did start to worry after 2 or 3 miles when my right leg started getting really stiff.  It was a sensation I had not experienced while running before and it was way too early for something like that to be happening. I missed the first water station, which was fine, but I made sure to walk through the second one.  Doing so kind of reset my leg and the stiffness went completely away.  Relief!  Somewhere around mile 7 the racers started thinning out so I decided to try to move up a little and really focus on my form. I was able to pass the 5 hour pace group and I thought I actually had a shot at finishing in under 5 hours.  My goal was to just finish but doing so in under 5 would have been pretty nice!  I managed to keep a decent pace for the next 6 or 7 miles, but at mile 15ish, things started falling apart.  My muscles were started to get sore and were on the verge of major cramping.  Unfortunately this was how the next 10 miles went.  I was forced to walk more than I would have liked but I did run the vast majority of it and I was determined not to have my first marathon a DNF.

Miles 20 through 26.2 are almost indescribable.  It was hard.  The hardest thing I've ever been through.  Every muscle in my legs hurt and it felt like they could completely seize up at any moment. My pace started to drop quite a bit and the 5 hour pace group passed me at mile 23.  Oh well!  It was kind of a relief in a way because I could just focus on finishing at that point.  Despite how miserable I felt, I never once thought about quitting and all thoughts of why I was attempting a marathon vanished.  I was going to finish this thing.

The last mile starts at one end of the Hawthorne Bridge.  I was trying to focus on how close I was by thinking about how far a mile is back home on all those training runs.  It's not that far!  That didn't work.  That last mile felt like 5.  I made it, though.  Crossing that finish line was relief like I had never felt before.  I could not believe that it was over.  I was in a daze.  I wandered through the too blocks after the finish line picking up my medal, pausing for pictures and grabbing some of the food they had set up but I hardly remember any of that.  I eventually made my way through and found my girlfriend.  We went directly to the beer garden for the most deserved beer of my life.

I had a less than impressive time of 5:14:23 but I'll take it.  This was the most rewarding experiences of my life and I don't think any race will be quite like it.

Thanks for reading!  This blog will most likely be pretty much retired at this point.  I'll update sporadically with updates on races I've run and any other running related information I feel should be shared.  For now I am going to take a bit of a break from training and then perhaps do another round of Insanity while I figure out what my next race will be.