Portland Marathon - Race Report

Time to catch up on some blogging.

I learned at the Portland Marathon that I know how to train myself for a marathon. It only took 6 years and 17 marathons to figure that out.

Since Sadie's Rogue group was running Portland it made sense for me to run too. Work was really busy for me this summer and my training group was focused on other things, so I decided to go it alone. My training mainly consisted of easy runs through our neighborhood and the Town Lake Trail. I did very little speedwork. Only a few MGP runs of 4-5 miles on the trail. I did get my long runs in and was able to do 5 runs of 20+ miles, peaking at 25 miles about 4 weeks out from the race.

The main thing I tried to do was simplify my training. I didn't feel the need to go find a track and do 1000/1000's or 5k/10k pace work. I didn't feel like I needed (or wanted) to go do some extremely high mileage program. I just concentrated on getting my miles in and running at an easy pace and as the summer went on, tried to make that easy pace a little faster. During my neighborhood runs I always made sure to include some hills. My weekly mileage peaked at around 50 miles/week.

Going into the marathon, I didn't know what to expect, but I felt good. My stated goal was just to break 3:15 because that would keep me eligible to run Boston for two more years. Deep down I thought I probably could run 3:10 or less, but I still had doubts on whether I had trained hard enough. I came up with a simple race plan that would give me some flexibility. I started behind the 3:10 group, but ahead of the 3:15 group. The plan was to begin the race running between 7:10-7:25/mile. Hopefully 7:10 would feel pretty good and I would hold it through Mile 17 when we reach the top of the St. John's Bridge, the highest point on the course. At the bridge I would assess how I was feeling and either pick it up or hold where I was.

Race morning came with perfect weather and me feeling strong and rested. I started out as planned and it felt easy. I was able to immediately get on 3:10 pace and ran without any problems. 10K split was at 7:10/mile. Halfway split was 1:34:27. The funny thing was I was on 3:09 pace and the 3:10 pace group was way ahead of me, obviously going out too fast.

I made the long climb up to the bridge at Mile 17 and still felt good. My pace has slowed to 7:17/mile overall, but we had been good up some hills. I think I also got lulled to sleep on a couple of the boring flat miles around a bunch of warehouses. I decided to hold my pace where I was and wait for the big downhill section at Mile 21 to start kicking it in. I had a couple moments in the next 4 miles where I started to feel bad and have some doubts, but I was able to fight off the bad feelings and run through it. I thought back to the Team Rogue pre-race meeting that I crashed the day before. Steve told everyone to make a list of reasons why they were ready to have a good race. I came up with one: I'm pretty sure I ran more in 100 degree weather than anyone there. Most of my training runs were in the afternoons when I got home from work. While they weren't fun, I knew it was helping me learn to deal with the suffering that you face during a marathon. That's what I focused on when I started feeling bad at the end of the race.

At Mile 21, I picked up the pace but was only able to do 7:08. Faster than I had been running but not enough to pick up much ground on the 3:10 group. I figured I was about 1 minute behind them so I needed a strong finish. With about 2 1/2 miles to go, we crossed the Broadway Bridge and I picked up the pace again ready to run as fast as I could to the end. I ran off the bridge and made the sweeping righthand turn down to Naito Parkway that takes us to the finish. This is where my only course complaint is. As I made the turn I looked ahead to see some train tracks with the gate down. To my left I could see a train coming about to block off the course. Without much thinking I ran as fast as I could, slipped around the side of the gates, dodged a guy trying to block my way and ran across the tracks. I really wasn't that close to the train, but I think I would have been stopped if I was 10 seconds slower.

After that I could feel my heart pounding and just felt grateful that I has been far enough along not to have to wait for the train. I though about how mad I would have been to have trained for 6 months, have been running a good race and then get stopped by a train. That would have been awful. I kept running but I think I just lost focus from there on in. While Mile 24 had been 7:10, the next two were 7:27 and 7:38 even though I didn't feel like I was struggling. With a mile to go I knew I wasn't beating 3:10, so the last .2 was pretty slow. Finish time: 3:11:52.

Overall I'm pleased with the race. Another Boston qualifying time and a race where I really felt pretty good the whole way. It seemed easy compared to Nashville where I walked a bunch. Of course, it doesn't matter how fast I run, I normally always feel like I could go faster. Looking back I probably should have tried to pick up the pace earlier. I just had the fear of bonking hard in the back of my mind so it lead me to be a little bit conservative. After struggling towards the end of my last couple marathons, I really wanted to feel strong at the end of this one and to be able to enjoy it. I think I accomplished that.