The 2008 Portland Marathon

The race: 26.2 miles

I set out to do something, and I did it.

I don't have as overwhelming a reaction as I did with CIM, but back then, I was less sure I could do what I did, I overachieved by four minutes, and it meant I was qualified for Boston.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm very happy. Sore, but happy.

The tale of my insanity continues, as I tell you about my fourth marathon.

The Strategy

While I've been to Portland a couple of times before, it has been at least 10 years, and I couldn't tell a thing about the course from the maps on the marathon's website. Well, one thing I could tell: the course elevation profile was relatively flat with a warned-about hill in mile 17 as the course approaches and runs over a bridge. So I planned out a pace-band to give me a little extra time in the first three miles to lock in the pace, and another staple of extra time to navigate the late hill.

As with CIM, the weather was a bit of a worry. Throughout the week before, rain seemed a certainty, but the storm came in on Friday and the forecast for the morning was to be humid but a low chance of rain. Oh, and 52 degrees throughout. I figured I'd be drinking more water during the race.

Race Morning

I had a better night's sleep than in any of my prior marathons, but I did wake up several times and had trouble falling back to sleep each time. That said, I felt less bleary-eyed when the alarm went off at 5:45 than I can recall from my three prior marathons.

I ate, dressed, pulled on sweats, and walked five or six blocks to the starting area, found where I could store my sweats and other things for after the race, then forged my way through the crowd (not as hard as I thought it would be) to reach the sign that said "3:15 and faster". Since it was really not too far away from the pace group leader for 3:10, I stopped pushing my way forwards. In the remaining 4 minutes, I tried to stretch a little, but it was pretty useless given how dense the crowd was.

The Race

Soon enough, the gun went off and the race began zigging through relatively narrow streets in downtown Portland.

The crowd of runners, initially, made the race feel a little congested, but I didn't have to zig-zag too much. Surprisingly, the early 90 degree turns in the course didn't cause for too much slow down. Pretty quickly, it was slowly uphill for a bit, and then sharply downhill. I sorted out to find the 3:10 group, then it picked up fast with the downhill.

The downtown start was pretty scenic: lots of green trees, lots of people cheering, decent looking buildings.

Mile 1: 7:16
(Mile splits are shown in sequence of completing that mile)

It was definitely humid, and I started drinking lots of water from my water bottle as I noted sweat rolling down the side of my face. I noted some regret that I was wearing a hat, since the overcast sky wasn't likely to require shade, but the cap was probably adding to my sweat-level.

Initially, I tried to lock in a pace, but I mainly found myself keeping up with the 3:10 group. As we passed along a wider avenue along the Willamette River (I think), the sense of tight surroundings quickly faded. More crowds along the path, cheering us on from the start.

Mile 2: 7:09

I eventually just committed myself to sticking with the 3:10 group, figuring that I could let it go if it felt too fast. We diverged from the River and completed a box, returning several miles later to be retracing our steps along the river, now seeing the thousands of runners (and walkers) still coming the other way.

Mile 3: 7:34


Mile 4: 7:08


Mile 5: 7:10

I started to hear the pace-group leader talking to others in the group, and he responded to a question about how hard this was for him with "it's pretty easy". Not much later, following some jostling, he joked that he was being run off the road by the group. I joked, deadpanning: "we have it out for you. We heard you say this was easy."

We were now on a long straight-away, clicking off another mile.

Mile 6: 7:19

Many miles I ran with this cluster, twice bumping into the same other runner who chided me because I drifted into her while looking the other way (at a water station we were passing). I apologized. I thought about how, just like I learned at CIM, running in this crowd was a bit more demanding than running outside of it, since you have to deal with jostling, paying attention to other runners. In fact, as a wheelchair-runner was about to speed by, our group got very congested and I ended up stepping on the back of another runner's shoe, with the shoe coming straight off. I apologized to him, and he fell back to retrieve his shoe. However, I really didn't feel like going ahead of the group, and I didn't want to drop back far enough to get clear(er), either. So I stayed with them.

Mile 7: 7:19

At this point we were passing through a fairly boring, industrial-warehouse part of Portland. Coming in on one hour into the race, my water bottle was already empty. 20 ounces, gone. I stopped at the next water station, pulling in between volunteers and dumping cup after cup into my bottle to get it refilled. I then rejoined the race-flow, and had lost significant ground on the pace group. I cautioned myself not to close in on them too quickly.

Mile 8: 7:10

Unfortunately, this long straightway ended at a 180-degree turnaround. After the turnaround, I caught some headwind. Galen had examined the forecast and had said something about wind in the latter half of the race, so that came to mind. But this wind was slight, refreshing, and temporary.

Mile 9: 7:11

The pace group was coming back in range. I caught up with the woman I had drifted into earlier and introduced myself and asked her name (Mary), and then resumed in closing the gap with the pace group, all before the next mile marker, notching a fast split. Somehow, I lost zero seconds with the water stop.

Mile 10: 7:01

Mile 11: 7:11

Diverging from the return on the straightaway, we headed towards greener pastures (almost literally).

Mile 12: 7:11

At this point in the race, I began to compare how I felt at CIM to how I was feeling then. At this point in both races, I was keeping up with a pace group, but at CIM, I felt strong enough to surge ahead of the pace group and not look back. I did not feel as strong, and I even started to note that the pacegroup seemed fast (some of these splits were below the 7:15 pace I would expect from the group). I began to wonder: I had only ever done 14 miles at this pace before -- was I up to doing this without the benefit of CIM's net-downhill course?

And then, a light rain started. Actually, it was kind of refreshing, sometimes a bit heavier for a few moments. In those heavier moments, I was very glad I wore a hat. Not so with the sunglasses that were perched on top of the hat, though.

We came downhill, with the side of a hillside to our left along a curvy road. I had decided to let the pace group go a bit and just tried to focus on hitting 7:15 splits.


Mile 13: 7:00

As we reached the halfway mark, I noted my time (1:34:30, or a 3:09 pace) and the fact that the pace group was ahead of me by 10-20 seconds meant they were on pace for a sub 3:09. This confirmed my need to let the pace group go ahead. I did see the pace leader hand off the pace-lead sign to another runner on the pace lead team, remarking that he'd see us later in the race. Huh? The guy who said it was easy was going only half-way? I could lead this pace for half a marathon!

Perhaps coincidentally, I started to feel some fading confidence, even though I knew I was ahead of plan. I just didn't feel as solid and in control as I did at CIM.

(It is fascinating to note that despite me seeing my splits along the way, looking at it now, I was going pretty fast when I started to lose confidence. I had just banked 37 seconds over the prior four miles.)

We approached a very green hillside and started to run along side the base of it.

Mile 14: 7:06

Mile 15: 7:10

Then, as we got closer to the approach to Bridge: I thought, this must be why the pace group is ahead of schedule, to allocate for the hill.

I had decided that the main reason I was pushing ahead was that I am a competitor.

Mile 16: 7:13

From the start of the hill, I watched my heart rate, and I was sort of surprised to see only 173 while midway up the hill, though the pace my watch was reading had slipped to 8:00. I felt, for a dozen strides, some tightness in my left lower quad, right above the knee, but it went away. Nonetheless, my hill-climbing reputation was not to be denied, and I was gaining ground on the pace leader.

Mile 17: 7:41
(I had allocated 7:45 for this hill)

By the time we were on the St. John's Bridge, I was pushing and nearly back with him and what was left of the pace group.

After the summit of the bridge, I started to feel pretty powerful. That was the only really challenging hill, and I took it and had leftover strength. The ensuing downhill was less beneficial. I started to need to push on and off, sometimes seeing splits a little off. I sometimes was also seeing my heart rate dip to 166 (which gave me the confidence to push more and speed up).



At 18 miles, I noted: only 8.2 to go

Mile 18: 7:01

The rain had pretty much stopped. We were on the other side of the river from downtown.

20 came up fast. Residential areas, lots of fans calling out my name (reading it off my bib). Some shouting encouragement that I wasn't far behind 3:10, not knowing that I was, in fact, ahead of 3:10 pace.

Mile 20: 7:19

Mile 19: 7:23



Mile 21: 7:24

Mile 22: 7:03

4.2 to go, and well ahead of goal. Visualizing 3:09. Thinking I have it in me, just think about the second half of a 10k. I pass the 3:10 leader.

Mile 23: 7:21

Three miles left.

The 3:10 leader passes me back, but I stick with him and the three others who are still with him.

Then, I feel a cramp form in my right calf. A couple of strides and I'm okay, though wondering why it happens. Did the fact that I hadn't continued the same pace of water-drinking while it rained contribute? Still, I wasn't going to stop again to refill, and I resigned myself to the little water I had left.

Mile 24: 7:16

Two-point-two to go. I start to push a little. Another spasm in the right calf, this time jolting me a bit, messing up my stride and I slow down. I look up and we are approaching dowtown, and I notice I've lost ground on the 3:10 lead. I try to recover from the cramp, hoping to find an angle to my stride where that won't happen again. I'm starting to be afraid that my calf will lock up on me. I'm starting to ignore the beep from my watch when it would tell me I was going too slow.

The calf spasms again, a few times, but not as badly as the big one. I try to find a balance between pushing to the finish and being consevative about my calf. We approach a smaller bridge that must lead us back downtown.

Mile 25: 7:15

Okay, 1.2 to go, I can do this. Three, maybe four more spasms in my calf, one which feels like it could trip me but doesn't. I'm just hoping I can hang on for six more minutes and not get thrown off my feet from a bad cramp.

Now it feels like we're getting close.

Mile 26: 7:17


The 26 mile marker goes by and I think, less than four hundred meters to go. I am running down a downtown Portland street, pumping my arms, and there are barriers holding back fans who cheer for my seemingly strong but actually desperate, wobbly feeling finish. We turn a corner and the 3:10 lead is just a few meters ahead of me, and I can see the finish line.

And then I hear Wagner - the Ride of the Valkeries, and something clicks in me and I chase down the 3:10 lead only to finish seconds behind him with the clock telling me I ran 3:09:30 something. I pumped my right arm high and crossed the finish line, excited in no small part that it was over.







Mile 26.2: 1:29


Sub 3:10! Another Boston-Qualifying time, but this time, without the age-discount, and better still, no grace period over the 3:10, either. 3:09 something!

Medal placed around my neck.

Space blanket, which actually starts to keep me warm.

Cup of water.

Trying to keep walking and really glad they used disposable timing chips so I wouldn't have to stop for someone to clip off the chip. Pass up a milk drink and got my hands on a juice-smoothie in a bottle.

Wandering around, drinking the juice, and clutching the space blanket ends and my water bottle. I kept wandering back and forth in the food area, chatting up a couple of runners who I recognized from the pace group, eating more, until I realized I didn't want to eat anything else just then. Headed off towards my sweats-bag check hoping to ward off the cold that was descending upon me. Collected a rose (a sweet Portland tradition), a finishers' shirt (nice that they only give it to finishers), a tree seedling (Conifer, another nice tradition) and exited the controlled area. I feared for a bit that I might not make it back to my hotel, as I was starting to get uncomfortably cold and was feeling pretty slow. I started to try to walk in a very directed manner.


I had to then navigate through the "reunion area", which was sort of a bummer since I made this trip alone and there would be no reunion for me until much later. It started to rain again, this time a little harder. I made it to the bag check, and started to feel a little warmer when I managed to get my wet shirt off and a dry layer on. I took a couple of Advil and drank a protein-fortified smoothie I had stored. I felt a bit better and headed back to my hotel, and once inside my room, I felt warmer. Once inside the shower, I felt pretty darn good. A long, ecologically irresponsible shower. Ah...

• • •

On to the graphs!

Variance from plan (where plan was to finish in around 3:11): The standard deviation of my splits was just 9.7 seconds, which means I ran a pretty steady pace all the way through. This was a hair wider than the standard deviation from CIM, and that stands to reason, given the difference in the hill-profile.


I like how this shows that I was more frequently significantly ahead of plan than behind, and that I fought to the finish. It also pretty clearly indicates that I was, like CIM, putting in some very solid miles in the middle of the course (miles 8 through 18 are all ahead of plan).

Heart rate:



Pretty similar pattern to CIM: starting out high, dropping and settling in, then starting to rise back up as the finish approaches. You can clearly see the big hill approach to the bridge. I also am noticing that the miles in which my heart rate settled down were the miles that I started getting solidly ahead of pace. Also interesting to note the down-up-down pattern of miles 23-25. Perhaps, had my calf not acted up, I might have pushed harder in the last three miles. Does this suggest I had more in the tank?

Time relative to Plan:

This view shows how I was always ahead of plan, and how those miles from 8 to 18 is where I banked a sub 3:10 finish. I'm not quite sure how come I slowed down for a few miles after the Bridge, especially because those were downhill miles.


Relative to CIM:

I threw this in to watch how I PR'd. After mile 5, I was steadily putting distance between me and my CIM performance.

• • •

Again, I feel like it was a solid, dedicated training effort that made this possible. I feel like I have something to build on in preparation for Boston in April, and I really did get what I wanted out of this race and effort.

Props to the Portland Marathon and the people of Portland! Good crowd support throughout most of the race, good organization, good vibe, solid aid stations, loads of volunteers. I would have liked to have been able to retrieve my sweats bag a little closer to the finish, but otherwise, I can't find anything else to complain about -- and runners do love to complain. I would easily recommend this marathon.

It was great to get all the same kind of support from the K-Stars as I trained, and the never ending support of my wife who gives me the time and space to train. It was magical to see her and my kids when I got home Sunday evening.

Until April!