stumptown recap

portland was fantastic. delightful. memorable. not only the marathon but the city. the weekend. the company. all of it. essentially it far more than exceeded any expectations i may have had.

arrived on friday and met up with amy (sister in law and running partner from afar) and skye (friend of amy and now of me) who flew in from colorado and charlie (brother in law) who drove down from seattle. spent the next three days trying to have fun while balancing the stress and insanity inherent in preparing for a marathon. here's a taste of how it shook out:

food. the entire time i was in portland i ate delightful food. amy luckily has no inhibitions about talking to people so she asked for suggestions of restaurants from most everyone. and it definitely worked out well. we would go to one recommended place have great food and ask our server for their suggestion of another restaurant. we had come into town with one only reservation - our post-marathon meal - and it turned out to be all we needed. so among the highlights were breakfast at bijou, cafe (delectable oatmeal pancakes). pre-race dinner at at gino's (fantastic black cod). our celebratory dinner at nostrana (winter squash soup, straw and hay fettucini with a lemon cream sauce, and a barolo wine flight with aforementioned runners and crew and friends ajit, sandra, and maggie - need i say more). and the coffee at stumptown conveniently located attached to our hotel was nearly flawless. also made an evening run to voodoo doughnut. really more about the experience than the doughnuts but still (our experience included almost getting a contact high from the patrons behind us).

hotel. when we decided to run the portland marathon i shortly thereafter saw an article in the NYTimes on portland that mentioned the Ace hotel. it looked fun and cheaper than a lot of other options so we thought we would give it a go. despite an early mishap it did not disappoint. our room was a standard double. two double beds for four of us. could be a bit cozy considering i had not met my bed mate prior to marathon weekend but alas the bed was a generous size and skye was an amiable companion who i did not even know was in the same bed with me. the first night we all retired at a reasonable hour and all seemed well. that was until the alcohol started coursing through the veins of the patrons of the bar across the street. and then there was yelling. and laughing and all sorts of merriment. none of which i am opposed to. except when it is 1 in the morning and i am trying to sleep and it sounds like they are all in my room. i was not the only one experiencing this joy though at the time we were all unaware that one another was being affected by it. amy went down to the desk to complain and while they were unable to make any modifications at that time we were upgraded to a king suite for the two remaining nights and no extra cost! queen bed and two single beds. perfect for the four of us. everyone at the hotel was fantastic to speak to. all offered suggestions of places to eat and were genuinely concerned about the issues that occurred the first night. there are all sorts of fun and trendy aspects to the hotel as well - a photobooth in the lobby. a stumptown coffee attached. funny signs abound. comfy couches. i would definitely go back. and only two blocks from Powell's Books (the largest independent bookstore in the world) where i saw a homeless man talking on his cell phone. and not far from where another gentleman stopped me and said "i know this is odd but do you think you could spare some change so i can buy a gram?" what do you say in the face of such brutal honesty?

marathon. woke up around 4:30 and choked down half a power bagel. pounded some water. and then waited. basically thats what you do before a race. at least thats what i do. i get up. get dressed. eat something. drink. and then wait. trying not to get too nervous in the process. luckily amy and skye were in the same boat as i was so we all waited it out together with our super helpful one man cheering and support crew charlie. headed down to the start. it was still dark and about 45 degrees. overcast but pretty close to perfect running weather. ducked into a bally's to stay warm and use the restroom before the start. a few minutes before the start we headed out. divided up. i went to my slower start area. my travel companions to their much faster designated spot. and then within minutes we were off. and everything happened so quickly. even as it was taking hours. i tried to really pay attention to things so i would get the whole experience. there was some fantastic drummers about a mile or so in. the crowd support was amazing. around mile 3 was a hill. i had not seen any of the course so i didn't really know what to expect and there was some fun in that too. i had my garmin but i didn't really pay attention to it once it finally started working (initial issue picking up the signal because of being downtown between all the buildings). i just ran. we ran along the willamette river and through some industrial area and train area where i saw amy and skye. charlie caught up with me twice on his bike as well. through neighborhoods. on the shoulder of some highway-like road toward the st. john's bridge. there were definitely times it didn't feel fantastic but it never felt bad. i was just running.. i wasn't judging what i was doing. i was enjoying it. around mile 16.5 is the big hill to the bridge. a lot of people see it and start walking. i kept running. could not bring myself to walk when i came to run a marathon. it felt like i would be cheating myself (and i was happy to have run a good number of hills in my training). once i hit the bridge and it crests i could see mt. hood. it was absolutely breathtaking. and then back through more neighborhoods. slight downhill for a few miles. past a big adidas building with two huge sneaker sculptures. past the widmer beer brewery. back over a bridge or two. and then almost to the finish. a lot of people seemed to be succumbing to aches and pains and exhaustion by then. i just kept telling myself you don't want to look back and wonder why you walked. so i didn't. i kept running. my hip ached as it had for the past 18 miles but i pushed it out and finished with a PR. 34 minutes and 7 seconds faster than my previous marathon. not too bad. and i had a great time. amy and skye both set PR's as well. and besides a medal with a covered wagon on it (random) and a shirt i now have a sapling to plant.

i definitely ran happy.