So last weekend I ran the Rock and Roll Marathon, what would be a good followup? Another marathon! I was actually really considering it, but decided that since I’d had pain on RnR that I’d wait a few days to see how my legs felt before committing to the full. In the end I decided to go with just the half. I had some tweaking in my right leg that ran from tweaking to out and out pain, so I was having these paranoid, “What if it’s a stress fracture??” attacks. I’m sure it isn’t.
So Megan and I decided to make it a girls weekend. She was unable to run Rock and Roll, so I found another one a week later on July 4 and suggested she do that. It was on Sauvie Island in Portland, Oregon. We decided to leave on Friday and drive down and spend the weekend together, leaving the guys at home to fend for themselves.
What fun! We drove down, talking the entire time. By the time we got to Portland we wanted to just find our hotel and then carbo load. So about an hour later, we actually FOUND our hotel after getting misdirected about 37 times! It was getting comical! Fortunately they checked us in REALLY fast, and we magically found Spaghetti Factory right away!
We chatted over dinner, both of us belonging to the Clean Plate Club. I think we ROLLED out of there. But we were loaded, that’s for sure! And I don’t care what anyone says, I love Spaghetti Factory…they are my carbo loading restaurant of choice!
On the way down I pointed out some of the areas that, if we were running the Portland Marathon, we’d run through and by. I suggested that she might consider Portland, as it is a GREAT marathon and very similar to Rock and Roll, except it’s flat! She said she’d consider it…
We woke up nice and early Saturday morning after a decent night’s sleep. (I was listening to a Stephen King book on my iPod, and she was talking in her sleep.) We left for the six mile drive to Sauvie Island with PLENTY of time to spare.
As we neared the island traffic slowed.
As we got even closer, it slowed more.
Pretty soon we were crawling thinking that biking to the island might not have been a bad idea. (Never mind neither of us had bikes.)
The race started at 7:00. At about 7:15 we finally parked and saw this:
Hi other half marathoners!!
We didn’t stress at all! It was what it was. We were in the same boat as many others, as you can see from this shot taken just after we started:
Hi other half marathoners not in the race yet!
What a mellow start. We got out of the car, people were milling around despite the fact that most half marathoners had already taken off. The line for the porta potty was long, so we decided to wait until the course. We adjusted our stuff, and sauntered over to the start line, started our Garmins and we were off.
What a beautiful course! It’s a flat course around the island. The island is home to many small farms growing everything from Highland Cattle:
To wheat:
To giant iron ducks:
The course was VERY flat, which was a wonderful change after Rock and Roll. We talked a LOT and had our moments of merriment touching the center yellow line. MUahahahaha! We are such REBELS! (There was a guy on a motorbike riding up and down the course warning us in dire tones, to run on the fog line and NOT go near the center yellow line. How can you NOT touch the center line! We actually incited a bit of a rebellion after Megan touched it, I saw others behind me follow her lead. Use your powers for good, Megan. Use them for good.)
I think that lady on the left may be heading towards the yellow line! Quick! Stop her!
The entire run was just flat out pleasant. The organization was fantastic. Volunteers (except cranky motorcycle yellow line guy) were great. The fire department, for whom the funds were being raised, was out in force directing traffic and cheering us on. The entire course was calm and beautiful.
At about mile 5 Megan says to me, “Okay, you know how you talk about doing things that scare you? Portland Marathon scares me, but I think I want to do it.” Yay! See, I use my powers for good! I told her that with 12 weeks to go and a really good, solid training under her, she could totally do it. Our new training starts in a few weeks, so we’ll just go out and do extra mileage at the end of every run.
Megan’s Action Shot:
As we neared the finish line I could hear the strawberry shortcake calling my name! At that point I was thinking “I could ToTaLlY have run the full marathon” but then Strawberry started singing her siren song, and the pull was too strong. We zipped in, had our photo taken, and hightailed it over to FRESH strawberry shortcake! Best Post Run Food EVER!
We also took some time to take in some of the sights at the farm. What a neat little place! It’s the Pumpkin Farm, with little shops, a little animal zoo, and a cow train:
We drove home, stopping to pick up two dogs on the way (Megan does Aussie rescue), and talked about Portland. As soon as we got home Megan posted to Facebook that she was going to run the Portland Marathon. I responded, and shortly after Erin responded that she would do it if she could tag along! Woot! Woot! Three girls, loose, in Portland running a marathon! CrAzY times ahead!
This was a GREAT half marathon. I will totally do it again and have already suggested to Roy that we do it next year. In fact, both Seattle and Foot Traffic Flat were well organized, well stocked, and wonderful runs. They were quite different…one much more “big city” than the other. But both were equally enjoyable and will definitely be on my race calendar next year.
Tags: half marathon, Journey Fitness, race, running
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