Portland Marathon
I decided it was time to do another full marathon this year. It was my fourth and final race this summer and it was definitely the hardest! I trained with my friend Dwight Hemmert. We ran every weekend after Hood to Coast. Every Saturday we ran, 13, 15, 17.5, 21, and then the race. I would have liked more time between the races so I could train differently, but that's what we had to work with. Dwight was suppose to run with me, but he couldn't get time off work and twisted his ankle. So I ran with two of my co-workers Bill and Brian. They are both much faster than I am, but they didn't have to pay to do the race so they said they would stick with me until the end. I am so grateful I had them with me. They cheered me on, kept saying the most encouraging things, and wouldn't let me walk when I was being a big baby!
It was raining on us the whole time and my long sleeve shirt was soaked. My hands were frozen. My left knee was locking up after about 14 miles. Caleb and my brother Ryan met me at mile 18 with a clean pair of socks and shoes. If I was smart, I would have given him a clean long sleeve shirt to trade with me, but I didn't think it would rain so much. With my clean spiffy shoes I started on the last stretch.
After the St John's bridge around mile 17, most of the race is downhill. But that actually made my knee hurt more. I was really looking forward to the downward slope, but it was killing me. Brian's right knee was hurting too, so we looked like a couple of peg-legs running.
I did the first half under 2 hours and it took me almost 2.5 hours to run the last half. My finish time was 4:26. Not my best race time, but I am more than happy with it. I didn't want to be over 4:30 and I wasn't. That's my limit. I want to finish one under 4 hours someday, but this was not my day. Some days I wake up and feel like I could run forever. This particular day was not one of those days. It was a struggle most of the race. Thank goodness for the support of my friends and family.
And I have a bone to pick with the race officials. The past two times I have done this race, they gave me chocolate milk at the end. All I could think about from mile 23-26 was my milk. I was dreaming of it and Bill was describing it and using it to motivate me too. Guess what- no chocolate milk this year! Just some crap juice that made me mad! Luckily, my brother Ryan loves me and walked to Safeway and got me my milk. He also let me wear his coat because I was frozen. And best of all, Fred let us all go back to his fancy loft in the Pearl afterward. We got to shower and put on dry warm clothes and hang out where fancy rich people do. What a treat.
So why the heck did I pay $145 to run this thing? It really does make me feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I love to know that I can train by body to do whatever it is that I want it to. With hard work and dedication, I can tell my body to run 26.2 miles, in the rain, on a hurt knee, and finish when I wanted to finish. I have had two children now and I can still get my training runs in and not take away time from them. Waking up at 5 am to run on a Saturday morning may not seem like a fun time to most people, but running when the sun is coming up and there is no traffic is amazing. You see other runners out there on the same path and many of them are training for the same thing you are. You see old, young, skinny, large, short, tall, male, female, and all ethnicity's. It's like you're part of this secret club that only a runner would understand.
My favorite two training runs were on 9/10, the day before the 9/11 memorial in downtown Salem. Dwight and I ran on a foggy morning around thousands of American Flags at the waterfront. It was chilling and breathtaking at the same time. The other run had to be in Sunriver. We saw more deer that morning than we ran miles. The deer come right up to us and you can almost pet them. We also ran by the river and over some bridges. After you run 20 miles you can pretty much eat what you want to. Dwight and I came back to the house where my sister made the most amazing cinnamon rolls ever. We ate them as we soaked in the hot tub in the rain.
If you have ever trained for something, and then accomplished it, then you can relate to this experience. Maybe it's not a marathon for you. But whatever it is, find it, challenge yourself, and FINISH!
Thanks for sharing my journey with me! Here's a terrible picture of me and a great one of Bill around the last mile. I look as bad as I felt.
It was raining on us the whole time and my long sleeve shirt was soaked. My hands were frozen. My left knee was locking up after about 14 miles. Caleb and my brother Ryan met me at mile 18 with a clean pair of socks and shoes. If I was smart, I would have given him a clean long sleeve shirt to trade with me, but I didn't think it would rain so much. With my clean spiffy shoes I started on the last stretch.
After the St John's bridge around mile 17, most of the race is downhill. But that actually made my knee hurt more. I was really looking forward to the downward slope, but it was killing me. Brian's right knee was hurting too, so we looked like a couple of peg-legs running.
I did the first half under 2 hours and it took me almost 2.5 hours to run the last half. My finish time was 4:26. Not my best race time, but I am more than happy with it. I didn't want to be over 4:30 and I wasn't. That's my limit. I want to finish one under 4 hours someday, but this was not my day. Some days I wake up and feel like I could run forever. This particular day was not one of those days. It was a struggle most of the race. Thank goodness for the support of my friends and family.
And I have a bone to pick with the race officials. The past two times I have done this race, they gave me chocolate milk at the end. All I could think about from mile 23-26 was my milk. I was dreaming of it and Bill was describing it and using it to motivate me too. Guess what- no chocolate milk this year! Just some crap juice that made me mad! Luckily, my brother Ryan loves me and walked to Safeway and got me my milk. He also let me wear his coat because I was frozen. And best of all, Fred let us all go back to his fancy loft in the Pearl afterward. We got to shower and put on dry warm clothes and hang out where fancy rich people do. What a treat.
So why the heck did I pay $145 to run this thing? It really does make me feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I love to know that I can train by body to do whatever it is that I want it to. With hard work and dedication, I can tell my body to run 26.2 miles, in the rain, on a hurt knee, and finish when I wanted to finish. I have had two children now and I can still get my training runs in and not take away time from them. Waking up at 5 am to run on a Saturday morning may not seem like a fun time to most people, but running when the sun is coming up and there is no traffic is amazing. You see other runners out there on the same path and many of them are training for the same thing you are. You see old, young, skinny, large, short, tall, male, female, and all ethnicity's. It's like you're part of this secret club that only a runner would understand.
My favorite two training runs were on 9/10, the day before the 9/11 memorial in downtown Salem. Dwight and I ran on a foggy morning around thousands of American Flags at the waterfront. It was chilling and breathtaking at the same time. The other run had to be in Sunriver. We saw more deer that morning than we ran miles. The deer come right up to us and you can almost pet them. We also ran by the river and over some bridges. After you run 20 miles you can pretty much eat what you want to. Dwight and I came back to the house where my sister made the most amazing cinnamon rolls ever. We ate them as we soaked in the hot tub in the rain.
If you have ever trained for something, and then accomplished it, then you can relate to this experience. Maybe it's not a marathon for you. But whatever it is, find it, challenge yourself, and FINISH!
Thanks for sharing my journey with me! Here's a terrible picture of me and a great one of Bill around the last mile. I look as bad as I felt.
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