Slowly moving to a sub-3

Warning: Long race report. I tried to type as much info as I could to help me improve my future races.

2012 Portland Marathon Bib# 5120 

At the marathon expo the day before the race, I was standing at the pacers table. They were giving out pace bracelets, adjusted for the terrain of the Portland Marathon course, in 5-minute finish-time increments. The question was: do I get the 3:15, or the 3:10 pace band?

A 3:10 would be a BQ, but it was a pretty aggressive goal-time. My current PR was 3:14, and I weighed nearly 10 lbs less than I do now when I ran that PR race. I decided to go for it, even though it could risk continuing my Portland Marathon Curse (extremely painful races in the past).

Prerace dinner was at an Italian restaurant (I'll look up the name of it later). The main dish was a pasta with bolognese sauce, yum! I also had some bread and a glass of wine. Throughout the day, I munched on Chex Party Mix and chugged Gatorade and Powerade. Lunch was a spicy sushi roll, and breakfast was pancakes.

I woke up at 4 AM, three hours before the start, and brewed up some coffee. Then, I showered, stretched, ate a muffin, drank more coffee and Gatorade. After that, I spent some quality time on the toilet.

I hit the porta-potty about 30 minutes before the start, and then lined up about 20 feet behind the 3:10 pacer. I didn't want to race with the pacer mob, just keep them in sight.

The first couple of miles were a little slower than race pace. That was good. I like using the early miles as a warmup instead of hitting race-pace cold.

Around mile 4, I was starting to get the urge to use a porta-potty. Hoping that the urge was temporary, I passed the porta-potties around the 5 mile marker. After passing them, I seriously considered turning around to make the pit stop. Just past the 7 mile marker, I saw more porta-potties. They looked very inviting, and then I started to feel desperate for them!

I was obviously the first runner to use the facility since the TP still had its wrapper covering it. I sat down and immediately began multitasking: riping the wrapper off while doing my business. The whole operation probably lasted about 1-2 minutes. It was worth the time sacrifice because the alternative would have caused an even greater slowdown, eventually. (Note to self: no more than ONE cup of coffee on race morning!)

After exiting the Fortress of Solitude and rejoining the race, the pace group was nowhere in sight. My plan was to gradually catch up with them by running 10-15 seconds faster than race pace.  I felt good, but was concerned that I could be running too fast.

Somewhere after the 9 mile marker, I encountered my first "gummi bear station".

Portland does not offer any energy drinks at their aid stations; instead, they have Ultima, an almost zero-calorie electrolyle replacement drink. Think: flavored salt-water with some token vitamins added to make it seem special. If you want sugar/carbs, you'll have to get them through one of the 7 gummi bear stations (how many calories are in a gummi bear?), or 3 pretzel stations along the course... unless you bring your own!

Gummi bears are almost as annoying to eat on the run as Cliff blocks are. The only difference being that gummi bears are smaller, and therefore a little bit easier to masticate prior to swallowing. Still, I ate the bears at three points along the course.

A little after the 13 mile marker, I caught up with the 3:10 pace group. The road felt especially "hard" under my feet on this section, and the sun was heating things up. My right hip started to complain. This could turn into a full-blown IT-band flare-up. I mentally "spoke" to my hip, acknowledged the pain, and re-assured the IT-band that everything was going to be okay. Amazingly, the pain disappeared!

Crossing the St. Johns Bridge, I passed the 17 mile marker. Decided it was time for a Gu. I tore open the package and slowly ate the Gu over the next couple of miles since the next aid station didn't appear until mile 19... good thing I drank water at all the previous aid stations!

Once I crossed the bridge, it was time for me to face the cursed section of the Portland Marathon course. The previous 2 times that I've raced Portland, extreme pain (the most intense I have ever felt) attacked my legs. This part of the course heads down a fairly steep hill which turns to the left, but is cambored to the right (I was told, this is called an "adverse cambor"). If you were driving a car down this hill at a high speed, you would lose control and roll your car to the right. I think the combination of 17 miles of fatigue, eccentric muscle contractions from the quad-busting downhill, along with with use of supplemental muscles to try to turn the body to the left when it wants to go right, is responsible for the Curse. I tried to slow down and run this section very controlled.

I made it to mile 20 without pain suddenly stopping me in my tracks. I was still hangin' with the (much smaller now) pace group. 3:10 was looking like a believable time now!

For the next 3 miles, I maintained my 3-3 breathing pattern. As the intensity increased, I had to switch to 2-2 for the last 5K. I ran side-by-side with one of the pacers. Just a couple of miles earlier, I was telling jokes to him and a couple of other runners. Now I was digging deep, staying focused.

It was at this point that I remembered a comment that Scott made on Fast Running Blog. Something about how some of the race time predictor calculators "don't know how tough I am". Thanks, Scott, it helped!

The pacer was helpful too. He told us we were right on pace to finish about 20 seconds fast of 3:10. In the last 385 yards, he suggested that I maintain the speed, but pickup my cadence... that felt better! I crossed the finish knowing that I had a new PR of 3:09.

At nearly every aid station, I drank water and poured almost as much water on top of my head. I carried 2 Gu's, but only used one. I ate 9-12 gummi bears, and 2 mini pretzels (which required lots of water to wash down--I won't eat those in a race again).

At the finish, I ate and drank what I could. The urge to immediately sit down was strong, but I kept moving. Got all my "swag". I'd have to say, this year's finisher's shirt is pretty nice-looking. Met up with Jodi and took the train to the hotel. Had a nice shower and a 30 minute nap before checking out. Then we went to the Widmer Brewery where I quite possibly had the best hamburger I have ever tasted (the Brewer's burger), along with a pint of their Oktoberfest ale.