#94 - Portland Marathon 2010

DATE: Sunday, October 10, 2010

LOCATION: Portland, Oregon

This year Portland proved to be an interesting one. In previous years the cost of the Portland Marathon was between $95-105 which is on the high end of marathons in this area. Portland is a large marathon (tenth largest in USA in 2009), but I can pay $60-$80 for most marathons in the region. That said, Portland told everyone, in March, that the cost of the Portland would go from $105 to $135. I was planning to run it and was willing to pay $105, so I registered then. I don't want to bag too much on Portland, but I don't think it worth $135.

In the history of the Portland Marathon, it has never rained for the entire Portland Marathon. In 2008, it rained for the second half, and all the other times I have done it, it has been dry. But this was the year, it would be a wet one. It rained during the entire marathon, I have run marathons in the rain, or I was ready but many were not.

My friend Jon Dotson and I went to the Expo on Friday and got our packets. The Portland Marathon was getting a lot of heat for the high cost, and this year they gave you two shirts, a collector coin, and a really cheap necklace. These were all things I did not need, but whatever.

On race morning, Jon and I drove to downtown and got ready for the race. We found a covered area to stay dry before race start. Jon wanted to break 3:20, I was looking to run a 3:30. We started with the 3:20 pace group, and I quickly fell back in the first few miles. Jon kept up with the pace group.

When I got to the turnaround at mile 9, I was able to see that the 3:20 group was only about a half mile ahead of me, and Jon was still with them. I was running pretty fast and didn't feel that I could run much faster at that point, and just felt like I wanted to keep up the current pace.

When I got to the half way point, I had run 1:39, which I was pretty happy with. I knew a 3:30 was pretty likely, but at that point I was wondering if 3:20 was possible. Once I got to the St John's Bridge, I pushed up the hill and cruised the rest of the way. I never really slowed down, and even pushed pretty hard the last few miles, hoping to run a 3:20. I ended up finishing in 3:21:08. I was very happy with my time.

I met up with Jon who struggled in the last five miles, and ended up running a 3:25:48. While Portland is a nice race, they need to understand that they are not a "Major" marathon like Chicago, New York or Boston. They need to realize that $135 is bit much, when Boston cost $125. The shirts and medals are pretty much the same every year, and now have even more restrictions on pacers in the last few miles. Also they use Ultima as their energy drink, and that has rubbed a lot of runners the wrong way. Not sure I'll do Portland next year.