Race Review: Rock 'n' Roll Portland Half Marathon

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Honestly, I'm not too sure what has taken me so long to sit down and write this review. I had a great time, but I feel like we have been going non stop since I got back last Sunday. More on that later this week (or next at this rate) hopefully.

I was really stoked to be heading to Portland again after last year, as you may have read. Cindy (my mom-in-law) and I headed out bright and early on Saturday morning, with coffee in hand and an iPod armed with 6 hours of music.

Though we waited in line at the border for about 45 minutes (Canadian long weekend), we made pretty good time once we got on the road and found ourselves at the expo around 1:00PM.

The expo was a little quieter this year, but we still had a great time and picked up some awesome merchandise as well as some free shoelaces at the got chocolate milk booth!

My loot! The left is the this year's race shirt and I bought the shirt and visor on the right!

I was stoked to see this beautiful banner of MY city, it only fueled my excitement for Rock 'n' Roll Vancouver in October.

And if you're still on the fence about registering, check out the discounts I have for you on the left sidebar of the blog and head on over to the registration site to use the codes!

After we picked up all the necessities, it was time to leave the expo and head towards the Woodburn outlets and eventually to our pre-race dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (oh gee I'm so predictable lol).
We also squeezed in a quick walk to Voodoo doughnuts and made sure to "rest our legs" on the way back by taking a bike taxi back to the hotel!

Best $10 I've ever spent. Once we got all checked into the hotel, I continued the pre-race traditions and laid out my clothing and race gear and tried to get some sleep.

Apparently I was tired because I fell asleep immediately. It must have been all the driving as that is pretty unlike me especially on the eve of a race.

I like getting everything ready the night before, because it usually makes the morning pretty seamless and uneventful. And since we were a mere 5 minute walk from the start line, everything was so much calmer than BMO was a few weeks prior, phew!

Just like last year, there were SO MANY photographers at this race, I loved it. If you're going to buy the photos, you certainly get your money's worth. I think I got almost 50 photos this time.
Unfortunately this year, it was raining at the start. Though for us, it was nothing out of the ordinary and frankly I'd prefer that over being too hot.

Cindy checked a bag since she was planning to wait for me at the finish (she did the 10k). After which, we headed over to our corrals. She was in corral 5 and I was in corral 12. I think it took about 14 minutes for our corral to get to the front. Again this year, they were very small corrals, maybe 100 people or so. I had planned to meet someone in my corral but it was rather crowded this time.

I was near the front when we got started and I definitely went out too fast again, big surprise.

I'd had no time goals for this race, I knew that it would be unlikely I would beat my time from last year after my foot injury. I had high hopes for a decent race though after I felt so good at BMO 3 weeks ago, but that was about it.

The first part of the race is an out and back by the start/finish line after which, we headed into the city for a short loop and then over the Hawthorne bridge. As we passed under the steel bridge (which we would run back across at the end) I felt a pain in the bottom of my foot, at first I thought it was my injury and then I felt something sharp pierce the bottom of my foot, ouch! I pulled off to the side and look at my shoe and there was a giant screw! I took a moment to yank it out of my shoe and off I went. Thankfully I caught it before I really stepped down hard and it went through my foot. I looked at my shoe later to see if there was a hole but I can't find one in the treads.

This was my favorite photo of the race, after the out and back, and right before we headed around that loop and over the bridge:

I haven't been brave enough to try a jumping photo yet for fear of falling on my face, but the moment arose and I took my chance, so happy it worked out! By the time the bridge came into view, I was starting to feel warmed up and my legs were becoming less stiff, though my foot was a bit achy (thankfully not from the screw though lol).

Last year I remember noticing the carpet on the bridge and laughing about it because it was so weird to run on, but not really uncomfortable, just different. This year I wasn't laughing. The bottom of my foot did NOT like that part of the race. The carpet is there, I believe, for 2 reasons; so you don't slip and because the grates are large so your foot kind of sinks into them.

I felt like I was barely running across that bridge. I was thankful to see the pavement on the other side and aware that the split for the 10k and the half was coming up. I knew that after that, I had one major obstacle to overcome before I would be headed towards the steel bridge and over to the finish line, THE hill.

I don't so much mind that there's a hill, because it's practically the only one in the race, but it's long, like 2 miles long. I knew early on that I'd be walking most of it and that would greatly effect my time. I haven't been doing hill training hardly at all, because I've just been more focused on finishing my regular runs with my unpredictable foot. Thankfully I had the knowledge of last year and I knew it was coming. There was an audible sigh of horror when we turned the corner and everyone saw the hill and then at the very top, you could hear everyone sigh with relief, so that was funny. I always take solace in the fact that when you reach something like that during a race as opposed to a training run, you're not alone. All you have to do is look around you and know that you're all headed in the same direction.

Next up, is what I refer to as the residential portion of the race where we ran through lots of cute little neighborhoods where all the locals had come out to cheer, some of whom were still in their pajamas on their decks or in their driveways. I was anxiously awaiting every walk break at this point and checking my watch far too often. My foot just wasn't cooperating and my iPod was clearly on the fritz, it kept telling me it had low battery (even though I charged it the night before) and I couldn't turn the volume up above a whisper so eventually I just took my headphones out and listened to the spectators and other racers around me.

This sign brought a smile to my face.

The LA marathon took 4 of my toenails and a piece of my spirit. This race gave me some of that spirit back but unfortunately did nothing for my toenails...

It was at this point, I started to wonder where the hell that other bridge was. I got stopped for traffic a couple time too. This happened last year as well. Portland is a small city and they can only close so many roads at a time. The volunteers and traffic controllers were very friendly about the whole thing, and each time I wasn't stopped any longer than a minute. One of the police officers was even joking around with us and ran through the intersection with the crowd.

Finally we came down a hill and the bridge came into view. I love the steel bridge. It's what I think of when I think of Portland with the giant pulleys on top and the trolley car tracks. As I was running across there was a trolley coming across so I missed that photo op. But thankfully there were more photographers on the other side!

This next section felt longer than last year, but I was probably because I was a lot slower this time around.

I wish I had stopped to take a photo as we passed by the famous Portland Oregon Old town sign, but I didn't. I was thinking about crossing that finish line and what I could do for an interesting picture, since I was pretty positive I was going to get the photos. I thought since it was my 25th half marathon I could indicate 25 with my fingers, what a great idea, right? Wrong. I'm an idiot apparently because I totally forgot that it would show up backwards in the picture, half marathon #52... I think not. So yea, that explains these.

 We will just pretend I'm waving and giving the peace sign at the same time, okay?

I edited this one because I like it and I can pretend I'm not an idiot.

So all in all, not a bad race with a final time of 2:29:42. I admit that I expected a little better time with how well my foot behaved at BMO but oh well, I'm still pleased with #25!

Cindy, however, rocked the 10k and came 1st in her age group, WOW, way to go Cindy! It was the inaugural year for the 10k here and I hear everything went really well.

Race Review Summary 

Package Pickup/Expo:
The pickup went very smoothly as always. I loved the race shirt this year, though it is a shorter cut like most of the Rock 'n' Roll shirts, so I would recommend going up a size if you have a larger chest or a longer torso like me. We enjoyed the expo, but I have to say I really am looking forward to seeing the Brooks "Run Happy Island" in Seattle. We had lots of fun with all those activities last year at the "Cavalcade of Curiosities". Also, I always love the Rock 'n' Roll and Brooks merchandise, it never disappoints. I would have bought more than a shirt and a visor if I thought my budget could handle it!

Price/Value: $80-110 (depending on when you register)
This is the same price essentially across the board for most of the Rock 'n' Roll races and I think it is fair considering the size and the experience.
 
Aid Stations: 
Rock 'n' Roll always provides plenty of aid stations and course support. This is easily a race you could run without carrying your own water.

Course Difficulty: 
Moderate. The majority of the course is relatively flat, but if you're looking for a PR, you definitely want to make hill training apart of your program.

Medals:
Love the medals!!! Happy to have my 1st of 7 towards the Cascadia medal!