2013 Rock n Roll Portland Half Marathon Recap

Race Date: Sunday, May 19th, 2013
Start Time: 8:00 a.m
Start & Finish: Waterfront Park
Expo: Fri 5/16 (12pm - 6pm)  & Sat 5/17 (9am - 5pm)


Friday, May 17th - Expo

The expo was held at the Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center in the Kenton neighborhood near Marine Drive. It took us a while to get there as we mistakenly headed to the Oregon Convention Center on Martin Luther King Blvd instead. Ooops! Next time, we will park in Portland Downtown and take the MAX transit to the expo. We paid $8 for parking ( no voucher provided) and proceeded to pick up our bibs and shirts. This was quick and easy, probably because it was early Friday afternoon.

At the expo, I met my friend Tessa from San Diego. We stopped by Brook's "Run Happy Cavalcade of Curiosities", a custom double-decker British bus featuring free running gait analysis and some arcades. Hmmm, I don't know about this whole circus idea. They also has some weird show featuring a "Human Jesus Lizard" that could run on water. It was basically Brook's campaign for their new DNA shoe technology. We only stayed for the chance to win a pair of Brooks running shoes but no suck luck that day.

Sunday, May 19th - Race Day

I woke up at 6:00 a.m and my lovely husband drove me to the Embassy Suites hotel  in Portland Downtown where my friends were staying. Their hotel was next to the world famous VooDoo Doughnut shop. This place is usually packed but there were no lines at these early hours, of course. I wasn't sure if it was open, but I could see some lights on inside. Hmmm suddenly I felt the urge for eating donuts, but I was running late. Lucky me, my friends were waiting for me at the hotel with the iconic pink box. How sweet! What can I say? Awesome friends and truly the best donuts I've ever tried.

After donut feasting, we grabbed a quick bit at the hotel's free breakfast buffet.  I ate a fresh watermelon, honeydew, grapes, pineapple and a banana. Ohhh I shouldn't have. I never eat this much before a race and now I was full.

It's good that we had a 10 min walk to the starting line. The temperature was perfect. No rain at all.

Few minutes later, we were at corral 8. The race started at 8:00 a.m sharp. We crossed the starting line 9 minutes later. The first few miles were in the Waterfront Park. We ran on Naito Parkway and looped around Downtown. At mile 3, I saw Joe Taricani from The Marathon Show. I screamed ¡Viva España! He is a big Italian soccer fan. He screamed "Hey, Ciiiiry! Forza Italia". 

At mile 5, the 2:00 hour pacers passed me. Nooooo! I tried to keep up but they were going 8 min/mile. I checked my watch "9:30 min/mile. I am still on target. Calm down!". Soon after, we crossed the Hawthorne Bridge to the east side. It was hard to run on the bridge as the floor was not asphalt nor concrete but medal grid covered by a temporary blanket which made it difficult to speed up.

Taking careful steps.

Once we crossed the bridge, we were at mile 6. The next 3 miles were kind of flat and uneventful. This part of town is very industrial looking. Nothing interesting to see.

At the expo, I was told to watch out for the hills around mile 9.  Since I didn't study the elevation course, I didn't know how steep these hills were. I had no expectations but to enjoy the course, run non-stop. As I ran through Hawthorne Blvd I thought "Are we in mile 9? I am confused! Where are the hills?". It was not bad at all. I guess I am used to the rolling hills in San Diego and San Francisco. At the top of the street, I could see the Bagdad Theater and Pub where I watched some good movies with my husband in the past. Big smile on my face. Soon after, we made a sharp left. We were now running through beautiful residential areas and parks. "Aha, this is the Portland that I like! Craftsman houses with gorgeous front yards and colorful hydrangeas".

At mile 10, I started getting tired but I was focused. I was also told at the expo that the last 2 miles were all going downhill around Lloyd Blvd.  But I knew we needed to cross the river ( by foot :-) to the other side so there must be an hill somewhere. Lucky us, it was just a short one to the N. Steel Bridge. Once we crossed this bridge, we were back in Naito Parkway with 1 mile to go. I was full of energy and very excited as I thought I was going to PR. Unfortunately, I didn't realized that my Garmin had lost satellite reception while running across the bridges and my time was off by few minutes. My official finishing time was 2:07:24. It not my personal record but it's my best finishing time this year. Yahoo, I am slowly coming back from my piriformis problems!

2013 RnR Portland Finisher's Medal

BIG congrats to my friends Eric and Tessa on their PRs and Brittney for finishing her first half marathon at her young age. What an amazing accomplishment!


Race Review

- Well organized
- Nice course with some hills
- Beautiful medal and shirt

Tips
- Park in downtown and take the MAX to the expo.
- If you book hotel, stay on the west side of the city.



Race Course Profile