Whew!

26.2, in the bag. 4:31:29. Whew!

Really - what an amazing experience. Fun. Awesome. Long. Challenging. Exhilerating. Inspiring. Fulfilling. Addicting.

When's the next one? I'll start training as soon as I can walk again without grimacing. :)

We arrived in Portland on Friday night and grabbed a taxi over to the Portland Hilton. The Hilton was both where we were staying as well as Race Headquarters, so after checkin, running our bags over to our room (we were actually in the Executive Tower, which was kitty-corner to the main Hilton & Race HQ), we had exactly 13 minutes to shoot down to the Expo for packet pickup. There was hardly anybody down there, except for the 2 dozen or so volunteers (wow!), so getting our race numbers and timing chips was a breeze. We were even able to sneak over to the expo just as they were closing it to buy tickets to the bus tour of the course the next day. Score!

After that it was a nice mellow dinner in our hotel restaurant (something Italian - a single glass of red wine with dinner, it was good), and off to bed.

Saturday we woke up on our own - around 7 am. Down to the Starbucks to grab a latte & a croissant and back to the expo to check out all the sights and sales. Race expos are amazing - there are booths with running apparel, gear, shoes - you name it, you can buy it at the expo - and usually at really good prices. Of course, there was also the booths with the official drinks that were going to be on the course, Tylenol, the course photographers and other sorts (I loved the Marathon Geeks). We dropped some change on a couple of nice long sleeve running shirts (it is getting to be winter you know!) as well as some great Portland Marathon souvenirs. Got hopped up on the Gleukos drink (eww - that stuff is awful!) and generally just wandered around for a while.

After that, we still had plenty of time to kill before our noon bus tour, so we decided to stroll the 3 blocks from the hotel over to the start area, just to check things out. The volunteers were already busy putting up barricades & signs, balloons, etc. for the Start & Finish areas the next day. That done, we figured we could extend our tax free shopping (Oregon has no sales tax - yahoo!) at Nike Town to get J a pair of running pants for his birthday.

Off on the bus tour - this was definitely a well spent $10. It helps me tremendously to be able to see in my mind's eye where I am on the course and know what's coming ahead. Our tour guide, Scott, and bus driver, Chuck, kept the bemusing Portland facts and corny jokes coming through the 1.5 hour tour. There were also some great people on the bus - people from all over the country: Atlanta, Anchorage, Chicago - other places I can't remember. And while there were lots of us for whom this was our first marathon, there were also more than a few veterans on the bus. For one woman, Portland would be her 27th! Wow.

After that we decided to grab some lunch at our friendly neighborhood Taco Del Mar, and grab some down time in our hotel room. Susan & Dean showed up with some presents (a Marathon Geeks shirt for Jason) and touched base about the plans for Sunday. By then, it was practically time to meet Gavin and his friend Ravi for dinner. The line at the Macaroni Grill was enormously long (45 minute wait!) but luckily we were able to scoop to tables back to back in the bar with not much waiting at all.

Great company (we learned a bunch about homeopathic medicine from Ravi's sister, who's studying to be a doctor in Portland) and a good solid pasta dinner, and we were about ready to hit the hay. Last minute preps in the room (pin the race bib on the shirts, put the timing chips on the shoes, mix up the gu & water in the flasks, lay everything out) and it was lights out.

RACE DAY! Luckily the rain from the night before had departed by the time our alam went off at 5am and we woke up to dry skies and dry pavement. Temps were in the low 50s with overcast skies - just about as perfect as you could get. We had a quick sip of coffee & tried to make do with some super-watery cream of wheat for breakfast (mostly we ended up eating a banana and some clif bar) and it was time to head to the start line.

It was still dark when Gavin & Keith met us at our hotel and we started making our way with everyone else over to 4th & Main. It was chilly too - I was glad for the long sleeve t-shirt that Jason talked me in to wearing over my race outfit - I would be ready to ditch it on the side of the course before the 1/2 mile marker, but it served its purpose as we waited for the start. Jason, Gavin & I picked a spot midway between the 9:00 mile pace signs and 10:00 mile pace signs. Within 10 minutes we were packed in with people - which was a good thing because it helped to keep us warm.

A great rendition of the National Anthem (with the exception of the clueless volunteer back by the walkers making announcements over the microphone in the middle) and we were off. It only took us about a minute and a half to make our way to the actual start line, and on we went. The first mile or so was a total cluster as the crowd spread out, and again as we condensed down to go through the Chinese Gates. A bit of confusion on Marathon Avenue due to a bottleneck and big puddles from the previous night's rain, and then things started getting more sane. Mile 2 had people lining the streets, cheering, ringing cowbells, bands. The hill was no sweat and things really started to spread out as we headed into mile 3.

We finally saw Dean & Susan right after the 5 mile mark, and tossed them our gloves and Jason's hat. 50 yards later and I thought to myself - wow, that woman with the camera looks just like Susan - it was! She'd run down the side of the course (faster than I was going!) to get some more pictures of us.

Off into the industrial section - this was a long, somewhat boring out and back - at least after a while we could watch all the speedsters coming back on the other side of the road. They were haulin.

Miles 11, 12, 13 were great. Feeling good - a little bit of a long gradual climb through mile 12. Then back down some steep S-curves (caution!) and onto the long straightaway approach to the bridge. This was LONG. Really LONG. I stopped a couple times for a walk break - not more than a minute or so each time I think - just to give the legs a break. Finally, we were at the bridge. The climb to the bridge was long, but thanks to the bus tour, I knew we turned at the light, which I could see from the bottom. We were able to pass lots of people just by plodding up the hill. Up and over the bridge - it was really windy up there. Miles 18 - 20 seemed to pass as a blur - I remember they were hard, but that's about all I remember. I think the RedBull aid station was at Mile 19 - that helped.

Then, somewhere between mile 20 & 21, I got a nosebleed for no reason. This was more annoying than anything else, but it did cause us to walk for a couple of minutes while I tried to get it to stop. Then came the long downhill at 22 - and my left knee started complaining. The downhill was tough, and we took one walk break there. Then finally down at the bottom and on the flats, it started feeling better. We ran into Susan and Dean again here - and handed off our fuel belts. The flasks were empty, and I was ready to be free of the additional weight.

We passed the beer aid station between 24 and 25 - funny, but no way appealing. I just wanted to be done. I wish I'd been enjoying myself more at this point - but I was definitely working. Up and over the Steel Bridge to the 25 mile mark. I knew we were so close, but man that downhill tweaked my knee again. We grabbed some Ultima and water as we walked through the aid station, and then on again to put this thing to rest. Just keep going through the last mile - and finally we were making the turn on to Salmon - yahoo! People were cheering, yelling our names (thanks to them being printed on our race bibs), the fat lady singing - it was almost over. One more turn and there were the ballons and the timing mats. They announced our names and Jason grabbed my hand to raise it up in the victory sign as we crossed the finish line together.

What an amazing experience. In so many ways, I still can't believe we did a marathon. We did the finish area thing for about a 1/2 hour / 45 minutes - got some food, got our medals, shirts, roses & seedlings - one more picture in front of the balloons and it was time to hobble back to the hotel.

So cool to walk around Portland the rest of the day, to see all these other folks wearing the finishers shirts, their medals, to talk to people about the race. I was exhausted, but exhilerated. So, So Cool.

Cheers to the Portland Marathon folks and their entirely volunteer organization. They do an outstanding job. I'll be back.