Portland 10 Miler

Hey Guys, I did a thing this weekend. I ran a race! It was my first race since last August, so it was exciting. I ran the inaugural Portland 10 miler. It fit nicely into my half marathon training and it is always nice to get to replace a long run with a race.

Packet pick-up was available the day before at Rising Tide (a local brewery). I thought it was a fun place to do pick-up and a lot of people took advantage of the beautiful day and sat outside with a beer after their got their packets. Unfortunately I had a whiny baby strapped to my back so we did not linger. The shirts were cotton long sleeve, which made me happy. I wear these all the time to sleep in and mine are all at least a decade old, so it is definitely time for a new one. The sizing seemed a big strange. The shirts were unisex so I got a small. It’s on the small side, but my friend’s medium was huge!

Race morning with a toddler who wants to be glued to your side is a challenge, but luckily the race didn’t start until 10 so I managed to get myself dressed, fed, bathroomed and out the door by 8:45. Parking was a bit of a mess. The race website just said parking was at Payson park (where the race started) but didn’t give any specifics. We saw one person directing traffic but as we turned into the road he indicated, he turned around, folded up his sign saying “race parking,” and walked away without giving any of the cars he had waved in any direction.

I went back and forth on what to wear. It’s been so cold training that I knew 50 something would feel very warm. But there was also a strong breeze off the water. At the very last minute (like literally 2 minutes before the start) I decided to run in a t-shirt and I sprinted to the car to drop my long sleeve shirt.

There were about 1,500 people in the race which seemed just about right. I had people around me the whole way, but it was never overly congested. The course started out in the park and then headed out to Baxter Boulevard along Back Cove. There is a lovely dirt trail along the cove here, but unfortunately they had us running on the road for the first mile and half of so. The road was really slanted and my legs were not happy with the angle.

My public goal was to stay under a 10 minute mile, but my secret goal was a 9 minute mile. I waited until I was about 4 miles into the race and settled into a steady pace to figure out if that might be possible and it was! In training I’ve been doing intervals of 8-9 mins running, 1 minute walking, but in the race I just kind of winged it. I walked through the water steps every 2 miles (I can’t run and drink) and took a couple walk breaks on the really steep hills.

At mile 5 we went up a long steep hill to the get to the top of Eastern Prom. The views were pretty, but the slant of the road bothered me again. We ran along the top of the prom for about a mile and then down a steep hill back to Baxter Boulevard. Running down the hill also didn’t do great things for my legs and feet. In general they were what held me back. Cardiovascularly I was fine, but my lower body felt achy and heavy.

I had hoped that since I ran 12.5 mile just a week and half ago that the 10 miles would feel easy. It didn’t. The last 3 miles were a struggle. I just couldn’t get my legs to move any faster and we were running into a strong headwind. The saving grace was that we did get to run on the dirt trail once we were back on Baxter Boulevard. The dirt was a lot gentler on my legs. I did not like the end of this race. We turned into the entrance to Payson Park and it felt like the finish should be right there. But instead we had to run up a slight incline for ¼ to ½ a mile. Gross. I didn’t have much a kick left in me, but I gave it what I had and finished in 1:30:09 for a 9:01 pace. Just 9 seconds over my secret goal. I’ll take it!

The medals and food were fine, nothing special. There was free beer as well, but the line to get into the beer area was super long so we opted to head out and go get lunch instead. We headed to Highroller Lobster Co for the ultimate post race food- lobster grilled cheese, fries, and beer. All of the above were amazing.

I crashed big time after lunch. The race really took it out of me. I was done. I managed a 15 minute dog walk later with the family but other than that I didn’t move much (except to go get Blizzards at Dairy Queen for dinner haha) and I went to bed at 8. I’m a little worried about my upcoming half based on how exhausted I was by the 10 miler, but I’m also not feeling great today so maybe I’m getting sick?

Overall I’d give this race a B. Organization was decent, course was decent, shirts are decent, just nothing too special.

How was your weekend?