Time to change that bucket list - Rock n Roll Portland 2015

There's something to be said about setting goals. We started racing in 2005 because of a bucket list item. That was supposed to be a one-and-done. We had so much fun we set the next goal to 50 races by age 50 and we passed that years ahead of schedule. Now, ten years later, we're crossing the finish line at our 100th race at the half/full/ultra distance.

We've been to Rock n Roll Portland every one of the four years of the race and it's the oldest race where we have legacy status. It's a great location for us and logistics are well set up for a quick trip in and out from Oakland. The mid-May date puts it near the peak of our training season so it's also a pretty fast one for us.

That's in an ideal world. 

Stop number 7 on the tour. It's still cool to see the Hall of Fame banner!

We flew in early enough on Friday to hit the expo before most people showed up. The best part about doing that is not only to hit the vendors for any forgotten essentials, but also to catch up with friends and the CGI staff. First stop in merch, of course. I'm still bummed that we're now missing two luggage tags for 2015. Note to Brooks: I'd pay whatever you asked and wouldn't even look at the price tag!

With Kevin, Darlene, Joe and Jen

One of the bright spots of the weekend was hearing that Beth Deloria was ready to race again after surgery. She was still on the fence on if she would do the 10K or the half, but just seeing her face light up with anticipation was awesome. 

Toyota had a selfie-car set up. This is a rare picture where Jim has hair and Kevin is smiling.

We were on hand for a really nice moment with TeamUp captain Darren presented at running leg to Erica, a recent amputee who was running on Sunday. Local CBS affiliates were on hand to broadcast.

CGI listened to the past participants regarding the forced stops to let local traffic through. This year, the instituted the 'bus box' diversion method in several places.

We were staying with Wendy about 30 minutes from downtown Portland, so we weren't able to spend a lot of time with folks in the city this weekend. We did some shopping and by the time we were done shuttling Al and Sherry from the airport to their hotels, we had just enough time to grab dinner in Gersham before heading to bed. 

Beth decided to go for the half marathon. She said her recovery was sped along by all the good wishes and getting back to see all of us RNR Gypsies was a motivation. Hugs flowed freely.

Ron, Kevin, Blowfish Jim, Gary, Al, Beth, Joe and Susan. Ready to Rock another race.

Something about our little group seems to send out signals so we know where to find each other. We saw Kamika for the first time in months after two world business trips. He dragged his friend Trevor into racing with us.

Two years ago, Jim found a puppy friend. They were reunited with another friend as Darren took care of them pre-race.

In 2013, Jake Zeman passed away at the finish line at Rock n Roll Savannah. Joe was the most recent in a series of runners who wore Jake's race bib in his memory. The rest of us donned bibs to honor him and Team Trust, a charity set up to help his son pay for college.

Just like in Nashville, Michelle, Ted and Sherry found us at the starting line without a single text or call or email. Granted this was a smaller race and fewer ways to get to the start, but it's cool that we always seem to magnetize to each other.

Let's not discuss the fact that this is the start of the 10K, not the half (as a kind spectator pointed out to us about 3 minutes after we were supposed to start... quick quarter mile hoof north to the half start!).

The bus boxes working really well. As far as I heard, no one had to be stopped to let traffic through. Some of the elites were stopped because of a train crossing, but from what I hear about downtown Portland, that kind of this is a lot harder to control so people tend to just roll with it. Not the best of conditions if it's in the middle of a race, but I've learned to look at RNR Portland less as a half marathon, but as a 10K and a few 5K with breaks. At least I got a picture of one of my favorite signs this year.

Susan was able to catch a picture of the new Double Agent shirts for those who've qualified for both Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs. Technically, we're in that classification, but we may have let our MM dues expire. The shirts look pretty cool, so we may have to get around to renewing.

Beth ended up finishing her 'welcome back' race in the mid 2:10's. We were worried a few months ago that surgery might leave her unable to walk, much less run. She's the embodiment of her cause Get Back Up Today. Darren and the inflata-puppies greeted her with great enthusiasm.

This was our 7th Rock n Roll of the year, earning us the Stairway to Seven Heavy medal  Having done RNR Arizona, Kevin (with bacon) is still a race ahead of us on the RNR Heavy Medal count. The 8-track medal will be our next in San Diego. I'm already working out my neck muscles to carry that monster.

We saw a number of our friends picking up the 7 and 8 race medals. Four people picked up the 9 in Portland. With San Diego and Seattle left in the front half of the year, we should see quite a few of the Gold Record 10 race medals soon. Thanks to Ryan Davis (below) who sustained an injury while handling the hardware. Way to take one for the team!

Susan had gotten in an extra women's half marathon race, so our 100th race milestones weren't lined up until I did the Brazen Half over Valentine's Day this year. But every race we've done has been special. And 95 of them, we've been together.

Race #1: Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon, Anchorage June 2005

10: Maui Half Marathon: 2007 / Bar Harbor Full Marathon 2007

25:  Pacing the Nike Women's Full Marathon 2010 / Scottsdale Women's Half Marathon 2010

50: RNR Arizona Half 2013 / RNR St. Petersburg Half 2013

75: RNR Raleigh Half 2014 / RNR Dallas Half 2014

100: RNR Portland Half 2015. Thanks to Joe for the celebratory 100th race card!

When I crossed the line in Anchorage 10 years ago, I told myself I wasn't just finishing a race, I was finishing my FIRST race. Susan followed me on the marathoning path on a lark. Ten years, 100 races later, we're still at it and we have no plans to slow down.

Time to update that bucket list item. 200 anyone?

~//~

Rock n Roll Portland is in its 4th year. Participation is down by about 1000 overall from 2014 (7,878 total with 2,016 in the new 10K, 5,862 in the Half).  Median finish times were about average for RNR races (1:07 for the 10K and 2:17 for the half). Race day weather was in the mid 50's with a thick overcast. Rain held off for the most part, but we did get sprinkled on a bit.  Overall elevation gain for the race was 411 feet which makes it actually less hilly than 2014 (682 feet, if you believe my Garmin data). The start/finish area in Waterfront Park is really well organized and close to a lot of downtown parking and light rail. If you can't find a place to stay in downtown, public transportation is really good. Since we've been there 4 times, we didn't hit a lot of the local curiosities like VooDoo Donuts. We got our fill in Denver last year!

Next week in San Diego, most of the die hard Rock n Roll Gypsies should be in attendance. We've started looking at lifetime race totals for RNR weekends since we haven't figured out if we should be counting 5k and 10k Remix races as separate events and we're still on the fence about the Brooklyn 10K since that was the only distance offered that year. We're pretty sure we've identified 9 people with more than 60 Rock n Roll races under their belts.  All of them will be in San Diego. Maybe we can get an update when we run into each other at the starting line again.

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What is a Vegetarian doing here? - The Great Bacon Race

One of the many perks of being a frequent flyer on Southwest is earning Companion Pass status so that a companion can fly free with you on your flights. The more we fly, the more perks we earn, and the more we want to fly. One perk that Susan hasn’t earned yet is Southwest Preferred Status. Given all the trips we’re taking this year, it turned out that she was just three round trips short of earning this status so we set out to find a few more travel destinations. Our criteria was that 1) We had to be free that weekend (there aren't many of those between now and the end of the year), 2) It had to be somewhere Southwest flies relatively cheaply, 3) Bonus if it was a destination where we could visit with friends.

When we learned that our friend Wendy’s niece was planning to earn Marathon Half Fanatic status, we decided to fly up to support Crystal for the first of her two back-to-back weekend half marathons. Another friend Al also flew up to pace Crystal since it was her first ever half marathon. Wendy and her nephew Derek joined us for his first 10k. Everything was coming together nicely. 

There was just one small detail that made this whole plan even more surreal. The race Crystal chose to do near her home was, “The Great Bacon Race.” Ron was excited – everything tastes better with bacon. However, Susan was less than enthusiastic having been a vegetarian for nearly 30 years. The opportunity to customize our race bibs pretty much says it all. Upon check in, Susan learned she had earned favorite custom bib status by one of the race organizers. Her bib was even posted on the race website. The other favorite bib they pointed out was, “The Baconator” which was proudly worn by none other than Derek. We must be an imaginative group!

Which brings us to the night before the race. Since we were only racing the 10k the next day, we diverged from our traditional pasta dish and branched out to try a few appetizers and pizzas at Twilight Pizza Bistro. Susan sampled the fried zucchini and then took a bite out of the fried fully loaded baked potato balls. Her first reaction was, “Hey, there’s bacon in these!” Feeling proud that she still recognized the taste of bacon but horrified that the weekend was shaping up pretty much as one would expect – lots of bacon! Ron and Al proceeded to counterbalance their inner carnivore by proceeding to order not one but two vegetarian pizzas for dinner. At least there was something there that Susan would enjoy eating.

Susan usually asks if there's meat, garlic, raw onions or dressing in all side dishes. We didn't even have a chance to taste test it for her.

Marathon Maniac (on a 10K) with Da Baconator

Sunday morning was a glorious sunny day. We got to the race start with plenty of time to spare despite the check engine light on the rental car coming on and being given wrong directions for parking nowhere near the race start. No, these were not Susan’s attempts to accidentally “miss” the actual race and avoid the bacon altogether!

This was the second year of The Great Bacon Race in Vancouver, WA and the first year they offered a half marathon. Small town races can give you some great self-esteem since the age groups are usually pretty small. Crystal won her age group for the half marathon. Ron and Wendy both won their age groups for the 10k. Derek completed his first 10k. Al was pacing Crystal so his placement didn’t count (though he did finish 2nd). The only one left out was Susan who placed 5th in her age group. Clearly she should have done better if she had been eating more bacon! Full results here.

When organizing a race for approximately 200 hundred people (fewer people than in a single corral at a Rock ‘n’ Roll race), you can afford to be somewhat flexible. There were 32 finishers in the half marathon, 56 finishers in the 10k, and 122 finishers in the 5k. When selecting a smaller race, you have to be more flexible in setting your expectations.

• The location for Saturday packet pickup was emailed out the same day. The mid-week locations at Krispy Kreme in Oregon didn't help those of us traveling from out of town and those who live in Washington. Turns out there was a location for a Saturday pick-up buried in the comment stream of the event's Facebook page (if you knew where to look).
• The race start times varied depending on where you looked and who you asked. In the end, the half marathon started at 9:15 am, the 10k started at 9:25 am, and the 5k started soon thereafter (exact time unknown since no one in our party did the 5k).  
• I guess you could say the mile markers were also somewhat flexible even though the course was supposed to be certified. Starting with mile 2 in both races on different courses, our GPS watches indicated that the course was marked short.
• The directional arrows were also somewhat flexible and it wasn't always clear where to go, especially for those who were not familiar with the area. The volunteers in general were really good, except for the one volunteer who wasn't standing at his post and about a half a dozen people got lost in a parking lot until realizing they were off-track.

The finish line was sparsely populated by the time Crystal and Al came in, but those who were there were enthusiastically cheering on the finishers. 

The finish area was in an airplane hanger. There waiting for us was our reward – 2 slices of bacon per person and pork tacos. Derek found out that they start getting uptight when you go back for the second (or third) round of bacon. At least the watermelon salsa was yummy.

~//~

The Great Bacon Race includes a half marathon, 10 k, 5 k, kids 0.5 mi fun run, and “Holdyns Race” – a race for special needs children. At the start of the race, the organizers presented a special running stroller for Jayce, a ceremony that really warmed the heart.

This was the heart of racing country and there was a half dozen fairly serious race walkers in the field (figure sub 12-12:30/mile). Both Ron and Susan finished in the top 3 of the walker contingent as far as we could tell. While this was Ron's 10K PR, Dumbo probably shouldn't count since there were a lot fewer photo ops on this race.

This race had something for everyone, including bacon from several nationalities on the medal.

When a Race isn't really a Race - Rock 'n' Roll Portland 2014

A year ago we were standing on stage at the Rock 'n' Roll Portland Expo talking to a crowd about the social aspects of marathoning. And by 'stage', I mean the space between two speakers and by 'crowd' I mean 8 people including our friends Kevin, Wendy and Ann who we pretty much begged to show up. Race day weather a year ago is cool and dry. Ron and Kevin, starting 6 corrals apart, both PR though the times were tainted because of a few police stops during the race to let traffic through. Wendy makes her best effort to finish the half marathon with a short training season and has a great moment with Ann at the finish line.

RNR Portland 2013. Honored to be sharing the stage with some of the legends of the sport.

Fast forward a year. There are no speakers at the Expo for RNR Portland. The weather forecast was for 70% chance of rain (and climbing by the day). Wendy took advantage of the new 10K distance with her niece Crystal. There was a race that weekend, but for some reason, it wasn't the thing that really stuck in our minds. Sometimes we travel and the race is the most important thing we look forward to on the weekend. For some reason, this trip was different. 

For short weekends like this, we barely have enough time to catch up with all of the friends we've made on the circuit. We stayed with Wendy about 15 miles east of the race start/finish. She's been having a pretty turbulent few years and we were really happy to see how much her life had gotten better since 2013. Her niece was doing her first RNR 10K and after talking to us and Al, I think she's gunning to be a Half Fanatic really soon. 

We picked up Al and Ann at the airport on the way into town on Saturday. It was a quick 20 minute drive to the expo with the five of us packed into a Prius and it was great to catch up with Ann since we knew her schedule gets crazy as soon as she hits the expo. She was so excited to see us that she forgot she had a rental car reserved. Oops.

Ron's favorite time of the weekend was actually just catching up with friends at the expo. We spent a while with Al, Shayne and Ann just talking about non-race stuff. We heard all about Shayne's engagement on her trip to Maui and she asked if she should wear her ring while she was giving out iced water bottles at the finish line (NO!). Shayne is also prepping for Rock 'n' Roll Seattle, her first half marathon in a while, as she tries to get back to Boston. Ann filled us in on her trip to Rome with her mom and a bunch of other parent-child pairings from church. She and Ron were dancing to "Shout", distracting Al who was trying to make a point (and failing miserably). 

Jennifer told us about how it felt to have front row seats to watch Meb win in Boston and how proud she was since she knew him when he was in high school. Susan gave Lori a travel foam roller, something she can really use since she'll be running RNR San Diego after recovering from a tight IT band. Somehow we missed Darlene this trip. We'll have to seek her out in San Diego for sure. We met up with Kevin at the Expo an hour later. This was the first of three straight Rock 'n' Roll weekends for him as he was headed to the Inaugural RNR Liverpool between Portland and San Diego. 

Our first look at the new Cascadia Heavy Medal. Pacific Peaks is earned by racing in Portland and Seattle. Cascadia completes the northwest trio with the inaugural Rock n Roll Vancouver race in late October.

As for the race? The 70% chance of rain didn't actually happen until after we picked up our medals (including the Rock Star Heavy Medal for the fifth Rock 'n' Roll race of the year. woot!). Ron and Kevin raced together and finished right around 2:29 with Susan hot on their heels at 2:30:17, her second fastest race ever. All three of us were totally smoked by a friendly race walker who passed us going up a hill at mile 7 on a sub 2:15 pace.

We said hello to Ann and John Bingham at the start, but some of us missed them at the finish with the rain closing in on us. We somehow missed Joe again this trip. Having to find shelter from the rain before the race limited our time in the starting area.

The Half Fanatics (and honorary members) always come out in force for the northwest races. Crystal joined us for the picture as a future member. Gary, Kevin, Al, Susan and a whole bunch of crazy people represent probably a few thousand half marathons for the group.

We were able to catch up with Kamika after his week of 5 half marathons in 5 states. Most races on this trip were smaller east coast races.

Sometimes the race is the reason we travel. We prepare for the event and shoot for a target time and it becomes the highlight of the trip.

But sometimes its everything else about the weekend. And the race really isn't a race.

~//~

2014 was the third year for Rock 'n' Roll Portland. It's one of the few races that Ron and Susan are legacy racers. There were 7035 finishers in the half marathon (median finish time of 2:16) and 1809 finishers in the new 10K distance (median finish time of 1:10). Total finishers was up from 2013's numbers 8087. Weather this year was in the mid 50's at race start, warming to the low 60's with drizzle and rain. Basically, it's Oregon. None of that should surprise you. 

This year's course had some slight modifications from 2013. In 2012 and 2013, local police stopped traffic in several points to let non-emergency vehicles cut through the course, frustrating runners even in the 1:30 - 1:40 pace groups. They were doing a better job letting only a few vehicles through at a time, minimizing the amount of wait time. The start was delayed for about 5 minutes due to a train crossing later in the course. At least two bloggers reported having to stop for a minute after the gun sounded (one for a train, one stopped four times for cars). Pre-race press mentioned having timing mats on both sides of the tracks to help runner adjust for stopped time, something we had seen The Biggest Loser implement in Springfield 2013. 

The course is reported to be a bit hilly, but the total ascent/descent is less than 700 feet. Most of the climbs are the approaches to the Hawthorne bridge (CGI did the usual good job carpeting over the mesh on the roadbed just before mile 3, the Steel Bridge at mile 12 and along slow painfully annoying hill on Hawthorne Boulevard at mile 7.

Public transit is excellent in Portland. In addition to the Trimet Max light rail system that opens as early as 5 AM on race morning, Go By Bike offered a bicycle valet where participants can ride in and park their own bikes.

We signed up for the North American Tour Pass 2015 (somehow we never got the email!), Rock 'n' Roll Arizona 2015 and of course, Rock 'n' Roll Portland 2015. 

About the town:

Nonna:  ($$$)
Pre-race dinner was at this small, tavern style eatery next to it's upscale sister restaurant DOC. DOC has only two seatings (6:30 and 8 PM) and the early seating was booked. Our delicious dinner at Nonna included roasted brussels sprouts, chili flake and lemon cream appitizers, trout cioppino with squid, mussels, tomato, parsley; traditional spaghetti polpette (meatballs!); farro, green garlic, maitake mushrooms and hannah; grilled focaccia; and linguine, olive oil, vegetable broth, mint and snap peas. Portions were medium sized and the food was absolutely delicious. The menu is seasonal.

Taco's and Cream: ($)
Chester runs a couple of of food trucks - a Portland staple. Susan and Wendy happened by one on a shake out walk on Friday night but forgot to bring cash. We drove back just as he was ready to close up at 9 PM and got three orders of mango habenero gelato. The cool burn and fresh flavor sticks with you for about an hour. Chester will go on about his theory of how he prepares his meats to remove the fats and toxins. While I don't know that I believe all of it, he has a loyal following. He calls his customers 'family' and greets everyone with a hearty "Welcome Home!"