On Sunday October 4 I participated in my third Portland Half Marathon.

The PDX race is one of my favorites. It crosses the river and goes through neighborhoods cheering for the runners.

We arrived on Saturday and attended the Health Expo at the convention center for packet pickup. I have fond memories of this place thanks to my old dog (RIP) Loki. The first year I ran in this race, I walked from our house in Irvington to the hall. I tied my boy to a tree outside and ran in to get my packet. When I returned, there was a line of people waiting to pet him! One person or couple would go up and give him a few pets and then step away so the next one could come up. Loki was eating up the attention. After the Expo, we went to Mamma Mia’s downtown so I could carb load for the next day. I had a delicious pesto pasta with sausage. The restaurant was packed with obvious runners.

The race started at 7 am. I lined up with the 2:10 group. I had not been training to the extent I should have so my expectations were pretty low. There was a slight delay and we kicked off at about 7:10.

I felt pretty strong through most of the race and was keeping a nice pace until I hit the ten mile mark. That’s where I hit my wall. I went from feeling good to just tapped out. I did keep at it though at eventually crossed the finish line at 2:13.

After the run, we hit Pine State Biscuit for a post race feast of biscuits and gravy and then we headed home. It was another beautiful (hot even) clear fall day and we were welcomed back to Washington with picturesque view of Mt. Hood.