Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland 1/2 Marathon

Not my favorite in the RNR series.
As a Tour Pass holder for RNR, I am trying to hit up 10 half marathons this year to get the gold record. My friend Sand I decided to hit up Portland and do the Cascadia series (Portland, Seattle, Vancouver).
This is a smaller race… maybe 5 or 6,000 people in the half? There is also a 10K, but they had a separate start area, so no concept of how many of them there were.
Small expo and a lot of my favorite vendors were absent. Fortunately, it was right on the MAX line, so we skipped the expensive parking.
Start line was an easy walk from our hotel off Pioneer Courthouse Square. An 8:15 start time was a shock, but I didn’t complain about not getting up at the crack of dawn.
First several miles were hillier than expected (ack!). Most of the race is spent on the east side and through residential neighborhoods. The tree-​canopied streets were stunning. Crowd support… meh. While there were people sitting out to watch, they were not cheering or being generally enthusiastic. I try to engage with the crowd as I go along and got almost nothing back.
Excellent volunteers and RNR staffers. Even the bus boxes worked super well and were almost not noticable.
The incorporation of the PDX carpet into the race was fun – as the ribbon design on the medals and at the finisher’s area (but before the finish line – didn’t get a pic because I was running it in!).
Well stocked finishers chute with chocolate milk, gatorade, water, power bars, and Jimmy John sandwiches (that was a new one!).
2015 had an ugly shirt and ugly medal (boo).
Glad I checked it off, but woujld not travel back for this one.

I’ve wanted to run Portland for years now but it’s always so close to Seattle on the calendar and falls on Bay to Breakers so it’s a decision I’ve never moved forward with until this year.
Extremely well organized, it’s RnR! I’ve come to expect a certain level of organization when running this series of races. If you run RnR you know what to expect right? Great Brooks tech tees, a parking fee at the expo (which we avoided, I hopped out and my boyfriend circled as I ran in quickly to grab my bib etc.), great bling! Organized corrals, plenty of water stops so on and so forth.
The evening before the race I had mentally shut down and told myself I was no longer interested in running the next morning. Why? For a number of reasons, running injury, LONG day Saturday full of walking and hiking, not being totally trained for a PR which sadly is the only thing I’m chasing these days and because really even with an 815A start all I really wanted was to sleep in Sunday morning.
Fast forward to Sunday morning, my boyfriend is up before me and headed to get me coffee as I’m telling him I haven’t even decided if I’ll do the thing.
Then came to my senses and reminded myself I’ve wanted to experience this course for a few years now, and regardless of heading home to a Tuesday appointment with the orthopedist I can still run the course and burn off some calories I consumed the day before with a leisurely half marathon and that’s just what I did.
Didn’t have a sip of water, or coffee, any brekke not even a shower but we did walk to the Start Line which was super close to our hotel and off I went.
The run was obviously no PR for me, may have been one of my worse times yet but it was great to run over two bridges in Portland and see some of the neighborhoods.
I still prefer Seattle’s course to this one but it was a wonderful morning slow run, with beautiful weather and guess what was rolled out at the finish??? Yep, yep! That famous PDX carpet!!! :)
I’d highly recommend this race to locals and it’s definitely worth a racecation.

Another RNR in the books. Portland 2015!
I travelled from Vancouver, BC to run this race. So I had no idea what to expect.
Highlights: Great course shows off Portland’s great neighborhoods, some hills not ganna lie but the big ones are in the first half. Mile 10 is a bonus downhill. Great support from volunteers and locals. Great medal its also a beer bottle opener. The shirt is awesome. Finish line was a party with your free beer and concert stage. I really enjoy RNR marathon series. Its always well «run «.

I planned my Portland vacation was planned around my run for the Rock n Roll Portland half marathon. Weather was great during the run and thankfully it didn’t rain during the run. WOOT!
This is my 4^th half marathon but the first time I ran in Portland. Its also my first time visiting Portland, so this run was a great way to have a scenic tour of Portland.
Much like every Rock n Roll race, this race was well organized. There were plenty of water/​gatorade station every mile and half. The race started and ended along the water. 23 corrals and released in intervals of 2 – 3 minutes in between corrals. At the end of the half marathon, you receive your runners medal! Also the standards post-​run snacks and drinks; bagels, banana, greek yogurt, chocolate milk, water, gatorade.
Overall I had a great experience on Portland Rock n Roll. And I would love to do this run again. :D

This was my 5^th half marathon in 12 months so I feel well-​prepared to critique!
What they did right:
— Very long water stations and plenty of them. The hydration stations would stretch like 200 feet or more (I’m a terrible estimator of distance). They had water and gatorade. Love it.
— Fantastic expo. I had a really really fun time walking around looking at the exhibits and bought some shirts, too.
— 23 starting corrals! I like this. You’re grouped with folks your pace and everyone is happy.
— Many many teams of cheerleaders really lifted my spirits when I needed it most!
— GORGEOUS medals. Love love love love love. Great tech tees, too.
What they did wrong:
— OK call me a whiner but the course was so hilly. I can respect the challenge of marching 29? blocks up Hawthorne, but once I finished that, every subsequent hill just sapped my energy. The very last steep hill, right before the Steel Bridge, left me barely able to put one foot in front of the other.
— Please! More starting area «Honey Buckets»! There were hella long lines.
And the #1 thing they did RIGHT? Opportunity at expo and at event to sign up for 2014 for only $ 65! You bet I did!!!

Fantastic run! Thank you Portland residents for the support. You are awesome! Tremendous energy from all the local elementary school cheer squads, bands and drummers!
Great course starting and ending at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. First 5mi through the downtown area is a great warm up. Crossing the (padded)Hawthorne Bridge brought about a very long, gradual hill followed by a few more climbs through nice neighborhoods and interesting places to eat. Monkey adored the heartwarming locals’ dogs and puppies and outstretched hands of kids offering High 5’s. Monkey welcomed the downhills and easy stretches towards the Steel Bridge and appreciated the nice fast finish bedecked by cheering crowds and the Marathonfoto paparrazzi.
Kudos to RnR for the terrific organization and entertainment. Get your finisher’s medal engraved for with your name & official time for only $ 20. Things Remembered stores in the malls will charge you $ 30+ so this engraving booth is a good deal. They’ll also engrave other medals you have earned.
Monkey will most likely return next year and book a hotel much sooner in advance to take full advantage of the downtown area experience.
Monkey’s 5^th Half Marathon, 3^rd RnR
Overall: 4529 out of 8062
5k — 31:13
10k — 1:03:44
10mi — 1:45:41
Pace — 10:40
Chip — 02:19:38

I didn’t realize it until right now, but this was the 10^th half marathon I’ve run. Half of those have been the Surf City Half, which is now one of the largest races in the US, so I’ve become accustomed to massive crowds. By comparison, this was a relatively small event.
Packet pick up happened at the expo center, which was easy enough to get to, but $ 8 parking to spend 20 minutes inside was kind of a bummer. Luckily there were no lines to get bibs and t-​shirts and we quickly walked the whole expo (which was on the small side) and grabbed a few snacky samples from the vendors.
The race itself started on time, which we weren’t expecting so we showed up and ended up about 5 corrals back from where we should have been, but at least we weren’t all the way at the end. The first half mile was pretty congested so I ended up running on the sidewalk to get around people, but it’s fine, it’s always more motivating to be passing people than getting passed.
The course itself wasn’t super interesting — large portions went through neighborhoods and industrial areas — but at least there weren’t any intense hills, just a few inclines. The padding they put over the grates on the bridge was actually really annoying because it felt too soft, almost carpet like, and it was bunchy in areas which I could see some people almost tripping on. The course mostly had good energy (one of the bands was playing WAY too mellow music, but the Tom Petty cover band was awesome) and the groups of cheerleaders were amusing.
The lady doing the announcing at the end was a little obnoxious. I finished right next to a lady wearing a shirt from her running group (Team Slowpoke) and she was yelling into the microphone «Team Slowpoke?! Well, you’re certainly not fast!» After running 13 miles, you don’t really need someone trying to be funny and failing. Just be celebratory!
The finish area was well organized, but they really should consider going the route that some of the other big races do and bundle the refreshments into bags in advance that you grab as you walk through because it’s hard to carry 4 beverages (little cup of jamba juice, bottles of water, gatorade and chocolate milk) and all the snacks (banana, power bar, bagel, popcorn) but I wanted to take one of each because while I couldn’t yet think about feeding myself, I wasn’t sure what I would want one I relaxed a bit.
I’d run the San Jose Rock and Roll Half a few years ago and that was so poorly organized that I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to do a R’n’R event again, but after this run, I’d consider it… but I’ll stick with their smaller races for now.

Although last years’ half marathon was the first year, it went pretty smoothly. It didn’t hurt that it was organized by the Competitor group which does all the Rock N Roll marathons.
The course was fairly flat with a few minor hills which aren’t really much of a hinderance. It’s surprisingly residential with a lot of tree-​lined streets; the race is a great way to show off some nicer areas of Portland.
It starts and ends near the waterfront which is a nice plus. You can plan your hotels accordingly and not have to worry about finding a taxi/​bus/​sherpa after the race to get you back to your lodgings.