Race name: Rock 'n' Roll Portland
Date/time: Sunday, May 18th, 2014
Registration/price: Half marathon $80-150; 10k $45-75
Location: Tom McCall Waterfront Park; Portland, Oregon
Events offered: Half Marathon, 10k (inaugural)
Number of runners: 10,000+
Beneficiaries**: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Banfield Charitable Trust, Cupcake Girls, Humans for Cheetahs, JDRF and Operation Homefront. **For some interesting info on the Rock 'n' Roll series and their relationships with charities, please check out this article.
Date/time: Sunday, May 18th, 2014
Registration/price: Half marathon $80-150; 10k $45-75
Location: Tom McCall Waterfront Park; Portland, Oregon
Events offered: Half Marathon, 10k (inaugural)
Number of runners: 10,000+
Beneficiaries**: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Banfield Charitable Trust, Cupcake Girls, Humans for Cheetahs, JDRF and Operation Homefront. **For some interesting info on the Rock 'n' Roll series and their relationships with charities, please check out this article.
Packet pickup: There is a huge free 2 day expo at the Oregon Convention Center with over 60 vendors (but you do have to pay parking). It was fun to look around and try some stuff (like the PowerBar waffle bars! YUM!) There were some okay deals being offered, but the only things I bought were some Nuun ($5 a tube) since I was running low, and an entry to next year's RNR Portland for $60 with a "free" t-shirt promo.
Swag: I like that the medals are very Oregon-inspired with the plaid ribbon. The tshirts are black with a grey/white logo--they're Brooks, and they run smaller than usual! The design was alright but not amazing.
Parking: There was no designated race-event parking, but we parked just a few blocks away for less than $10 for all day parking. I had been really worried because of streets being closed off and the number of people attending, but it was really pretty quick and easy!
Bag check: The Rock 'n' Roll series has bag check down to a science. UPS trucks are labelled alphabetically. It was super quick to quickly drop off items (which was nice, because it was a little chilly and I wanted to wear my jacket until the VERY LAST MINUTE), and also super quick to pick them back up.
Course: Ohhhh the course. I looked at it many, many times before the event, because I was considering pushing for a PR. The course starts and ends at Waterfront Park, and I had heard that it wasn't flat, and looking at the elevation map, I was NOT looking forward to that long uphill stretch.
The race: I was pretty nervous before the start of the race since I had slept poorly all week. I wanted to PR again but didn't want to be greedy and end up injured... but I really wanted to finish under 1:50:00. And I was in Corral 5, near the front, which meant the course would probably be less congested... meaning, better for running fast! That didn't quite turn out to be the case--apparently a lot of people overstated their estimating finishing time, even in the first four corrals! But I was on a mission. I started out the race a little fast, knowing that it was flatter and I would lose time on the hill in the middle. The hill was rough in the middle. I felt exhausted and my pace tanked, but my friend Claudia said I looked like I was really trekking and making good time! As I approached the last part of the race, I knew the course would be easier in terms of elevation, but I was just worn out. I kept looking at my Garmin and my average pace... I was so close to getting another PR, under 1:50, if I just kept pushing. When I crossed the finish, I was fairly certain I had PR'd but wasn't quite sure by how much.
Post-race: I grabbed a Gatorade, water, and a space blanket and wandered around, meeting up with a few friends and then going to the "PR" gong to celebrate my PR! We then went to grab our free Michelob Ultras and listened to the music for a bit (ok, I'm going to say that Michelob Ultra is barely bear, and I don't even know who G Love and Special Sauce is, and I'm super incredibly jealous of Rock N Roll Seattle runners, because they get The Presidents of the United States ("Lump," and "Peaches") and Sir Mix-A-Lot ("Baby got back.") And while The Presidents and Sir Mix-A-Lot are a two- and one-hit wonder respectively, at least they HAD a hit! G Love? No clue. After grabbing a Bro Dog that consisted only of a toasted bun and every topping (and tasted like heaven), we decided to skedaddle since it looked like it was about to storm (and it did later)!
Photos: You have to pay for them, but even though there are a good number of them, the pictures aren't great. I look tired. I look like I'm leaning back. My legs look wonky. I need to work on my form. Blah Blah Blah.
Results: I ended up placing 47th out of over 660 in my age division! That really surprised me. More importantly, I got my 4th half marathon PR for the year!
Overall: I think that the Rock 'n' Roll series does a pretty great job of doing a good race for a large number of participants. However, there's still plenty of room for improvement, particularly with the shirts, post-race band, and swag for purchase.
Swag: I like that the medals are very Oregon-inspired with the plaid ribbon. The tshirts are black with a grey/white logo--they're Brooks, and they run smaller than usual! The design was alright but not amazing.
Parking: There was no designated race-event parking, but we parked just a few blocks away for less than $10 for all day parking. I had been really worried because of streets being closed off and the number of people attending, but it was really pretty quick and easy!
Bag check: The Rock 'n' Roll series has bag check down to a science. UPS trucks are labelled alphabetically. It was super quick to quickly drop off items (which was nice, because it was a little chilly and I wanted to wear my jacket until the VERY LAST MINUTE), and also super quick to pick them back up.
Course: Ohhhh the course. I looked at it many, many times before the event, because I was considering pushing for a PR. The course starts and ends at Waterfront Park, and I had heard that it wasn't flat, and looking at the elevation map, I was NOT looking forward to that long uphill stretch.
The race: I was pretty nervous before the start of the race since I had slept poorly all week. I wanted to PR again but didn't want to be greedy and end up injured... but I really wanted to finish under 1:50:00. And I was in Corral 5, near the front, which meant the course would probably be less congested... meaning, better for running fast! That didn't quite turn out to be the case--apparently a lot of people overstated their estimating finishing time, even in the first four corrals! But I was on a mission. I started out the race a little fast, knowing that it was flatter and I would lose time on the hill in the middle. The hill was rough in the middle. I felt exhausted and my pace tanked, but my friend Claudia said I looked like I was really trekking and making good time! As I approached the last part of the race, I knew the course would be easier in terms of elevation, but I was just worn out. I kept looking at my Garmin and my average pace... I was so close to getting another PR, under 1:50, if I just kept pushing. When I crossed the finish, I was fairly certain I had PR'd but wasn't quite sure by how much.
Post-race: I grabbed a Gatorade, water, and a space blanket and wandered around, meeting up with a few friends and then going to the "PR" gong to celebrate my PR! We then went to grab our free Michelob Ultras and listened to the music for a bit (ok, I'm going to say that Michelob Ultra is barely bear, and I don't even know who G Love and Special Sauce is, and I'm super incredibly jealous of Rock N Roll Seattle runners, because they get The Presidents of the United States ("Lump," and "Peaches") and Sir Mix-A-Lot ("Baby got back.") And while The Presidents and Sir Mix-A-Lot are a two- and one-hit wonder respectively, at least they HAD a hit! G Love? No clue. After grabbing a Bro Dog that consisted only of a toasted bun and every topping (and tasted like heaven), we decided to skedaddle since it looked like it was about to storm (and it did later)!
Photos: You have to pay for them, but even though there are a good number of them, the pictures aren't great. I look tired. I look like I'm leaning back. My legs look wonky. I need to work on my form. Blah Blah Blah.
Results: I ended up placing 47th out of over 660 in my age division! That really surprised me. More importantly, I got my 4th half marathon PR for the year!
Overall: I think that the Rock 'n' Roll series does a pretty great job of doing a good race for a large number of participants. However, there's still plenty of room for improvement, particularly with the shirts, post-race band, and swag for purchase.