The Portland Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon is an annual race for me. I have been running it since the inaugural one in 2012. I love the big crowds that cheer us along the way, hearing the bands along the course, getting motivated by the cheer teams, and giving high fives to spectators. This race is always a fun one. Not only is there a half marathon race offered, but there’s also a 10k race. According to the results, 5862 other runners ran the half marathon. It was a great race overall but I was not expecting the big changes in the course. They really changed the course this year. We went the opposite direction from last year and there seemed to be lots of hills and tough ones. I remember the first bridge we ran on last year was the Hawthorne Bridge and this year that bridge was the last bridge we crossed. Here’s a pic of this year’s course.

The day began when I woke up around 5:30 am since I was carpooling and had to meet at 6:30 am. The half marathon race was scheduled to start at 8:15 am. I like getting there earlier than later since I don’t like to rush. We got downtown around 7:10 am and we met up with other MRRT (Mom’s Run This Town) gals and took some pics.
There were plenty of porta potties and the lines were short early on but later got a lot longer. I did Gear check which was easy. Everything was pretty well organized.

Below is a pic with Mariah at the start line. She’s super fast!  The start line. We were in corral 4. There was a little delay since the race didn’t start at the scheduled 8:15 time but the start went pretty smooth once it got going. There was not too much waiting in between starts for the corrals. Here are pics I took along the course:

You can see the Steel Bridge which we pass. Last year we ran on it towards the end of the race.Heading towards the Broadway Bridge.

I think I started off too fast or something because just after mile two my stomach began to hurt, or it could’ve been due to what I ate beforehand. It was sort of like a side stitch type of pain but it was more my stomach. I don’t know what happened but I almost stopped but I convinced myself to keep running. It didn’t help when there was a big hill during mile 3, but I pushed on. It eventually went away, thank goodness.

This was by Laurelhurst during mile 8.        The Hawthorne Bridge.  Here’s a pic of the finish line that I took after the fact.  Despite my stomach hurting and the hills I still had a good race. I finished better than I thought after all that so I’m happy with my time. At the finish there was water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, Power Bars, and bagels. Jimmy Johns was also handing out sandwiches. Outside the finish area, there were booths from the major brands like Toyota and Chobani. Chobani was handing out yogurt just like at the Expo.

Here’s Mariah and I with our medals.

The headlining band was Portugal. The Man. This pic was taken before the concert.
  
Here’s the cool medal which also has a bottle opener on the back. My results.

It was another great time. I haven’t registered for next year’s event yet since it’s not available yet. I’m curious to see what’s in store for next year.

Have you done a Rock’n’Roll event? I’m looking forward to my next race, the Seattle Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon on June 13th. What race are you looking forward to next?