Marathon Monday

Congratulations to everyone who finished the Portland Marathon this weekend!

On Saturday Abe and I volunteered at the expo for the Portland Marathon - after running it last year, it was important to us to give back and help make it happen this year. We ended up being assigned as "ambassadors", directing people where to go and being available to answer questions (though most answers were "Go over to the Solutions Table"). 

I was stationed at the front of the first room of the expo where runners came in to pick up their bibs, directing people to look up their bib number on a printed list if needed, then head to the back of the room for pick up. Our volunteer shift was 3 - 7 on Saturday, so the very end of the expo. Most of the handful of people I knew doing the race had already gone, but I did see my friend Beth come through (she was planning on running the half, but ended up not running due to some minor injuries sustained during soccer earlier in the weekend). 

The marathon itself was on Sunday; though I didn't go to spectate I looked forward to checking the results online for people I know. My friend Karey (who set a 39-minute PR in her second marathon!) ended up meeting and chatting with Kristina (who finished her first marathon!) for a while during it! 

Being at the expo and hearing about new accomplishments totally got me excited for doing another full marathon someday. Planning out my race plans for the next twelve months is a bit difficult - a year from now, if all goes well, we plan to be pregnant, so I'm having a bit of FOMO, wanting to fit in as much as possible next summer before having to take a break from intense training and goals. I'd really like to do the Portland Marathon again, but it's just a tad too late in the season for our ideal due date (have to work maternity leave around tax season). It's probably unreasonable to fit in a full marathon, Olympic triathlon, and 200-mile bike ride in one summer, huh? I know I'll still be able to get back to these things after the baby phase is done, but I want to do them now!!!

But - one reasonable goal I really do want to accomplish before getting pregnant is to get my half marathon time down to 2:30. To do that, I need to get back to running halfs! There was a table within eye sight from my volunteering post at the expo for the Seattle Marathon, which includes a half option. It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving (eight weeks away, perfect amount of training time!), and we're already going to be in Tacoma for the holiday earlier in the week, so I'm about 95% sure that this will be my next goal.