I had an early morning flight out of LAX with Southwest Airlines. Once again with SpotHero, I reserved parking at the Renaissance Hotel parking structure. Normally this has been a great spot to park my vehicle. However this time, the place was completely full. I drove all the way up to the roof without finding an open spot. Luckily for me, someone had just pulled out when I drove back down. I might need to start finding a back-up location for my future flights out of LAX.
Parking at Renaissance Hotel
My flight out to Portland had a stop in Oakland with no plane change. I was able to move up much closer to the front of the plane after the passengers were let off of the plane. During the second leg, I caught the West Ham United v. Crystal Palace match while using the complimentary onboard WiFi.
West Ham United v. Crystal Palace
After landing at Portland International Airport, I made my way over to the TriMet MAX light rail station to take that over to the Oregon Convention Center. I paid for the fare ($2.50) using my phone via Google Pay. Man, it's getting so easy to pay for stuff these days! I got off of the train at the Convention Center Station.
I liked this venue for the race expo. It was very easy to get to and very spacious. After getting my bib, race shirt, gear bag, a couple of fanny packs, and a very nice Tru Flask bottle, I made my way through the rest of the expo. I found my name on the participant name wall and stopped by the Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics booth. They gave me a nice Double Agent mug for stopping by.
I liked the race shirt. It was a tighter fit, but the material felt nice. It wasn't the usual cheap polyester technical shirt.
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Participant name wall
Found my name
Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics booth
Expo haul
After I was done with the expo, I walked back to the Convention Center Station to catch the green line into Downtown Portland. I got off at the City Hall/SW 5th & Jefferson St Station. From there, I walked a couple short blocks over to the nearby McDonald's for lunch. There wasn't any good deals on the McDonald's mobile app, so I ended up ordering a Big Mac and a Quarter Pounder with cheese using their current promotion of 2 sandwiches for $5.50.
2 for $5.50 deal
After I was done with lunch, I walked over to the nearby 7-Eleven to buy some water. Although I really didn't need an entire gallon of water ($2.49) for the weekend, it was the best deal, so that's what I bought. It's always good to stay well-hydrated going into a race.
Staying hydrated
I then hoofed it over to the Travelodge located just past the Portland State University and over the 405 freeway. Originally I tried to book a room at the new WorldMark Portland Waterfront Park property as an owner, but there wasn't any availability. I got checked into a room in the building across from the lobby. Everything was a bit outdated, but clean. It was more than adequate for this short weekend trip.
There's a daily charge ($1.50) for the safe regardless of usage
I took a shower as I had gotten pretty sweaty from lugging my bags around town. I then proceeded to lounge around while watching TV, waiting for dinner time to arrive. For dinner I walked over to the food truck area that was located just East of Portland State University. There was a good variety of food to choose from, but I eventually decided to get a bowl of ramen from Ramen Ciro. I ordered a bowl of Kuro ramen (miso broth with black garlic) and added seaweed and egg. By checking-in on Yelp, the seaweed add was free. Since the seating area was pretty limited, I took it back to my room to enjoy. It really did remind me of eating a quick bowl of ramen in Tokyo.
Picking up dinner at Ramen Ciro
Kuro added seaweed and egg
Noodle pull
Before calling it a night, I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race. Let's go Dodgers!
Flat runner
Sunday 10/6
At about 10 minutes before 6 am, I started my walk over to the start area near the Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Along the way, I bumped into a fellow runner and struck up a conversation. After arriving at the park we went our separate ways. I headed over to the Salmon Street Springs to wait for the Marathon Maniacs/Half Fanatics pre-race photo.
Hawthorne Bridge
MM/HF pre-race photo
After the photo, I headed over to the corral entrance stopping along the way to use one of the many portapotties that were underneath the Hawthorne Bridge. There were enough of them that there was virtually no wait to use one. I eventually positioned myself near the 1:50 pace group sign. I should be able to finish in just under 2 hrs today, but I always go into a race wanting to see how long I could hold on to a faster pace. As the 7:10 am start time approached, the race announcer had everyone move up closer to the starting line.
Corral entrance
Starting with the 1:50 pace group
Ready to go!
The only other time that I've run Portland was the marathon back in 2011 under a different race organizer. I had been dealing with a stress fracture in my tibia back then, so it was nice to return in much better health. I went out a bit hard in the first three miles taking advantage of the 2 downhill miles following the gradual opening climb. I could tell that I was overextending myself so I pulled over for a walk break as I reached mile 3. Then my pacing leveled out just after crossing the Sellwood Bridge at around mile 4. I ran the rest of the race just fast enough to get myself to the finish line in under 2 hrs. The final stretch along the Pacific Highway seem to take forever. A lot of the runners around me were charging for the finish line. However for me, leg cramps were on the verge of settling in as I neared the finish line. I definitely did not have the endurance for a kick or a strong finish, but I was successful with my goal of finishing in under 2 hrs.
Free race photo
Finish line
Finish: 1:58:50
Click here for my Garmin data.
Click here for my personalized YouTube video.Relive 'Revel Portland Half Marathon'
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal and a can of water. I also received chocolate milk, a Core Power chocolate high protein milk shake, a Power Crunch bar, a sample Nuun tablet, and a banana.
Finisher medal
Canned water
Finisher medal and post race goodies
Just further down to the grassy area were the popup tents and food trucks that had all of the real post-race food! I thought it was all a bit too much for having only run a half marathon, but I ate it all in lieu of a proper lunch. Here's what I had:
- Pizza Hut - slice of pizza
- Voodoo Doughnut - sprinkle cake doughnut
- Salt & Straw - Honey Lavender ice cream
- Grilled Cheese Machine - a quarter of a grilled cheese sandwich
Pizza slice
Voodoo Doughnut!
Salt & Straw!
Grilled cheese sandwich
After eating all of that, I started heading back to my room. It felt good to walk around and warm up a bit as the weather was a bit chilly.
Back at my room, I got cleaned up, took a nap, and watched the NLDS Game 3 between the Cardinals and the Braves. The Braves won the game 3-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. I don't like either team, so I wasn't really cheering for any team to win.
Before the start of the next game between the Dodgers and the Nationals, I went back out to eat a quick dinner at McDonald's. Once again I went with the same 2 for $5.50 deal, ordering the Big Mac and Quarter Pounder with cheese.
2 for $5.50 deal
Thank goodness the Dodgers' bats awoke in the 6th inning, scoring 7 runs. They crushed the Nationals, winning 10-4, taking a 2-1 lead in the series.
NLDS Game 3: Nationals vs. Dodgers
Monday 10/7
Originally when I booked my flight, it was an evening flight home. The fight got changed to an early afternoon flight which meant I had to head to the airport shortly after checking out of my room at about 9 am. I walked over to the nearby PSU South SW 6th & College Station to catch the green line over to the Gateway. From there I waited for the red line to take me over to the airport.
Heading to the airport
Once I arrived at the airport, I found a seat near the food court to finish off my drinks. While doing so, I noticed that they had some mini food trucks that were actually stationary. Maybe food trucks is a Portland thing. It was definitely unique to find them inside an airport.
Food trucks inside the airport
Once I was done with my drinks, I got in line to get through the TSA security screening. After getting through, I saw that they had cute little chairs for the little ones to use for putting on their shoes!
Nice chairs for the little ones
I stopped by the McDonald's across from my gate to pick up a quick lunch before my flight home. It would appear that they had just recently installed the self-ordering kiosks, so none of the walk-up registers were working. Everyone had to use a kiosk to place their orders. At first I used the mobile app to see if they had any good deals. I found none, so I got in line to use one of the kiosks. They had a local deal where I bought a McDouble for $1.99 and got a McChicken sandwich for $1. Not too bad.
BOGO for $1
Heading home
During the flight home, I used the onboard WiFi to watch the NLDS Game 4 between the Cardinals and the Braves. The Cardinals would go on to win 5-4 with a walk-off sacrifice fly from Molina in the 10th inning to put the series knotted at 2 games a piece.
NLDS Game 4: Cardinals vs. Braves
Downtown LA off in the distance
After landing at LAX, I walked over to the Renaissance Hotel to get my car instead of waiting around for a hotel shuttle. Since I arrived earlier than I had originally planned, I was headed home just right at the beginning of the evening rush hour. It took me just over 2 hrs to get home. If I had landed in the evening as I had originally planned, it would've taken about half that time.
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