Hi All! So I ran the Portland Marathon on October 3, 1999. It was a beautiful day. Cool in the morning but not a cloud in the sky. Actually a few clouds would have been nice at the end. I was quite warm even though it was only in the upper 60s. To the point, here are some pictures along the way!

At mile 12. We refilled our packs, ditched our jackets, and stretched. This was just a normal training run so far, and I felt good.

Only one picture from mile 18. Mike liked PowerBars a little more than I did at this point. Actually they were not that appealing, but better than nothing. I was starting to get hungry.

Fast forward to the end. It's easy to say now, but it took much longer than I hoped. People kept saying "You're almost there." Don't believe it for a second.

These are some assorted pictures of the end and afterwards.

Here are some of my friends who came out to watch. Tami brought us Gatorade and PowerBars along the way. She is also responsible for some of the pictures. We must give her credit. Noami is the other friend who came out to greet us at the finish line. Gregory still wanted to play. This is the first time he's been able to get away from me!

In case you are wondering why I am smiling so much, it's because I could finally stop running. I felt great until mile 22 or so. By 24 I hurt. But the end was actually near by then and so we kept going. It was a relief to see the finish. I'm amazed I didn't sprint across the finish line. I started speeding up a few blocks away. Now that I think about it, I don't remember being in pain the last two blocks. Adreneline and endorphins really do work. :)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the brief version. The longer version took 4:51.

If you are interrested in the race, look at the official site.

http://www.portlandmarathon.org/