Foot Traffic Flat Marathon 2005

This is a look back at my second marathon. The race was the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon in Portland, Oregon on Monday, July 4, 2005. I finshed with a time of 3:57:31 (9:04 pace). I finished 60 of 116 runners and third in my age group.

Before running my first marathon, I thought to myself that I would run the Foot Traffic Half Marathon. But a in early June after running a few 20 mile runs in a couple weeks. I began to consider the idea of running the Marathon instead of the half. A week before Sunriver I registered for the Foot Traffic Marathon.

My goal in this race was to finish and enjoy myself. I was looking for something under four hours. The race is at Sauvie Island which I had ever been to. But it's about a 30 minute drive so I had to wake up early because there was limited parking. I arrived about 45 minutes early, just hanging out. The race, like Sunriver was a double loop. The first loop was fun, but I started a little too fast. The result was that I was slowed down in the second loop.

It was a very warm day. The temps were in the 70's and very sunny. In the first loop things were still very cool, but in the second loop the sun was high in the sky and I got very hot. The last couple of miles were very tough I was so glad when it was over. I finished in just under four hours with a time of 3:57. Afterwards they had strawberry shortcake for the runners which was very good, but no awards, and after 15 minutes or so, I decided to go home. I remember thinking, "now I'm a multi-marathoner". I had fun, and enjoyed the race.