Notes
Needed a BQ before September since Boston was a disaster and this was the choice. Cheap flight to Portland, cheap hotels, and hopefully cool weather. Beautiful area and we got temps in the low 50s with hardly any sun - mostly overcast. Goal was 3:15 - enough of a cushion in case something went wrong. Great race - scenic, easy logistics - shuttle picked me up from my hotel one hour before start time, decent course (a few short hills in town at the beginning then a long, mostly flat out-n-back), small-town friendly volunteers as well. Spent the first half holding back a lot - found myself dipping into the 7:1x too easy and wanted to be closer to 7:30s. Early on the glutes/hamstrings started barking putting some fears in me but just decided I might have to run through some pain if needed but they never got too bad. Was able to keep up a relatively good form throughout. Started having some doubts about how the legs felt around the half but the 3:15 pace group caught up and started chatting them up and didn't even really notice the legs again until around mile 20. After 20 I was feeling the fatigue but was able to put in a little more effort and maintained the pace. The pacer (Jason?) was a big help with distraction the entire 2nd half. Dropped him the last couple of miles to try to catch up for some runners who had passed me. Ended up catching them, including the female winner, and finished strong.
Looks like about a 1+ minute negative split. Rare indeed.
I think if I stuck with my natural pace at the beginning I might have been close to 3:10ish but who knows. It did feel good to execute a plan (though it was low-risk).