Vancouver not BC, Washington not DC

This race fooled me.  I really thought I was playing it smart by trying to hold a 7 minute pace and just glide in around 3:05, or at least under 3:08 where I thought the cut off line for Boston 2015 would be.  It was a cloudy day with some drizzle at the start, but I quickly regretted bringing a hat to keep the water out of my eyes as the rain stopped and I ended up ditching the hat in the second mile rather than lugging it around.  The first half of the marathon was very flat and on a highway and boring, but I was able to hold my pace.  The second half had a few hills and a monster hill around the "Wall" that stole time on the way up and crippled my thighs on the way down.  The weather was deceivingly humid - I thought the weather in June was going to be fine, and it mostly was except for the humidity.

I also probably walked way too much the previous day.  We stayed with my friend Howie and his
wife, Helen, in Portland, and walked around touring the city. For future marathons, it is important that I really rest the prior day. The point of the trip was to have a vacation and get me another state.  We did have a good trip as we took in Portland (visited Voodoo Donuts, a brewery, some bookstore) and we also drove to Seattle (took in the original Starbucks and saw the flagship Nordstrom's, watched a Mariners game, walked the city, went to the huge market, ran along the shore, took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, went up the Space Needle).

Random Race Memories:

Ran with Ryan Hagen from Kirkland, WA - his first marathon; not much to see as on highway then neighborhoods and industrial area; really strong finish and Bart Yasso announced my finish and tweeted at me later; passed a limping woman in the last half mile and tried to get her to finish which she did; got a massage and walked around Portland all afternoon and didn't feel so sore - in fact could probably have run a mile or two.

My splits:

6:58/59/7:02/03/02/00/00/03/00/6:56/7:01/04/08/21/23/21/13/21/44/8:43/7:15/45/8:14/14/35/09/55 seconds last .15 - 12/58 AG 47/757 OA

Bart Yasso greets me at the finish with a high five!