Hello, friends! Did you have a good long Memorial Day weekend? Joe and I stayed in Seattle since we’re out of town every other weekend this month.

Last weekend, Joe, the pup, and I drove down to Portland to run the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland half marathon. It was great! I absolutely love Oregon, its sales tax-free shopping, and seeing my besties. 🙂 Not to mention that I was born and raised in Oregon. My hometown of Eugene bleeds green and yellow and is known as Track Town USA.

Friday night we drove down in good time and checked in at The Westin in DT Portland. Have you ever stayed at any of the Westins? They’re known for their Heavenly Beds. They are, indeed, heavenly. What you might not know about them is that they allow pets to stay (for free!!) and they provided Lola with her own doggy version of the Heavenly bed. Amazing, huh?

The exciting part about running races is the carbo loading. 😉 Well, I don’t limit myself in carbs so I guess it’s not really loading up that much. Since there were so many runners seeking the same thing on Friday night, I was afraid that we’d be left eating Subway. We ended up going to Mama Mia Trattoria for dinner. tip: If you’re told that there will be a 90-minute wait, make sure to go onto OpenTable/Yelp on your phone and check to see if there are available openings there. Then book it. By doing so, I reduced my wait time from 90 down to 30. Boom.

The food itself was quite good. Think of Old Spaghetti Factory, but more upscale.

I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs and was impressed with how huge the portion was! I normally gravitate towards a less-meat/cream-based Italian entree, but too much dairy before a big race is no bueno.

Check out the awesome billboard we came across. 🙂 Go Ducks!

After dinner we decided to call it a night and get some good shuteye for the race.

In case You were curious, here’s my race outfit laid out neatly for you to view:

I was ready to rock this race, but to my surprise it was super difficult and much hillier than the elevation chart had depicted the course to be!

Man, was this course hilly. There were times when I’d get up the hill expecting some leveling off, but then appears another hill. Crazy! I’m proud of myself for never stopping aside from slowing down at the hydration stations. I need to figure the whole drinking and running thing. Good thing I’ll be wearing my hydration vest during the marathon on Sunday.

Cheering on runners at the finish line:

Finish time? 1:45:55 — a whopping 1-second PR! Woohoo! Hey, a PR is a PR. 🙂 At some point, the PRs may lessen, but for now I’m still super psyched to continue performing my best. Overall: 887th out of 11,035.

Post-race, Joe and I met up with my besties! Becky and Christy are twins that I’ve known since the middle school years. They’re super into running and racing, too!

Before I forget, I saw one of my running idols, Kara Goucher, win the race for the gals. She’s simply amazing.

Of course, with any race I really look forward to eating a delicious meal afterwards. I consider this a nice reward. 🙂 Joe and I freshened up and checked out of the hotel and then met up with Christy, Becky, and Becky’s bf Geoff at Irving Street Kitchen. Delicious!

I ordered the Pork Belly & Waffles. Yum.

With bellies full, we headed outside to say goodbye but not before Becky’s dog Yogi could meet our pup Lola.

This picture totally makes me LOL. For real.

BCS 4eva:

All in all, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland half marathon was a tough and challenging race, but worth it! The course support was great and the race was well-organized. I recommend trying this of you’re in the PNW.

On the bright side, I ended up with the most awesome race picture of me pointing out my newly-engaged ring.

This week is taper week… I’m down to t-minus four days till Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Full Marathon, my first full! But first things first, packing insanely tonight and then flying into LA tomorrow night to stay with our friends. In ‘n’ Out Burger may be calling my name…