Take that Portland!

For some time now I have been trying to run Portland Ave from beginning to end.  On every training run, each longer than the previous, I would take on Portland, right from its start at the Stone Arch Bridge and run half the distance planned for my run and not having reached the end, i'd turn around.  Every time I wondered how close I was to the end.

About a month ago, I went for a 21 mile run and still did not make to to the end by the time I had to turn around.  So as soon as I got home, I went onto Google Maps and got the answer I had been searching.  Running from home to the end of Portland and back would take 24 and 1/2 miles.

So on my next long run, I enlisted my friend Mike (after some negotiation on distance and route) and we decided to tackle the challenge.  We left at 4:00AM and reached the end of Portland by mile 12.27.

I couldn't help it.  At that point I said out loud: Take that Portland!  That line had been in the works for months.

We made the entire run in 3:49:15 at a comfortable 9:33 min/mile pace.  Not only that, but we made it at a very, very consistent pace.  I aways get a kick out of that.