A Pocketful of Running

Another great day to donate! Two marathons and two charities! Let's raise a combined $6,500 for cancer research through Fred's Team and low-income seniors with Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly (H.O.M.E.)!

Donate to H.O.M.E. here (write in "marathon" in note section). Donate to Fred's Team here. 

Donation Matching! Donate before 11:59pm on Sunday (10/2) and all of our donation dollars will be matched up to $750! Almost there!

Why am I surprised by your generosity? Each year you give lavishly. Thank you. As you can see by the chart we are just one donation short of catching all of the $750 put up by our anonymous backers. I know you want to be that person!

The Portland marathon group is very good at sending out newsletters. They are less good at including pertinent information. Well, besides the awesome news that the rotund hobbit will be there. I've been looking all over the newsletters and the website for information that might be useful. I want to know about the bag drop, the corral assignment, and the number of runners. But all I can find is news about hobbits and seedlings. Oh, that is actually kinda cool. All finishers get a tree to take home and plant. I wonder how that goes through airport security.

Anyway, If there is information out there about corral assignments I haven't found it. I outsmarted the website and looked up past finishing times. From there I realized I had overestimated the number of runners. Last year just over 5,000 people finished the race. The year before it was 6,000. I had been thinking there would be 15,000 runners. Chicago see about 45,000 runners, while New York squeezes in over 50,000 runners. It might be a bit quiet out there in Portland.

I won't mind the quiet. What I will mind is the absence of a bag drop. There was a quick line tossed into the middle of a recent newsletter suggesting that we should carry our phones and keys and other personal items while we run. There will be no bag drop. Or at least I deciphered that. What they said was that there is no need for a bag drop as they can not guarantee that items won't be stolen. So everyone will be carrying their things because they won't have a bag drop. The wording couldn't have been muddier.

A quick google search revealed that others have run into the giant key problem

I won't be bringing my phone. I won't need to take a call. But what frustrates me is the car keys. I always run with a key in my pocket, but it is a small key for my apartment. I've never run with a rental car key in my pocket. And if the car key from my last rental is any indication that won't be easy. The key itself was large and thick with a huge plastic head. Threaded through the opening was a locked metal ring. Also firmly attached was a giant plastic remote with 5 buttons and a large plastic paddle with additional rental information. It didn't fit into my pocket.

I can only imagine how well my shorts fit with energy gels, keys, phone, cash, and whatever else they suggest we carry. As it stands, with the mandatory gels my shorts start to sag dangerously. I'd be full-mooning everyone behind me if I try to bring my keys along.

I guess I'll just have to hide the keys near the car.