This is the year! Registrations for the 2013 Portland Marathon HALF are nearly sold out!

Make the commitment now to run or walk the Portland Marathon or Portland Marathon HALF in 2013. Set a New Year's resolution with an end goal of completing or achieving your personal best in October!

Registration for the Portland Marathon and Portland Marathon HALF are now open and filling quickly. Register now to guarantee your spot at the start line before the event sells out or closes at the end of the month! The 2013 Portland Marathon will be held on October 6, 2013.

Portland Marathon in NW Runner Magazine

Article by Northwest Runner Magazine

Pick up the latest edition of NW Runner Magazine and you'll find a great article on the Portland Marathon Half and find out why it sells out 8 months before the race!

Or click here to read the entire article online

Happy New Year from the Portland Marathon Event Director: Great things about this year and last

Happy New Year!

It Was Another Great Year

2012 is now history. Our Event Committee is most pleased that the year provided yet another successful Portland Marathon and related events. Our weather was perfect. All our plans worked out. Our start, course and finish went well. In the final analysis, this success is a Community effort. So our thanks go to all of you who participated, volunteered or helped in so many other ways.

And now we are in full swing to produce another fantastic event for October 6, 2013. We have some great ideas we are working on to make the event even more exciting. And already registration is running ahead of where it was last year.

Register Now for the HALF

As noted in our other Newsletter articles, we will again sell out our HALF....closing it January 31st, unless it sells out early!! We are trying to get the word out in every way we can so our running and walking friends remember the HALF fills fast and closes soon! As most of you know, we close the public side early and then make the event a Charity based fundraiser. But we make the HALF every bit as good as the Full. We just do not want our loyal followers to miss the deadline to register. So please spread the word: Register for the HALF now!!!

Thanks for the Accolades

Our thanks to all of you who have sent us letters and emails about our event. We enjoy hearing from you. The reviews were very good for this past year. And we try to answer all the questions that come in. Part of our job is to help runners and walkers understand not only what we do but why we do it.

We are very pleased that Competitor Magazine has again selected the Portland Marathon as "The Best Marathon in the Northwest" and "The Event with the Best Swag." We have also been featured in very favorable articles in "NW Runner," "Walk About," "The Silver Strider" and "Race Center NW." Our thanks to the editors of those publications for the nice accolades.

Our Charity Side

Our Charity Program is kicking off early again this year. For 2012 we were pleased our charities raised nearly $3M thru pledges and other means. The Portland Marathon also wrote over 125 checks totaling nearly $200,000 to various non-profits, service clubs, school activity groups and school athletic teams.

As you might guess, putting on an event in our City is an expensive proposition. However, thanks to our out of town participants we are pleased to say that the hotel taxes paid by all those who stayed in Portland for the Event were four times the actual costs to the City for the Event!

And the fact we have nearly 70% out of towners creates a realistic $20M to $25M economic impact for the Portland area. We know other events our size claim a lot more. But our analysis based on our surveys tells us to be realistic...and not take poetic license about such claims. And, we are pleased for the eighth year to be Portland's largest three day "convention."

So again, we have a lot of great plans for the coming year. And, I will say it again: if you have not signed up as yet for our Marathon or the HALF please do so.

All the best for the New Year,

Les Smith
Event Director

Your New Year's Resolutions

Maurice P. -- Running 13 Half Marathons for 2013

Ryan C. -- LA Marathon in March, Nautica Malibu Tri, deciding between Amsterdam, Berlin, Portland and Chicago Marathons in Oct and CIM in December, with plenty of Half's in between these races. I'm crazy, I already know!

Amy F. -- Running a 12 in 12 challenge. 12 ½ Marathons in 12 months!

Liza F. -- Run more. Run Faster.

Christy G. -- To just keep running no matter how slow.

April A. -- At least 1 ½, my first full, Portland to Coast and maybe a 2nd ½.

Isaac G. -- Run my 1st half marathon

Nicole D. -- To begin running again after my back injury. Doesn't matter the distance...

Dakota R. -- Ultra! And a new PR at Portland next year of course.

Uzi R. -- Run my first marathon!!!!! Portland marathon you will be my first one!!!

Renee R. -- 4th of July flat MARATHON! My first!

Matthew S. -- Leadman, Portland marathon, hood to coast

Angie M. -- 13 half marathons in 2013!

John W. -- Ironman Melbourne, a couple of Hawaii marathons and Portland for my first "mainland" marathon. And the usual batch of shorter tris and road races.

Nita M. -- To add a few half marathons to the calendar for 2013.

Marcus E. -- Run my first marathon, and compete in my first Ironman event.

Leodegario S. -- Running a 5k to 26.2 and at least one of everything in between.

Kristey A. -- Twins in '09, walked the marathon in '11, baby in '12, walk the marathon in '13...and end the cycle!

Bret L. -- Bataan Death March 26.2 (3rd time), Lake Stevens Half Ironman (1st), and a bunch of Sprint tris and 5ks.

Beth W. -- Have more fun! Stress about time less!

Syri C. -- Shave 25 mins off PDX marathon 2013... Now that I know what to expect:)

David M. -- Recover from injury!

What is Nordic Walking?

You may have seen walkers with poles in some of your races, but what is this sport?

Nordic Walking is sometimes called pole walking and involves applying force to the poles with each stride. Nordic walkers use more of their entire body with intensity.

During Nordic Walking, opposite arms and legs alternate rhythmically, swinging back and forth. The range of movement of the arms forward and back also regulates the length of the stride. The longer the pole thrust the longer the stride and more powerful the swing of the pelvis and upper torso.

Nordic walking can produce up to a 46% increase in energy consumption compared to walking without poles (Cooper Institute, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sports, 2002).

The World Championship took place during the 2012 Portland Marathon Half - Crowning Olivier Capelli of France the winner

The Portland Marathon was the first US marathon to introduce Nordic Walking as an official competitive division. In 1998 the Portland Marathon introduced the World Championship Division for Nordic Walking to our event. The Portland Marathon Committee is convinced that one day Nordic Walking will have the same popularity in the US as it now does in Europe and the British Isles. What follows is the experience of one of our 2012 Nordic Walkers.

Last year Olivier Capelli of France won the 1st Annual Half Marathon Distance Nordic Walking World Championship at the Portland Marathon Half. Olivier has competed in Scandinavian walking events for five years and tested his skills in a mountain biathlon (Nordic walking and archery). Olivier is married and has two children, twins, who love to admire and play with his medals. His goals for 2013 are to beat other world record distances and return to Portland in October!

"I am very happy to have had the opportunity to come to the USA, to Portland, a magnificent, welcoming, and dynamic city. I fight every day to promote my sport in France. Thanks to the Portland Marathon for all they do for Nordic Walking."

Connect with us and fellow runners & walkers online!

Join our online community. Share information with other runners. Get tips for training and more.

We have more than 83 entertainment groups at 53 locations along the course, but we're also MP3 friendly! Here is a Training Playlist compiled by your fellow runners and walkers (thanks for your suggestions!):

"Start me Up" - Rolling Stones "Kryptonite" - 3 Doors Down
"My Body" - Young the Giant
"Outro" - M83s
"Covergirl" & "Supermodel" - RuPaul
"(I would walk) 500 Miles" - Redeemers
"Running Free" - Iron Maiden
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" - Michael Jackson
Anything by PiNK!
"Til I Collapse" - Eminem
"City of Blinding Lights" - U2
"Vertigo" - U2
"Be Quick or Be Dead" - Iron Maiden
"Run to the Hills" - Iron Maiden
"Decay" - Ride
"Don't Slow Down" - Matt & Kim
"Underglass" - The Frames
"The End Has No End" - The Strokes
"Little Sister" - Queens of Stone Age
"I Know What I Am" - Band of Skulls
"Fiery Crash" - Andrew Bird
"Immigrant Song" - Led Zepplin
"I Like Big Butts" - Sir Mix a lot
"Southbound" - Allman Brothers
"I Ran (so far away)" - A Flock of Seagulls
"Godspeed" - Anberlin
"A Wheel in the Sky" - Journey
"Stronger" Kelly Clarkson
"Set Fire to the Rain" - Adele
"Let's Get it Started" - Black Eyed Peas
"Born to Run" - Bruce Springsteen

Did we miss something? Join the conversation on Facebook and tell us what songs you think should've made the list!

Train in style with a performance "Training for" shirt!

Check out our online store for other must-have items!

Shop now!

Portland Marathon gift certificates are available now!

Get them a Marathon or a Half Marathon! One for you and one for them. Goals are always easier to achieve with a friend! Commit to running or walking together on October 6, 2013.

Learn more!

Where did you wear your shirt?

Committee member Zack Stratford poses with Michelle Robinson and her husband on the streets of Portland where they participated in a local 10k. Both have run The Portland Marathon four times and look forward to running with us again!

Here's Cindi Morrow sporting her Portland Marathon Finisher Shirt in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area for a Christmas Day run.

This is Janet Peterson on the Cho La Pass between Everest Base camp and Gokyo in Nepal.

Here's Frank Miller showing the colors...on The Bund, Shanghai, November 2012!

"I just wanted to say thanks to everyone at the Portland Marathon. I ran 12 races (halfs and fulls) in 2012, and PDX was my October race. Here's the story from my local newspaper in Illinois.

See you in 2013!"

Kurt Austin

October 6, 2013 will mark the 42nd Annual Portland Marathon! We have 83 entertainment groups at 53 locations along the course. Each year more than 12,000 people run, walk, or volunteer with the event. Proceeds from the Portland Marathon go to help local schools, charities, and non-profits. The event has been called the "best-organized marathon in North America" and has received national attention for being one of the first eco-friendly, "green" marathons.