Reedie Crosses the Finish Line in the Portland Marathon
On October 4, 2026, Isabel Chrysos ‘28 was one out of ~15,000 runners who participated in the 55th annual Portland Marathon. With a route spanning 26.2 miles, runners looped through the Reed campus along the front of Eliot and the Old Dorm Block. Runners were met with the whoops, cheers, and party horns of enthusiastic students and other community members.
It was Chrysos’s first time running a marathon, but she’s been running since her junior year of high school. When she started the hobby, she wanted to test if running was something she’d be good at. During the summer, she decided to join the marathon. Chrysos was motivated by the experience of unofficially joining the marathon runners for the last eight miles a couple years ago. She saw roses being passed to the runners at the finish line and wanted to earn one for herself. Her dad also shared stories of past marathons he ran during his prime.
After running the marathon, she recalled that the first 10 miles went by surprisingly fast and smoothly, and she passed many signs that made her laugh. For instance, some signs less than a mile in said ‘Only a shit load of miles left,’ or ‘Worst parade ever.’ She remembered that more than one sign read ‘Smile if you aren’t wearing any underwear,’ saying, “so it’s like you see it, and you immediately smile, and you’re like ‘Oh no!’”
Between mile 10 and 20, things started to slow down a little. Mile 18 was the run through Reed. For Chrysos, the most exciting part was when she saw a group of her friends “waving and jumping when they saw me, and that gave me a big boost in morale.” One of the members in her cheer squad ran up to her with a poster that read “4-H grows here,” a reference to her love for cows. Watching Chrysos push towards her goal made some members of her squad become teary-eyed with pride.
Everything after mile 20 was “a total slog.” Still, there were small elements in the race that gave her boosts in energy, like the marathon participants running in opposite directions, giving each other high-fives. When the finish line became visible, she wasn’t really thinking about “the glory of finishing,” but felt that she just needed to stop running. When an announcer bullhorned “Can I get 25 more people in the ‘under four hours’ time?” she broke out into a sprint. Despite being exhausted, she said, “I just ran as fast as I could! I didn’t even know I could run like that! I was just like ‘I’m not gonna get four hours and one second!’” Chrysos crossed the finish line at 3 hours and 54 minutes. She earned her rose!
All in all, she was happy to have been part of the marathon. “I’ve set a goal for myself, and I’ve made that goal,” said Chrysos. For those who want to run a marathon in the future, she reflects, “your biggest enemy is giving up somewhere along the way because you’re trying to push too hard all at once, or you’re not seeing results right away.” Despite her love for running, she would like to keep it a hobby, and would love a work schedule in the future that accommodates her training, since she’s only had time to run on weekends.
Shoutout to all the other Reedies who ran in the marathon! We’re so proud of your milestone (pun intended)!