Coeur d' Alene Marathon, Half Marathon and 5 K Fun Run - RunMarathon

This was my first Marathon.

I went out a bit fast, mile 1 was 9:20. I reigned it in a bit and settled into a good pace and mile 2 came around 19:10 or so. Things went really good through mile 11.

I made a giant mistake at the 12 mile aid station though. My last gel came at the 8 mile aid station and I totally forgot to grab one at mile 12, just water. No need to panic too much, surely I can make it back to the 14 mile station. My split for the half was 2:18, I was thrilled with this!

Came up on the 14 mile station, NO GELS! OH, crap. I need something. The only calories at this station was gatorade. Gatorade does not agree with me so I skipped it, just too more mile till the next station.

The 16 mile aid station was OUT OF GEL! This time I was forced to do the gatorade, I had to have something. Here i was 8 miles from my last intake and I was dragging bad. Gatorade picked me up a bit, enough to make it to 18 miles where I was finally able to get gel.

Now, the wheels started to fall off. The Gatorade was now giving me stomach cramps pretty bad, forcing a fair amount of walking.

I just kept focused on finishing in under 5 hours, knowing I was going to have to limit my walking for that to happen. I ran as much as I could. The last 5 miles where the worst thing I could ever imagine doing.

At about the 26 mile mark I saw my oldest daughter who had started walking out to find me. That was what I needed. She said "you are amazing for doing this dad" and ran alongside of me. I got a little choked up and emotional but managed to not cry (guys dont cry, right). With about 50 yards left she sprinted up ahead to get a finish picture.



Maybe carry my own nutrition, which at one point I had planned on doing.

Walked around. Tried eating a banana and orange and drank a bit of water. The banana and orange did not sit well.


Improper nutrition. I went from mile 8 to 18 with nothing. That was about 1:50 with nothing but a cup of gatorade that I knew was going to give me problems.


I think they need to plan a bit more when it comes to the gels. That was brutal. It seems they got more out to those stations because they all had gels on the way back in.