When I woke, it was pouring outside and I considered bagging the race. I was a little concerned about the humidity as I am not a good humid runner. Temps were in the 50's and humid, but it did stop raining before the start. My goal for the race was sub 1:50 and I figured I could go high 1:40's. My plan was to run 8:10ish pace.

When the gun sounded I was at the back of the pack. It was a small race so passing didn't prove to be too much of a problem. The only problem I had at first is my I-pod stopped working within the first half mile. I was pretty sure it was charged, but it just stopped. First mile was something like 7:35 - too fast! I continued to mess with my I-pod during Mile 2, with no avail. Finally I put it away. Mile 2 & 3 were both 7:30 - 7:40 - still too fast and I could feel it. Finally at Mile 4, I slowed down and found my 8 flat pace. My new pace goal was to see how long I could hold this. At the half way turn my lungs were coming back and I felt much better now that I slowed down. Things were going pretty smooth during the middle miles and I found different pacing partners along the way. About Mile 8 I started to calculate my projected finish time and I realized that if I held 8's I could go sub 1:45, a goal I didn't even have in my mind at the start of the race. About Mile 10 I started to really tire and my hip started to flare up a little. That being said as I reached Mile 11, I was still on pace. This is when I really started feeling bad, but I could taste a huge PR ( or maybe I just threw up in my mouth a little ;) ) I held on the last 2 miles, but these 2 miles were just as hard as the last 2 miles of the Disney Marathon. I crossed Mile 13 at around 1:43 and realized that I was going to do it. Final chip time - 1:43:58 - a PR by over 7 minutes. Wow, not what I expected at all!


Nothing. I had nothing left in the tank at the end.

Walked around, caught my breath, and found my friend who came to see me finish.


2nd annual race - I will do it again next year.