The run felt pretty good at the beginning, although obviously I had a little trouble getting on pace, alternating between over and under-shooting my goal pace of 6:10. By about mile 5, I could tell it is was going to be a tough battle to hold on to pace. After about 9 miles, my legs got a little wobbly now and then, and also around that time I really started considering stopping and resting. Since I had no idea how close I was to hitting 1:21:00, I was convinced that I was already well off pace and that I might as well save myself the agony and back off a bit. Glad I didn't decided to do that in the end!

Taper a little more in the weeks leading up to the race, but only after having put in a few more solid 17+ mile longs on the weekends. I think that's why I was so wobbly and weak near the end.

I've done the White Rock Marathon a couple of times before, and it's always been really well organized, with lots of people to point you towards the start line, lots of people to cheer and hand out water, etc. However, another runner told me that this year they were having trouble recruiting people given the cold snap that had hit the previous week.

It sure did seem like it, I saw maybe 3 volunteers around the start line, and about 10 at the finish. Either way, I'm just glad some people showed up, given how cold it was!