It’s a sea of people moving forward. Lots of full and half runners who obviously lined up way too close to the start. I wind up taking to the sidewalks in sections so I can get around the slow people. Grrrr. Took a good 3 miles to where I could run in a straight without dodging people. Oh, and lots of people taking walk breaks – nearly body checked some when they suddenly stopped in front of me. Turns out I was feeling pretty good and running at a fast pace, as I was still passing a lot of people. Hit the 10k mark in 50:50. Hmmmm.... this could be good... or it could be bad. Continued to hold a pace around 8:00 and felt pretty good. The middle miles of the run were pancake flat and running through a residential area. So, not exactly scenic, but there were a lot of people set up on their front lawns cheering the runners on. Finally after an hour I found some good bushes that needed watering. :) I think somewhere around 7 miles I passed a house with a bunch of signs out, 2 of them I remember. “Since they Yankees are out, I’m cheering you on instead” and “Running on King Street is better than trading on Wall Street”. Hit the 10 mile mark at 1:20:45 (8:05 pace). Still passing a lot of people. Around 11.4 miles there was a turnaround and we headed back the same way through the residential area. It was packed with people! I got stuck many times trying to pass... there were slow-ish people running up the yellow line both directions blocking my path!

Getting close to the 13 mile mark a family had set up breakfast outside. A big long table and 4 chairs facing the course, drinking mimosas and eating belgian waffles and sausages. Yum!! I almost asked if I could join them, it looked so good! But I kept running, and crossed the half mark in 1:45 flat (8:01 pace). I was apparently speeding up, but still feeling pretty good. After a few more miles we were out of the residential area and running along major roads, working our way slowly back into downtown. Miles 16-18 were run at 7:45 pace. Yikes!! Hit the 20 mile mark in 2:39:20 (7:58 pace) and knew there was no way I could hold this pace to the end. No way! We were starting to go over roadways and freeways, so every ½ mile there was a small hill, for the last 6 miles. Ugh! I was getting close to red-lining and every time I looked up I could see another small hill. I managed to hold onto ~8:00 pace until mile 23. From there on in it was all about just moving forward as best I could and I saw my pace drop towards 9:00. Eventually I was back at the park where we started about ½ mile from the finish. Wahoo!! Tried to kick it for the finish and got a wicked stitch in my right side. Fine, be that way!

Nada. I went a bit too hard, but ran very well for my first marathon.

Got some food, a free beer (Harpoon IPA), checked the results, then a free shower at the YMCA. After 2 hours of lolligagging around I hit the road and headed to see Tom (TC-117) and his wife Karen who had graciously offered me a place to stay, as they live near the start of the MHRM. Had a very nice evening, and a delicious dinner, finally went to bed around 11pm.


No speedwork?