I got underway and was feeling great in the cool weather from the very start. I ran the first couple miles in sub 8:30. I figured I’d slow as miles 3-5 was the “hilly” section. The hills were mostly highway service roads and I thought there was more downhill than uphill. My pace was now near 9:00 just where it should be. The only concern was a need to pee. The few port-a-potties on course all had lines. Finally a break – I spotted open port-a-potties on the marathon side. So I crossed the highway and used one of those. Cost me a minute but more than worth it. It was quite humid and I was sweating a lot but still running strong at the mid-point and at 10 miles. I was taking a cup or two of Gatorade at every opportunity but it wasn’t quite sufficient. They had some salt offered at mile 11. I passed not sure how much it could help at that stage. The last two miles I clearly felt the effect of electrolyte/salt loss. I was working very hard (based on HR and perceived exertion) but turned in two of the slowest miles of the day on an easy section of the course. But mentally I was riding a high because I knew I was going to bring this race home in under 2 hours which was my goal. When I crossed the line my Garmin told me 1:57:59 for 13.27 mi. My actual (chip) time was 1:58:51 (potty break being the difference). This was my first sub 2 hour finish since a 1:54:34 at White Rock Lake on Nov.6, 1993 and exactly 6 minutes faster than the Phoenix R&R half in January.

Peter 1:58:51 Pace: 9:04 Age Group (AG): M50-54 123/476 Men: 2104/6380 Overall: 3320/17600

After a bit of limping around (my legs got sore quickly) I had the pleasure to wait in the finish area to watch my 3 favorite people in the world finish their races:

Sarah 2:10:32 (PR – first half marathon) Pace: 9:58 AG: W25-29 639/2218 Women: 2752/11220 Overall: 6054/17600

Laura 2:19:45 (PR – third half marathon) Pace: 10:40 AG: W25-29 959/2218 Women: 4194/11220 Overall: 8263/17600

Carmel 2:30:55 (PR – first half marathon) Pace: 11:31 AG: W50-54 230/685 Women: 5838/1220 Overall: 10678/17600



Get to race on time. Pee and take a Shark Salt before the start.

After lots of congratulations and picture taking we made our way through the post-race activities even skipping the free beer in the hopes of getting out of Dodge quickly. I knew that money spent sending Sarah to NYC for a summer would pay off one day. Today was that day as she hailed a cab while thousands were left behind with a long wait for transportation home.


Good race but 30,000+ runners is just too many to handle at start and finish. Transportation from the finish line is a real disaster. We got very lucky.