I ran the first 7 or so miles with Doug and Ben and we chatted with various people on the course. We passed Marcy and Steve in the first couple of miles and I saw several other people I knew. I had printed out my pace wrist band the night before and just kept focused on the 4:43:55 goal I had set for myself. I would check my time at each mile marker and for the first 17 or 18 I was about a minute ahead of my goal. I lost a little time on my two bathroom breaks and two quick stretch stops, but overall I felt good. I really never felt like I hit a wall but my legs did feel a bit sore even from the start. I pushed through the soreness and tried to get a good running posture. I also tried to stay relaxed so that I wouldn't tense up and get more soreness pain. My mom and the kids cheered us on at mile 5, mile 20 and then at 25. That was a huge help knowing that they would be at those spots. I broke the race up into smaller segments and didn't think about running for almost 5 hours. I finally caught up with my friend Jason at mile 20 and he was starting to hurt. He had run the first 15 at a 10:15 mile pace and was suffering. I stayed with him for about a half mile, but then realized I needed to push on if I was going to make my goal. He ended up finishing about 20 minutes after me and was hurting bad. He had not trained well and was paying the price. My training paid off and I finished strong and felt good at the end.

I might set my goal a little lower as I felt like I could have gone a bit faster. Then again, maybe I would have hit a wall and slowed way down.

I saw my trainer at the finish line, chatted with her and with Ang. My dad was also at the finsih, but Doug and the kids were all off on their separate activities, birthday party and soccer games. I went in the food tent, but really wasn't hungry. I had five gu's, two bites of snickers and some gummy bears on the course. I wonder if I ate too much? Lots of things to consider for my next marathon. I realize that there is LOTS to learn and it isn't just getting out there and running!


Soreness from a bit of overtraining a few weeks out and not getting quite enough miles in before the marathon.


I have done this race many times, mainly done the 10k but last year I did the half. They normally have the marathon and half start at a different time than the 10k and 5k and I think they need to go back to that. There were more people running it than they planned and did not have enough volunteers at the bag check, registration or chip pick up. I will definitely continue to do the race, but hope they get more organized next year. Overall I am pleased with my time!