Planned to go out around 7:55, but settled in at closer to 7:30. Felt great until 3.5 miles, when I got the first twinge in my left Achilles from the calf injury. I had the same issue at the end of my last marathon and knew things could get unpleasant...I tried to settle into a pace that avoided aggravating the injury.

It's fun running through Disneyland before dawn...actually makes for a fast course...good running surfaces and flat. For all intents and purposes, the only hills are a couple of overpasses in the fourth mile.

I was cruising along pretty comfortably with some minor twinges in the Achilles through the first half of the race. I knew I didn't have much--if any--shot at my stretch goal of sub-1:40, but was going to make my realistic goal of ~1:43 and probably better. At mile 7.5, however, the Achilles locked up, bad. I had to stop--something I've never had to do in a race before--to stretch the tendon. I started up again, but it seized up worse--up into the injured calf--at 8.0 and I had to stop for more than 20 sec. to stretch and dig my thumbs into the calf to break up the knot.

I worked my way gradually back up to my intended pace...really lost about 15 secs. during mile 9 while testing the tendon and finding a stride and cadence that wouldn't injure it. There were a ton of spectators, including a lot of kids, in the Angels Stadium parking lot and that really gave me a boost. I was able to negative split the last three miles and came surprisingly close to getting into the 1:41s even with the two stops and the slow stretch in mile 9.

Not much. I was actually more healed from the calf strain then I expected to be...when I was first injured on the plane flight, I wasn't sure I'd be able to compete at all, so hitting my goal was a relief. But I'm paying the price post-race with a pretty badly tweaked Achilles, so I may only have deferred the DNF or DNS...we'll see...

Walked around and ate a lot of post-race grub (bagel, Clif Builder Bar, banana). Thought about getting a massage, but wanted to watch my wife finish (her first 1/2 marathon). After Liz finished, both of us went to get some ice and to stretch. Walked back to our hotel and napped...before hitting Disneyland in the afternoon.


The calf/Achilles injury...and having missed a week of training during my trip to Africa.


This is a very well organized race with over 10,000 entrants. Not a lot of serious runners, but more than enough to make it competitive. How can you not like a race through Disneyland? (Nice competitor t-shirt and huge finisher's medal.)