This was my first marathon. I did it on a bet from a friend of mine. She was disparaging my fitness as a triathlete and that marathoning was "much harder"(cause she runs marathons). I said I would do it, beat her best time and train only 4 weeks.
I started in the back of the pack. I didnt cross the start until 9 minutes after the start had happened. I spent the first 4-5 miles weaving in and out of walkers, joggers, 5k and half people going slow. I would say this race was very fun for the first 14 miles. I felt great. Aside from the slow start (almost took me 29 minutes to go 3 miles) I got back on my pace and felt great for the next 11 miles.
After the half people split the course changed. Fewer bands, fewer people cheering, fewer racers. It was not quite as fun. I hit a mini wall at miles 16-18. I didnt walk but it was reall hard going. Got my legs back for the next 5 miles. The last 3 miles were really tough. I think I was kinda delirious cause I do not remember much. The last half mile was great with all the people cheering and the downhill finish.
I beat my goal of 3:55. I ended up with sore muscles but no blisters or joint pain. I can tell my friend marathons are easy (not really but I cant let on how much that hurt). I now know to shut my mouth when my ego is challenged.

1) Train more. my CV health was fine as I was never breathing real hard but with a limited amount of base training my legs couldnt keep up. In the 4 weeks I was training for the marathon I had a runs of 22, 15 and two 13 miles. Everything else was below 8 miles. I also subbed biking and swimming for some running days when my legs were sore.
2) Nutrition. I am not sure if this had anything to do with my feelings from mile 16 on but I had one glucose gel at 5 miles and one at 14 miles. I never had shot block gel (they were handing them out) and I wasnt going to experiment. I drank gatorade and water at pretty much every station and didnt feel sloshy. I think nutrition played less of a role than fitness.

Stretching and laying on the grass in the sun for about 30 minutes.


lack of base training.
dont start at the back cause you spend a lot of time and energy dodging people.


Good race for me. I dont have much to compare it to. I know my family enjoyed the google map feature where they could track my progress during the race. One pet peeve: It says NO MP3 players! Very bold and very unmissable. Yet about every other person had one on. They cant hear people asking them to move or to watch out. I saw three people talking on cell phones while running. Either enforce the rules or get rid of them.