I had no legs today for some reason but remarkably I'm ok with that. My legs always feel heavy for the first 3 miles or so but normally "lighten" up around mile 5 or so. Today, after mile 8 when they still felt heavy, I knew it was going to be a long morning. I had to start walking through aid stations, and beyond, from mile 15 on.

One thing that became abundantly clear is that you can't guess someone's running ability based on appearance. There was an 81 year old man out there with a "Run with Jesus" shirt on. I passed him on the way out, said nice shirt and gave him a thumbs up, he said Amen and away I went. I said to myself "wow, that's awesome that this old guy is going to try running a marathon." Just before mile 15, when I started walking through aid stations, I heard the sound of shuffling feet, and then, "son of a bitch" here comes the old dude going past me. Now, in addition to being 81, this guy ran like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I swear I don't know how he didn't fall over just standing still, much less running 26.2. I was able to catch back up, and eventually pass him, but for crying out loud, he's 81 fricken years old!

In addition to being put to shame by people 40 years older than me, I was humbled by older women that weighed 40 pounds more than me. There was a complete lack of pace booty. What I did see, was a lot of junk in the trunk rumbling past me. Maybe it was inertia, but whatever physics equation was in play, these very large backsides jiggled, bounced, and rumbled past me like I was standing still.

Oh, and in addition to elderly and pleasantly plump people putting me to shame, one other thing I discovered is that some people are capable of talking, non-stop, for 26.2 miles. I don't talk much while training, and talk even less while racing. Two older women were running next to me somewhere around miles 16-19. They never stopped talking. They were talking, without any difficulty, like they were sitting around the kitchen table having tea. I was like "what the f@#$, I'm about to die out here, and these two won't shut the hell up." The worst part was that I couldn't run fast enough to get away from two older women, having a pleasant conversation with each other.

Run more I suppose. Since this was my first marathon, I had no expectations coming in.

Collapsed on the grass and stretched.


NO PACE BOOTY. Actually, it was just one of those days where my legs simply weren't there. And, I'm ok with that. I don't think I did anything "wrong" that negatively impacted my ability today.


The food after the race was lame. It was like an average, to below average, 5K. They had bananas, yogurt, rolls, and ice cream - that was it. For $100 and being a full marathon, I think they should provide better post race food.