I ran the race with Eric (egates656) and we really didn't have a plan other than to finish and enjoy the race. My longest run to date...ever...is 8.5 miles and that was several weeks ago. My training since Jan was not very good. 16 miles last month, none in Feb and not much in March. So the expectations was 2:30 and I was happy, 2:15 very very happy and 2:10 would of been a shock.
So we start out and the first mile is just over 10 min's I think and I feel pretty good. The next 7-8 miles we run at 9:35-9:45 min miles and we are still feeling really good. It helped to run with someone and with the water stations and music playing it was fun the whole way. 17 water stations over 13 miles left plenty of options and they had bands playing all along the streets, about 30 of them or so. You always heard music playing and it was from gospel to reggae to country, to rock to folk ect..bagpipes even. Plus you had the crowd lined streets ringing cow bells, now that was cool. The lap around the track was cool but I was glad to be off of it. Coming out of the track we hit mile marker 9....between 9 and 10 was the moment of truth for me. At this point I have run farther than I have ever run and I was feeling the heat and pounding my legs were taking. Eric and I's talking had stopped as we were exiting the track and our pace had slowed to over 10 min miles thru mile 9, 10 & 11. At mile marker 11 I decided that I have 2 more freakin miles and I am going to pick up the pace here. I tell Eric I am going and I hit the last water station at about 11 1/2 mile point, drink a little throw the rest on my head and hit the 12 mile marker at exactly 2hrs. I run to the side of the road and take off. I finish the last 1.1 miles in 8 min's (that is a 7:16 min mile)passing some 1450 people on the way according to the standings. I probably could of ended up a minute or two quicker with some confidence but I KNOW I could do this under 2 hrs with just a little more training. I look forward to next year.

Train more. I really didn't train for this as I should have. Some my fault (lazy) some not my fault, flu, pneumonia, starting new job ect...However, I think our pacing was perfect for the condition we were in. Actually better than expected.

Walk thru the finishing shoot and thru the handouts of food, banana's, apples, water, potato chips ( I didn't think I would want the chips and they were the best chips I have ever had) and then to the photo lines. I then went to the park where families were waiting for racers. Eric and I headed towards the beer tent, grapped a couple of beers each and went to sit in the shade and relax. Then the long march back to the car, which didn't seem that far away on the way to the race.


conditioning


After 29 years of this this race just rocks. Everything runs smooth from the start to the finish. It has a big draw with the Kenyens entering and winning every year, it has 33K people and it goes off without a hitch.
Average race time was 2:29.53
Number of men 12,418
Numer of Women 12,610