This was a great course starting in the mountains and ending through rolling hills in farmland. The start was slightly overcast and about 50 degrees. There was plenty of cloud cover and shade from trees all the way to mile 17. At 17 came the dreaded hill climb where the pavement started. It topped out about mile 20. The sun was out now and it warmed up to about 80. The hill climb was tough for me..I was getting tired..I walked a bit but ran most of it. Along the rest of the route was several farm houses with their sprinklers facing the road..I took the time to soak myself at every one of them. One yard had a 10 year old boy with a hose..he was having a good time! The last 6 miles I had to do the run/walk. I tried to limit my walk time as much as possible but it really slowed me down. I did reach my goal of less than 5hrs. I was hoping for more like 4:30 but the hills got to me. My GPS clocked me at 4:55:06 at 26.2 miles which was a few minutes away from the finish line. I felt like my hydration was good..I used a hydration pack by Nathan, made for running. I used 48oz of HEED in it (which I drank all of) plus water at most water stops. The pack has a handy pouch on each side easily accessible..I had Hammeer gel in one and Perpetuem (protein paste) in the other. The protein paste was too thick so I only ate about 1/2 of it. I used most of the gel but by mile 20 I just didn't feel like eating much anymore. I also used several of the Hammer capsules every hour. I expended aprox 2950cal and took in around 800cal. Next time I will make the protein paste thinner. Overall I have to say this was a good experience and I performed as best I could. It was fun to have my father-in-law, who is 80, run the last 100 yards with me. He's in great shape. It also meant a lot to have my very supportive wife at the finish line. She got a couple of great pictures. Thanks Honey!!!

Make Perpetuem paste thinner. Train more so I can keep a better pace..slow the pace down a bit from the start, which as we all know, is hard to do. This was my first FM so I have nothing to compare.

Some stretching..walk around the park


Lack of hills in training and maybe some lack of calories.


Great race..great volunteers..friendly community