gun went off and off we go.............i seeded myself in like the third or fourth row, slightly to the right as the first turn was a left..weaved thru the crowd right away and found myself cruising along in about 6th or 7th place. thought the pace was easy and kinda slow to be honest, felt like i wasnt pushing so was just going with it...........got to the mile marker and whoa nellie!! 5:42!! slowed down some cuz i was waaaaaaaay ahead of pace........2nd mile was 11:33 so didnt slow down as much as i wanted to but, was still feeling like i wasnt pushing it, felt like i was more striding than anything to be honest.......3rd mile came and went at 17:44 and fourth mile was 23:49........shortly after is where the trouble hit. not in the form of cardio or fading due to going out to hard as i felt totally fine still at this point. the trouble was an intense pain that shot up along the outside of my right calf.....had to stop and stretch it. got going again and it hit again. stop again and stretch/massage it......get going again and once again, no dice. i decided at this point to see if i could find a "comfy spot" in my pace so i could at least finish. after many trial at finding that spot i was able to find some success! albeit, a slow pace for me and waaaaaaaaaaaay off my goal which obviously at this point was out the window. as long as i could walk i was going to finish this race. just because i didnt have my "A" game today doesnt mean i can just pack it up and quit........so ended up running with the bacon boy (wavedog) for quite a bit, had a blast. thanks for that wave. came across the line and it went, glasses off, visor off, chip off and handed to volunteer.....walk straight thru finishers tent, grab my medal (sorry for "ignoring" the pace of donkai that were standing to the side") and off to the van to get out of my sweaty nasty icky nonracing clothes and into some dry stuff! then hook back up with everyone for some ok tasting food! (i even stole a sip of nashers icky crappy beer!) sitting at home right now, very very tired and ice on my leg. hopefully this isnt serious. regardless, time off was due anyway!

nadda. i had an awesome build up for this race and was feeling fine. circumstances were what they were tho....oh well. looking at the positives (as i like to do......) it was a beautiful day out!!! got to see some great people once again (donkai rule!!) and what doesnt kill me only makes me stronger, um, right???? oh well, next time!!!

gimp to van, change clothes.


intense calf pain.


i believe i said kind of the same thing last year but will say it again. they need more water stations out there and i heard they ran out of water as well. not good when that happens!