I decided to start with the 3:40 pace group even though I wasn't confident in that pace. At the gun, the 3:40 pacer took off and I followed for about a half mile when the 3:50 pacer passed me. So I looked at my watch and I was at an 8:18 average. I needed a 3:24 average to BQ. So I knew the pacers were off so I decided right then to run my own race. Later this would prove to be fatal.

Miles 1-6: About a mile in to the race I met a girl, a very chatty girl, who was from Smyrna. She talked and talked and asked me a lot of questions. This was both good and bad. I knew I needed to concentrate but I also enjoyed having my mind distracted. These miles went by pretty quick. My average here was 8:24 according to my watch.

Miles 6-13: Joe ran up from behind me and joined me and my new running buddy. He saved me from having to talk anymore. These miles were pretty boring scenery wise but we kept moving forward as a tight little group of two. Thankfully, my chatty pal ran ahead around mile 9 leaving me and Joe. Here we decided the course was more hilly than people had suggested. Still though, I was on pace with an 8:24 average (according to my watch).

Miles 13-20: My legs were still feeling good and my body was holding up nicely at this point. We just crossed the half way point and I was feeling good. The miles were really passing by pretty quickly still and it was getting so nice out. By mile 16 I shed my long sleeve and was enjoying the sunshine. I stuck to my nutrition plan and was taking a gu every 5 miles. At mile 18 I decided that I needed to keep my pace of 8:24 until mile 24 where I would pick up the pace just by 10 seconds to bring it in for my goal time of 3:40. This seemed within reach, although it wasn't a certainty.

Miles 20-26.2(or 26.45): I couldn't believe how good I still felt at mile 20. Obviously, I was tired and sore but nothing like I expected. So I continued on my way. As I passed mile 22 I started to fatigue but I was right on that line of making my goal. My watch still read an 8:24 average. Mile 23 is where I realized the course was long and my watch was NOT in sync. So instead of being at an 8:24 average I was 5 seconds behind that all day long. I had 3.5 miles to go and 29 minutes to do it in. Math had not been my strong suit all day and it certainly wasn't at this point. I tried. I ran. But I knew that I was just not going to make it. My legs were so heavy at this point and my body just didn't want to move any faster. I ran to the end but when I came around the corner and saw the clock I was pretty heart broken. SO close.

By all accounts this course was a quarter mile long. Not just by my Garmin but by everyone else I talked to. I can't blame not qualifying on this but a quarter mile is an extra 2 minutes and if you do the math I was short by 2 minutes and 38 seconds. I could have found 38 seconds in the last 3 miles but 2 minutes and 38 seconds was just too big. I am at fault for not realizing well before mile 23 that my watch was not in sync with the mile markers. A big lesson learned. Among others. This was a PR so not a total bad day and really, I had a great race. It just hurts to know I came so close and wasn't able to overcome.


Make sure my watch and mile markers match up and if they don't alter my pace so I'm still on course. Although, I'm not sure I could have maintained 5 seconds faster per mile. I will never know for this race. The thing is, given the course was long in reality I needed to run an 8:19 pace and who knows if I could have done that. I raced what I had to give and I gave it my all.

Drank beer. Celebrated my good friends success. Cheered in the rest of our group. Cried a little. :)


It was just an okay race. The expo is tiny so you definitely don't want to forget anything important. As I've mentioned, the course was long. :evil: The course itself wasn't terrible but it was less than scenic. I would maybe do this race again if a dear friend begged me. Not horrible but not great.