I was as a well prepared for this race as I have been for any other race I have ran. All the extra miles I have run all winter and all the additional miles since I started to pick up the distances leading toward another marathon have payed off well.
I had a goal to start the race with a 7:20 pace for the first mile and then start the harder miles from there. The first mile ended up faster than planned (7:11) but wasn't hard nor did it become a problem to the rest of my race strategy later in the race. The rest of the miles seem a little like I wasn't pacing well, but I am not sure that was really what happened. I think the hills that were throughout the course caused me to have to slow down more than a more flat course would have required.
The key that seemed to work with these hills was th advice given by JeffY to keep the effort going up these hills steady, NOT the pace. I believe this worked well and I will use this for any other races that have hills.
I took some Gatorade Prime about 20 minutes befoe the start and I decided I would take my gels at mile 4 and 7 t maintain the energy level I began the race. This also seemed to work very well today. There was never a time when I started to feel drained of energy.
At mile 8 I decided it was time to really try to focus on making sure I hit the race in my target finish range. I turned up the speed a little and tried to keep everything under control with my pacing. I had even splits for mile 9 and 10 and then started to turn it up still a little more.
The last 3 miles were beginning to be a bout pain management but it was the final mile that I had to really gut out. I wanted to get that mile under 6:45 for a hardcore target and I finished at 6:39. By the end of this mile I was smashed! My HR spiked to 175 during this mile and then immediately after finishing it jumped to 180. I guess the last .25 miles I was as close to sprinting as I could come up with and I finished as strong as I had in me.

I would try to pace a little better and maybe run a little harder. I don't think I finished leaving everything on the course. I might have been able to get just under 1:33:00 if I had banged another couple miles in the middle. (I did spend a few minutes talking to another Marine about his, and others, commitment to the country and that caused me to drop my pace a little.) I left everything I had left in the last mile and especially the last.25 but I think I could have run harder over the whole distance.

I was to exhausted from the last mile to think about doing anything other than stretching. And the area was JAM packed with 5ker's and spectators.


My mental state is the only thing I think limited me. I worried to much about if I was going to run to fast for my fitness and not finish strong or throughout.


the only thing I didn't like was the lack of signage to the packet picck up area. I had to walk almost completely around the school to get there. I came out a different exit and was at my car in half the time it took me to find the expo.
There were many volunteers and they did a very good job. The bus drivers and buses were well organized to get people to and from the race start and finish areas in a timely manner.