The race started according to plan. My legs felt good and my natural pace had me pulling ahead of the 4:05 pace group, so I just went with it. My heart rate stayed well within Z2. Around Mile 6, I also passed the 4:00 pace group, just striding along at my comfortable pace. At Aid Stations, I alternated between drinking infinit solution from my Fuel Belt and the Gatorade supplied on the course.

Somewhere around Mile 7 or 8, I started to develop a painful "hotspot" of numbness on my left foot that I had never before experienced in my training. I thought I may have tied my laces too tight, but didn't want to stop yet to re-tie them. Over the next few miles, the pain and numbness progressed. I tried to "stomp" my foot to get some extra circulation in there, but it didn't help much.

I passed the halfway point at almost exactly the 2:00 mark, which I felt good about as I have never run a two-hour half before. But by then, I had enough pain and numbness in both feet to be concerned and I pulled over to loosen my laces. It was here that the 4:00 pace group passed me. I began running again, but I knew this my foot numbness could become a real problem.

I was right. By Mile 17, I felt like I was running on bloody stumps. The areas on the bottoms of my feet that weren't numb felt bruised and I could detect a couple blisters coming on. Once again, I tried to shake some blood back in, but my efforts didn't help too much or too long. I decided I would just have to compartmentalize the pain and gut it out. It didn't help my feet any to walk so I just kept running. My only goal was to get to the finish so I could take my damn shoes off and get some relief from the excruciating pain.

It was also about this time, I saw my wife and kids drive by in the truck, waving to me and cheering me on. It gave me a moment's respite, but then I went right back into the Pain Cave, realizing I still had eight more miles to go. I also saw some Donks lining the route, most notably Rosshole, who mocked me for my new "Fabio-esque" long hair.

I'd like to say I just kept running but I took some brief walk breaks. I think my fitness and pacing were fine, but my foot pain was nearly intolerable. My heartrate was probably a little high, in the 160's, but I wasn't blowing up. Around Mile 22, I was passed by the 4:05 pace group and knew any hope of achieving a 4-hour finish was long gone. Honestly, I was okay with that, as I had seen nothing in my training that indicated I was truly capable of that time. I was just hoping that the extra rest from my taper and the adrenaline of race day would help me perform better than I ever had before.

The final stretch from Bradford Beach to the finish was just a simple test of will. More than finishing with the fastest possible time, I was driven by the single goal of just wanting to end the pain. By turns, my feet were burning, numb, bruised and pounded. Luckily, I was able to settle in behind a little pace booty (God bless her) and stay within sight nearly all the way to the finish.

Finally, I reached the Finish, hit the grass, ripped off my shoes and felt sweet relief. Almost immediately, I saw jmwebs and we exchanged war stories about our races and hung out. After a bit, I grabbed some grub (which was really lacking, considering how every other aspect of this race was top-notch), a free beer and made the long, painful hobble to the shuttle bus to get back to my car.


I dunno. I'm gonna have to figure out the foot issue, because it was by far my biggest limiter. I don't know if was due to my type of shoe (which I've been running in for years), my body weight, the laces initially being too tight or from doing most of my longer run training on softer crushed gravel or what.

My feet, plain and simple. Interestingly, three days after the race I went for a short run and I started to develop the same hotspots toward the end. I don't know what's going on.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with my performance. But I still would like to run a sub-4 marathon someday.


In stark contrast to the Summerfest Half-Mary, this was an extremely well-organized and well-run event. I'm sure it helped that we had perfect conditions on race day. My only knocks on this event were the lackluster post-race activities (no band or decent music) and crappy post-race food (you'd think they could throw in a legitimate picnic lunch.) Other than that, this is a great course and great event.