Had to pleasure running with my coworker, Christian Chacon. (He qualified and ran the Boston marathon this year.) He's definitely faster than me but he stuck beside me the whole race. He helped the miles quickly go by with his stories.

The first half of the marathon went very well. I wanted to keep a 9:00/mi pace and I actually kept a 8:41/mi pace. Awesome! My nutrition included 1 clif shot per hour along with 1-2 cups of gatorade at the aid stations. Mileage was getting tough starting at the aid station at turn around near mile 16. I would have taken longer at that aid station if Christian wasn't pushing me to keep moving.

The race started to get bad around mile 19. My legs started feeling heavy and felt some cramping in my legs but not enough to make me stop. At aid station around mile 20 I mixed 4 salt packets into my cup of gatorade and drank it. I poured a cup of water over my head. Then I drank 2 more cups of gatorade at that aid station and then kept moving on. I was really feeling the heat at this point of the race.

The race went to worse around mile 24. My legs cramped up really bad, specifically my left hip area, right quad and right calf. I ended up walking. I tried to run but mentally, with the heat, I couldn't motivate myself to run. I felt bad because Christian walked with me trying to motivate me but I just couldn't move any faster than a slow walk at this point. For the first time in my short race career, at the mile 25 aid station the lady was really concerned for me. She asked if I was okay and then she touched my shoulder and said you're not sweating, you're dehydrated. She was insisting I go sit down in the first aid tent but I didn't want to. I told her I was fine and moved on with the race. During the last mile, I tried to jog as much as I could but my legs kept cramping. My legs even cramped up really bad 0.2 miles before the finish line right before the last turn. Then I finally jogged with Christian to the finish line.

1. Study the hourly weather report the night before and pay attention specifically the hours when I plan to finish the race. If it is above 75, then make sure to take 3-4 cups of gatorade at each aid station during the second half of the race.
2. If race day is sunny, then wear race hat instead of race visor.
3. If race day is sunny, then put on sunblock
4. If race longer than 2 hours, then wear different shirt or wear nip guards. ;-)

My warm down included drinking 2 bottles of water and walking back to my cousin's house (about 1 mile).


Not drinking enough gatorade given the heat of the day. Even though I was mentally pushing myself to my limits and giving it all I got, my leg cramps wouldn't let me run all the way to the finish due to the level of dehydration I suffered.


The race started at 7:30am. Maybe if they started the marathon at 7:00am, the heat would not have affected me as much as it did.