Started the race at a fast pace until the end of mile 4, where the steepest climb of several on-going climbs begins. From mile 5 through mile 10 it was non-stop climbing and the toughest part of the race, so I focused on keeping a slower, but steady pace. After mile 10 it was mainly downhill or flat, so I was able to pick up the pace again. After all the climbing I was feeling OK from an aerobic standpoint, but my legs where feeling really sore, so I pushed the pace as much as a could all the way to the finish line. Nutrition wise, I had gels at 40 min and 80 min into the race and felt that was good enough for me.

I am happy with my overall time of 1:46:06 (non-official). I was not expecting to PR this race due to the steep climbs, but I was able to improve my time by 4-5 min. over the same race a year ago.

I felt execution went well for this race, so I would focus on doing more hill training to further improve my time/endurance in this type of course.

Drank gatorade, water and had a banana at the end and went to get my finisher's medal. Caught up with my two daughters, parents and friends and then got a ride home.


LOL - Several steep and on-going hills


This is a very well organized race for Guatemala and this year they had the corral system in place, which helped spread out the runners at the start