It has taken me four and a half months to post a race report for this one. This was supposed to be a stepping stone towards a larger goal of qualifying for Boston when I turn 50. It was my "get faster" marathon (#2 for me). Turned out to be a very disappointing day. A lot of good things came out of it (Jackie qualified for Boston, I met some very inspiring people, completed the 5 year medal series at Cowtown, and the Cowtown Challenge for the 2nd year in a row). But the race itself was physically a mess for me. I was on pace through the half to meet my goal of 4:15 and feeling very good aerobically at least. But my right IT band went bad on me, and so did my right foot. Found out later I had a stress fracture in my cuboid bone. Was reduced to a walk/limp for the last 10 miles, but was determined to finish and collect finisher medal #5 to complete the star (great marketing by Cowtown).

I really don't know. I had some problems fairly early on in my mileage ramp up, but went into this race more well trained that I have probably ever been. My body just did not hold up on race day. Perhaps should have had a bigger base before attempting the marathon training again, and probably should have visited the sports chiro during the later stages of training. But given the effort I put into training, I came out of this experience just not sure that the marathon distance agrees with me physically or mentally.

Love the Cowtown....they put on a great race. This was my 5th year to do it (4 halfs and 1 full this yr), and I truly think that the race organizers have done a better job each and every year.