Felt good through mile 20, when things got very real and I took more frequent walk breaks. Happy with my race today. My last marathon in 2009 was a disaster. Course was very very crowded until the split where the marathoners go left, the half marathoners to the right. Prior to that there was a lot of weaving in and out of the crowd. It was actually a relief to have some open space, even if the crowd support was sparse.

Seeing the children at St. Jude's and their families lined up, encouraging the runners, was so inspirational. This is such a humanitarian event. Any suffering from running a marathon is miniscule compared with the pain these families are going through.

More speed work would have helped. I got two 20 mile runs in, but got sick three weeks before the race and had to miss the last 20 miler, as well as cut back on volume earlier than necessary.

Went through the food area and got some pizza and a Krispy kreme donut, then looked for my friend Mary, who had finished half an hour earlier. It was a cold day and once I stopped moving, got cold quickly.


Great race. Go run it for St. Jude's.