The run started and we were off. Just starting off, I felt really good and well rested from the recovery and taper the two weeks before. The plan was to keep around a 6:50 pace (on my watch) and just go from there. The first couple of miles were pretty easy running. I had to stop to dehydrate around mi 5, but no big deal. I picked up the slack on mi 6 and was back in pace. I had my fuel belt with me with 3 bottles filled with HEED and one bottle filled 3/4 of the way with Hammer Gel. That was an excellent decision bringing that with. Some of the water stops, I didnt have to grab anything and other times I would grab a little bit of water and keep on running. No big gulps of water to keep me hydrated...thats good for the stomach.

There was lots of entertainment on the course. People cheering, cheerleaders, and they even had a small farm like water stop around mi 4. I just kept chugging away at my pace, right around 7:00/mi and felt awesome! No cramps, no energy loss issues, legs felt good, HR was right where I wanted it to be; overall just felt awesome. At mi 20, they had a large brick wall that we could run through to celebrate hitting "the wall" (although I never did). I crossed that at 2:20 and I was on course to bring home a 3:04-3:05 finish and PR. Still felt really good with no issues at all and running around a 7:00 pace still was pretty easy. Then around mi 22, WAMMO! My right knee started to give. At first I figured it was just a running twinge and kept trying to run on it. A couple of times it would give on my stride and I would almost fall over from it giving out. I tried running on the sidewalk and also in people lawns. None of that helped. I did this a few more times and realized that Im gonna be hurting for a long time if I dont play this right. So, I slowed down and tried to find a different foot strike that wouldnt hurt when I ran on it. After a bunch of failed attempts, almost falling some more and getting really pissed and disappointed that I was having this problem on such an awesome race so far, I found that if I ran on the inside of my foot it didnt hurt so bad. So, I kept on around 8:30-9:00 / mi for the next 3-4 miles still having to stop every now and then because of some shooting pains. Finally around mi 25, it recovered some and I picked up the pace. At this point I was holding about a 7:15 or so, and I was happy with that after shuffling the last few miles at above 9:00 / mi. At about 25.5, I picked it up even more, while watching me knee, to finish strong.

Not get hurt. And not rub a whole in the heelcup of my shoes giving me a bloody sock.

Went to the food area and got some drinks and something to eat. Then walked over to the grass area with Ray (StarGazer) and talked for a while, while I layed down with my legs in the air and stretching. Family showed up a little after that and we went to the finish line to watch my mom finish up.


My knee. Everything else felt awesome!


Race was put together pretty well. Lots of entertainment during the race...cheerleaders and make-shift zoo - stuff like that. Water stops were about every 1.3 mi or so and they also had 3 gel stops.