I followed the 3:40 pace group and felt really good starting off. Our first 2-3 miles were around 8m and then we settled in on 8:20-8:30 pace. At mile 10, I had to pee so bad, I had to drop the pace group and find a porta-potty - that cost me 2 1/2 minutes. I knew it probably wasn't a good idea to catch them so I settled in and was able to keep a consistent pace up until 17. At that point, I was running 8:45 miles but still felt OK. It wasn't until mile 22, where I dropped to a 9:00 mile. I never hit "the wall" but was getting a little fatigued. My hydration and nutrition was right on plan. I had Clif Blocks at mile 6-7, mile 14-15, and at mile 20. I drank at every other station during the first half and every one after, walking through them as well. This race really went the way I hoped, and I beat my PR by 41 minutes.

make sure I empty my bladder before the start of the race.

stretched as much as my muscles could take


I need to get more runs on pavement. Virtually all of my long runs were on dirt paths, so my body wasn't used to the pounding on the joints.


I would run this race again.