We were off. I was listening to my iPod loaded with Marine Cadences. Matt was carrying his portable CD player. We started out near the front off the pack at a pace I knew I couldn't hold. It was around a 7:30 pace. About a mile in I fell back a bit, almost knowing I would catch back up to Matt. After all he has never ran 3 miles, and hasn't ran at all since early October. 1 1/2 miles in and I started to cough. At 2 miles I Wendi'd. I recognized some banana and what could only be a chocolate chip cliff bar. I had to walk a bit at this point. Time was 17:XX at mile 2. Then I kept on trucking. After several more turns through the town I saw the finish 2 blocks away. Time to sprint, I passed about 4 people and another 10 feet would have been a fifth. I saw the clock as I was one step from the finish. 29:59, and in slow motion I heard a click and saw "00" flip over. So I still managed 30 mintes flat.

Not go out so fast, and try to keep everything down.

I made my way towards a Humvee and sat in the grass. The sprint finished me off. A volunteer brought me a bottle of water and stayed for a bit to make sure I was ok. I just needed fluids and 2 minutes to re-coop. Along came Matt, Colette and James. Matt finished 25:XX. I was seriously impressed, since he had no training. I just asked him 2 days ago to run. We grabbed some fruit and drinks. And stuck around to see Matt get 3rd in the 15-19 AG.


Going out too fast and an involuntary protein spill.


This was pretty well put together considering its the first one. The cups at the only drink station were extremely small. Shot glass size. I might be back up again for it next year.