The race started at 9:15 (was supposed to start at 9:00). It was warm already. There was also no clouds or shade on the course, so the sun beat down on us for the entire race. I had wanted to maintain a pace of about 7:35 per mile. But I decided that since it was so hot, I would just go by feel. I started out alright. My pace was a little slower than I wanted, but not bad. They only had 1 water station at the halfway point. I was handed a half a cup of water. I wish I had grabbed two cups. I didn't get enough water. I was dehydrated and really started to feel it around 4.5 miles. It also appeared that they had the mile markers in the wrong place. I thought I was really slowing down at mile 3. The next couple of miles weren't much better. By the time I passed their mile 5 marker, my Garmin said I had gone about 5.5 miles. After my experience with my first marathon, I thought maybe my Garmin was just showing high because of weaving. But then when I thought I had run about 5.5 miles (by their mile markers) everyone was yelling that we were almost there!! It turned out that we were. I had been watching the lady in front of me and knew I could pass her. I was waiting until I got closer to the finish to make my move. I never got the chance since I didn't know we were that close to the finish line. She beat me by 8 seconds!!

I don't know how many people were in the race, but it was over 100. They aren't posting final results, so I don't know exactly how many people races. They had 3 age groupings. Under 30, 30-40, and 41 and up. I would have thought it would make more sense to be 30-39 and 40 and up. But that could just be because it directly affected me. I am 40. I finished 5th woman overall. I was 4th in my "age group". I would have been 1st in my age group by almost 10 minutes if the last age group had been 40 and up.

If I had known they would only have one water station and that it would be that warm, I would have had more to drink before the race or carried a drink with me. I would have relied more on my Garmin and less on their mile markers.

Walked around and had some Powerade, water, and a banana.


The heat.