First marathon. Well, a PR is a PR, I guess. After spending most of the summer not running at all with a stress fracture, the wise runner would have probably skipped this one. That person is not I. Knowing full well I was way underprepared, I figured I paid the fee, so I might as well have a go. Ran (rather started to run) with a buddy who is well faster than me, even when I am fit. He hadn't trained as much as he liked, and claimed that he would just go at whatever pace I wanted, and have a good time with it. He lied. Looking at my splits, I would say I last saw him fading in the distance around mile 6. I obviously went out too fast to really have a smart race, and most of the rest of the day was a struggle. I walked a lot, at irregular intervals. A lovely group of people around mile 18.5 probably were responsible for me breaking 5 hours. I was pretty down at that point, and they were handing out little cups of beer (good beer, at that - James Page!) - just what I needed! That probably got me through at least the next 4 miles. The highlight was when a blister that I knew formed on my pinky toe around mile 3 broke wide open at mile 26.1 - literally as I was about 150 yards from the finish line. I was actually running and I wasn't about to quit at that point, so if there is a finish line photo, I am likely grimacing and run/skipping in a sideways manner so as to minimize impact to my little toe. Lovely. Chalk the whole thing up to a good learning experience.

Many, many things. I am glad to have finished, though, so I'll save the real performance critiques for after a run that I go into feeling like I am prepared.

A couple small items: 1) Nip Guards are a rip-off. Both sweated off my nipples within 4 miles. 2) Chafing sucks. Must basically bathe myself in Body Glide next time. 3) Avoid the Apple Pie flavored Clif Shots. I am sure people actually get hungry enough that it tastes reasonable, but I don't plan on ever being that hungry.

Immediately removed shoes, hobbled around to find my stuff and my family.


Training, heat.


Volunteers were great. Kickass long sleeve technical finisher shirt!