The first 3 miles or so were the typical chaos. I wish they could do something about walkers. I have no problem with people walking a race. I do, however, have a problem with someone walking the race that starts at or near the front and stays in the middle of the road.

Not having anything to go by, I was just running by feel. I kept it pretty comfortable early. Not that I could have gone much faster anyway. Passed a lot of people in Dorothy shirts, including Mike. Spoke a few words to him as I passed.

I hit the 5 mile mark and took a gel and a swig of water. Managed to drink it without spilling the whole thing on my shoe. Feeling pretty good, I increased the pace a little bit. Laughed at all the guys who were making beelines for the treeline. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

Around mile 5 I thought I saw Aaron half a mile ahead. I thought it would be fun to catch him. So I dropped the hammer and caught him a few minutes later. Sadly, it wasn't him. And dropping the hammer for a mile had hurt. Would hurt more later. Oh well.

Crossed over 75 and heard my name called from behind. I had just passed Tommy. Wished him luck and kept moving. That's when the rain hit for a few minutes. I loved it. I was fully prepared to run the rest of the race in the rain, so I let out a yell. Then I heard my name from a spectator. I easily recognized John's voice. Posed for a quick photo and continued on. The rain stopped soon after that.

Took a hard left at the Granada where a live band was playing. I can't even remember the song now, but I sang along and air guitared when I went by.

At mile 8 the road got really slick. Had to slow way, way down since there was a hard turnaround. Slowing down stayed with me for a mile or so. I started feeling mile 5's effort here. I was getting slower, but I knew I still had a shot at a new PR if I could have a strong finish.

At 11 miles, with 90% of the skyline ahead of me (the other 10% obscured by fog or low-lying clouds - is there a difference?), I decided to let it loose. I managed to push hard for a mile and a half, then my legs crapped out on me. A few of the people that I had passed earlier passed me right back. Oh well, I figured I had run a good race. I trotted to the finish.

A watch would have been nice.

Walked through the finish chute. Stretched while they took off my chip. Got my finishers medal and visor (wow!), then I got a couple of finishers pics with my Dorothy shirt.

Then over to the beer tent. Mmm...free beer.

Grabbed my dry clothes bag, changed and got warm. After that I walked to the 13 mile mark and cheered on the finishers. Saw Marcy, Steve, Kirk, and Shannon come in.

We went in to the AAC and found everyone. There was plenty of food, but nothing that I wanted. I wanted Freebirds. That happened about an hour later.


Not having any idea how fast I was going.

Still, I found out later that I ended up with a new PR by a minute and change, so no complaints here.


Excellent course. Good idea to stagger the marathon and half starts and to separate the finishes. I had a blast.