Race Report: 2008 Hartford Marathon - Part 2 - The Full Report

Warning: This is ridiculously long because I want to be able to look back at it and remember what I did in detail. Feel free to skim away!

I took Friday off from work to pack and travel to Connecticut for the 2008 ING Hartford Marathon. We left Massachusetts around 1:00pm, but got stuck in some toll traffic and didn't make it to Hartford until 3:30pm. Once we got checked in we walked over to the Expo to pick up my bib number and do a little shopping. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in the expo because it was so small, but the only marathon expo I had to compare it to was Boston and well I don't know if any expo will beat the Boston expo. So we did a little looking around, but didn't buy anything (hey, we are in an economic crisis I'm not spending $30 on arm sleeves or $45 on a sweatshirt). We went back to the hotel and waited to meet the rest of the running group for dinner. While we waited I nervously paced around the room unpacking and getting everything organized for the morning. Dave finally yelled at me and told me to sit down and relax so I laid on the bed and got comfy for about half an hour and then it was time for dinner.

Dave and I met up with the rest of the running crew - John, Paul, Sarah and their families - and headed to Vito's By The Park for dinner. Sarah gave a great toast and then we settled in for a night of water, bread and pasta. We had a few issues with the restaurant in that all the runners had to order the meal of pasta and an extra side because the portion was so small (so I had two orders of penne with marinara). Then we had some issues with over charging on the bill and our waiter was just a little distant, which I didn't really find a reason for because they really didn't seem that busy - there were tons of open tables. The company was great though and that made the dinner excellent. We took a few group photos when we got back to the hotel and then called it a night.

Dave and I headed upstairs and I got in my PJ's with my book, Triumph, and sat in bed reading. I fell asleep at about 10:00pm. Dave stayed awake with his three beers that he got from the bar downstairs and brought back up with him and watched the Red Sox game. I slept really well from about 10:00pm - 12:00am, but then tossed and turned a bit until about 3:30am when I fell sound asleep until 5:50am. I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off so I just got up and started getting ready.

I made my oatmeal using the hot water from the coffee pot, got dressed and then headed down to meet Sarah. We then walked over to Bushnell Park where the race starts to meet John and Paul. We got in line to pee, looked over to the line next to us and there was Bill Rodgers. Bill Rodgers! I said to Sarah, "don't they have special lines for people like him? Why is he in the normal people line?" We couldn't quite figure it out, but gained a little extra inspiration from seeing him. After the bathroom, we took about a 5 minute jog around the block to warm up and then headed over to the start line.

The start line was a lot crowded and it took a few minutes to find our pace guy, but we did. We jumped in line and immediately shed our long sleeves (it was about 50 degrees at the start) because it was so warm with all the bodies. The gun sounded and we were off. I couldn't believe it. I was running my second marathon and my first attempt at a BQ. I was nervous.

Sarah and I ran together and were trying to keep our 3:40 pace guy ahead of us, but we were also trying to dodge people who were walking ahead of us (learn how to line up at the start people!). We managed to keep up with him through mile 2, but then noticed that he was running about 7:40 for mile 2 and 3 so we dropped back knowing that we had each other to get us to the finish. My Garmin was messed up from the get go so we relied on Sarah's for the duration of the race. 

I felt really relaxed in the beginning of the race. I was talking water/Gatorade at just about every 2 miles. I am slow out of the water stops and definitely need to work on that. Sarah and I met a first time marathoner around mile 6-8 (forgive me, all the miles blend together after awhile). She was breathing pretty heavy, but was very nice and I'm sure she hung in there to make it to the finish. Just before we crossed the timing mat at 10-miles and were seeing the first place runners coming back through on the other side. I always find this inspiring because I can see the absolute focus and determination in their eyes and I love to watch their strides. I also love seeing the people ahead of me because it makes me realize just how great of a sport running is. People of all ages, heights, weights, and shapes were running by and it just gives me that extra boost that anything is possible with some hard work and determination. 

We crossed the half marathon and were still pretty close to on pace and were still feeling good.  Starting at about miles 18-19 I started feeling... something. I wasn't really feeling bad at these miles, I was just starting to think "am I there yet? Can I really do this?" It's that mental doubt that started to creep in and I did my best to quiet that inner negative voice. Another girl joined us around these miles as well. This was her first marathon too and she said she hadn't planned to go for a BQ, but she was sort of on pace for it so she thought she'd give it a shot. I don't know what happened to this girl - where she finished - but I know she came in after us so I'm hoping she got the BQ and had a great time. 

Just before mile 20 there was steep downhill onto a bike path and a super motivational band that gave me this huge boost. I then hit the 20 mile mark and just kept thinking 10K left. However, my body wanted about 1K to be left, if anything, so my huge mental battle began here. Luckily I saw Dave at mile 21 and he gave me a little boost of confidence. Family and friends as support are really so important in giving that extra boost and it's great to have them there.

The last six miles included, if I remember correctly, four short steep hills left and I didn't like them. There were a lot of people walking up them and it's just not fun to see that because it makes my mind give up even more. Starting at mile 22 I was mentally telling myself to walk and that it didn't matter I could BQ some other day. However, Sarah was right next to me running and looking strong. I could not stop. I could not leave her and let her finish this on her own. I told her in the earlier miles that if we made it to mile 24 together then I wasn't going to let us lose each other. This wasn't mile 24, but since we really only had each other because we lost our pace group, we had to stay together.

For the last 2 miles, I kept checking in with Sarah, "just two miles?"... "so about 1/2 mile now right?" And she would answer me each time. When she told me just half mile I knew I had to hold on. I had to let my legs carry me to the finish. We turned the corner and saw the arches that we cross under. I tried to make my legs turn over as fast as they could. 

I saw the finish and I just went for it. I threw my arms up in the air and crossed the finish. Sarah and I looked at each other and hugged in complete excitement! We had both BQ'd!

I set my foot up on the bench for the volunteer to remove my chip. I had to apologize because I didn't use the velcro to put it on (they wanted us to use velcro to make it easier to take them off, but I didn't trust it). She said she didn't mind and congratulated me on finishing.

We then found our families, met up with John, Paul and their families and grabbed the free food and had a little picnic on the grass of Bushnell Park. All four of us met our goals and we couldn't have been happier.

Dave put together an ice bath for me when we got back to the hotel and I soaked in that for 10 minutes. It was not fun because it was wicked cold (he really enjoyed the fact that the ice machine was just two doors down and also took advantage of that by filling the tub with pretty much all of the ice from the machine). Then I took a hot shower and we headed back to Boston.

Fortunately, I didn't come out with too many injuries. I went in with a blister on the back of my left heel and needless to say I ripped that up really bad. I tried to tape it up, but ended up getting another blister just below the front of my left ankle from the tape. I also have two blood blisters (a small one on the left pinky toe and a big one on the right toe next to the pinky toe).

I was so happy with this race. I would recommend it to anyone. It's really well organized and a beautiful course. There are a few bands along the way and it's good for spectators as well. 

I spent Saturday trying to move around so I didn't stiffen up. Dave got me a big roast beef sandwich for my post race lunch and then we went to a bar later on and I got buffalo chicken nachos and two Blue Moon's. The Blue Moon put me right to sleep so I went home around 10:30pm and he stayed out with the group we went with to watch the rest of the Red Sox game.

Sunday I spent watching football so got some more needed rest. I am feeling much better today. My blisters don't really look any better, but I am hoping they miraculously heal so I can start running again. I don't have much muscle soreness. The fronts of my kneecaps and my hips were sore on Saturday and Sunday, but they feel better today. I have a little discomfort, but nothing very much at all today. I'm happy to see that my legs feel better already.

When I started looking at the official splits, I realized that Sarah and I actually negative split the course, which is a nice little added bonus.

I will head out of an easy 20 minutes tomorrow to see how everything feels and see where I stand.

Official Results

Gun Time:  3:40:52

Net Time:  3:39:02

Pace Overall:  8:22 min./mi.

10-Mile Split:  1:23:56 (8:24)

13-Mile Split:  1:49:40 (8:23)

20-Mile Split:  2:47:15 (8:22)

Place Division (F25-29): 19/128

Place Overall: 461/1942

Race Report: 2008 Hartford Marathon - Part 1 - The BQ Attempt

I did it. I BQ'd. My time was 3:39:02. I can register for the 113th running of the Boston Marathon. I can run on Patriots Day in Boston. I can run with a qualifying bib number. I can be seeded with all the other qualifying runners.

I cannot even illustrate how excited I am. I will write a full report, but I just need to put all my thoughts together before I do that otherwise my post will be a big jumbled mess of "oh and then... oh yeah but before that... oh and i forgot to to mention..." and I don't really want to do that. So this is just part one to let everyone know that I got the BQ.

I also just want to thank Sarah. She was outstanding today and I could not have gotten a BQ without her. The last 4.2 miles were a big mental effort for me and without her there pushing me I wouldn't have been able to push myself for the BQ time. Thank you, Sarah. And now let's go show the 2009 Boston Marathon what we're made of!

Also congratulations to John and Paul for achieving their goals and running an excellent race today! It's great to know that the four of us worked so hard together and we all achieved our goals. Great job!

Full race report to come later this weekend.

Race Report: 75th Annual Cape Ann 25K

The 75th running of the Around Cape Ann 25K took place on September 1, 2008 and I was lucky to be a part of it. This was probably the hardest race I've done, but I can definitely see myself participating in it for years to come.

I arrived in Gloucester, Massachusetts at 7:45am well ahead of the 9:00am race start. The middle school, where the race starts, was very easy to find and there was plenty of parking right at the school. I went into the middle school to pay my $30 registration free, pick up my free t-shirt and my favorite free item of the race - a sticker (picture those 26.2 stickers or stickers with the 3 letters on them that symbolize your town name) that said 15.56 Cape Ann North Shore YMCA 15.56 miles, 16 major hills. Yes, that's how they advertise their race and yet for some reason - some very sick reason - I decided to find out what their definition of "major" was.

That picture up there is the elevation chart. Keep this in mind as I will point out something crazy later on. As you can see, this course has a lot of big hills. I am bad at reading elevation so all I knew for sure was that I'd be doing a lot of up and down and up and down and so on. The race started on a narrow little road, which worked out OK because their weren't too many of us. I felt like I was going really slow to start and I was getting passed by I was trying to keep an easy pace for the first two miles. The runners split apart pretty quickly and there was plenty of running room. In my head I just tried to keep it my own race.

I tried to keep an even pace running up each of the hills. I tend to power up them to get them over, but I knew there would be a lot of hills so I didn't want to power up them in the beginning and have to walk up them in the end. I was able to do a pretty good job of keeping pace up the hills. The great part was that once I got to the top I knew I was coming right back down again. I kept the woman ahead of me in sight and just tried to pass them one at a time. It wasn't my intention at first, but it kind of just started happening. This race was so friendly that when I passed a few people they actually said "great job" or "you look strong" or "keep it up girl" and those comments were so encouraging. It just goes to show that runners want the best for each other and that races aren't necessarily about beating other people, but about beating yourself.

I started to get pretty tired around the 6-7 mile mark. We had left Gloucester and moved into Rockport at this time. At this point I was trying to get around a girl, but we were just running to even of a pace so I ended up sticking with her for probably 3/4 of a mile before I was finally able to pass her prior to going up the hill at mile 7. This hill was nothing to laugh at. It was a freakin' mountain. It went straight up and then up some more. About 2/3 of the way up ladies were handing out Gatorade and telling us we all looked good. Then I heard a man say, "you're at the top" and I was thinking "oh yes, thank God!" However, when I looked up there was still more hills to go. I don't care if you lie to me and tell me I look good when I definitely don't feel that way, but let's not go lying about how much hill I have left to climb. 

So eventually I made it up that mile 7 hill, but what I didn't realize was that the worst was yet to come. Looking at the elevation chart you can see that after mile 8, the rest of the course is relatively flat except for at mile 13 and 14. Now here comes my crazy statement. The first half of this course is definitely easier than the second half. It sounds crazy since the first half has all the hills, but my legs were getting beat up for the second half, I was feeling dehydrated and needed some Gatorade so this second half was a mental battle. 

There were a couple of guys ahead of me, but no girls. So I stuck with the guys and we kept playing tag for awhile. Then I came upon another woman. A lady on the sideline said that we were probably in or close to the top 30 females. So I told myself to pass this girl ahead of me and get in the top 30. I did. This top 30 thing kept me going for awhile. I saw another girl around 11/12 and was also able to pass her. Then I hit the hill at mile 13 - phew! a tough one, but got it over with. 

Then I saw another girl ahead of me. I knew I had to get her too. She went up the hill and around the curve at mile 14. Not too much time to get her. I was able to push up that last hill, but as I was going up the turn, a couple guys ahead of me started walking so my brain said "oh, we're done! Look everyone is walking. This must be the finish." and my legs seriously stopped. I caught myself taking a few walking steps so then I said "self, what the F, get up and go!" I listened and pushed up the rest of the hill. I was able to catch the girl (by the way she had passed me up a hill at mile 4 talking and laughing with her friend so this felt really good) on the flat right before mile 15. 

Now I just had to make sure that no one passed me. I don't like to let people pass me that I've passed. I saw the camera at mile 15 and smiled. That is the only time I've seen the camera and smiled. It was great and the picture didn't turn out so bad either (I'll post it later if I remember). 

Now for the last hill. I turned right just after the 15 mile mark and the photo-op. There is a short, ridiculously steep hill to get up at this turn. There was a girl who had already finished standing on this hill and she was basically in my face yelling, "come on girl, pump those arms, push up this hill, the finish is so close." I swear she gave me a fresh set of legs because I dusted that hill and then gave it all I had to get into the finish. I couldn't let anyone catch me. I didn't look back. I just ran as fast as my tired legs would take me.

I could see the clock 2:09:35, 2:09:36... ticking away and knew I just had to break 2:10. I talked myself in big time and finished in 2:09:57.

I originally thought I'd finish in 2:05, but this course was really tough. I am happy with the result and pretty excited that this is my last race before my goal race, the Hartford Marathon.

Official Results

coolrunning.com

Time: 2:09:57

Pace: 8:22 min/mi

Place Overall: 162/508

Place Female 20-29: 15/56

(Not sure I did or didn't make that top 30 women.)

Race Report: Blessing of the Fleet 10-Mile

I set a PR for the 10-Mile today, but I've never run one before. Ha! So that was easy. Here's how the Blessing of the Fleet 10-Mile race went down.

I took a half day Friday, July 25th (my 26th birthday) to travel down to Narragansett, Rhode Island to run the Blessing of the Fleet 10-Mile race. It took me 2 hours to get there, which didn't bother me because I knew I was going to hit a lot of early vacation & rush hour traffic. However, once I got about 0.5 miles from where the registration was I could not get any further. They had shut down the roads for the race already. I couldn't figure out why and actually started getting nervous that the race was starting at 5:00pm and not 6:00pm as I had thought. The roads were already closed because the walkers started at 5:00pm. I have to say this made it very difficult and nerve racking (especially for me because I was already jacked up as soon as I woke up). I ended up parking about a quarter mile away (a really nice cop was stopping each car and asking if they were running and telling them where they could go in a really nice way - I'm not used to cops being nice and helpful voluntarily) and then had to find my own way to registration. There were no signs and I had no clue where I was going so basically I just followed people. After hiking through some mud & rocks, I finally found the gym with the registration. They had the registration organized by bib number so I went and got mine, then found most of the safety pins gone. I quickly grabbed the first four I saw and got my number on. They gave us a t-shirt too, but no goodie bag. Apparently they were also handing out bracelets for beer, but no one told me until I was standing at the start line.

Ah yes, the good old start line. No signs to organize by pace so you just had to guess and well I guessed wrong. I thought the start line was right under this banner they had hung across the street, but right before the gun some tall man behind me said it was up way further than that. Great! All of a sudden the gun sounded - no speech, no National Anthem - just bang! And then we were off, or rather we were walking and then I was slow jogging for .75 miles before I could get to somewhat of a decent pace.

After the first mile I had plenty of running room and fell into a good stride. I felt incredible comfortable and was actually trying not to pay too much attention to my Garmin paces. My coach said to go based on how my body was feeling (especially when it came to dealing with the weather) and that's what I did. At about mile 2 we were out in the open sun (did I mention it was about 85 at race start and pure sunshine) and this didn't end until about mile 6.5. I continued to coast along ready for the 3 mile hill to start at mile 3, but the hill at mile 3 and 4 turned out to be smaller than what I expected. However, the climb up mile 5 was tough. It reminded me of Heartbreak Hill, but seemed not as steep and longer. I fought up it and was happy to be greeted by mostly down hills for the remainder of the race. I believe it was mile 8 when there was another significant uphill (there may have been more, but this is the only one I remember) that I powered up. I kept telling myself Dave was at the top of the hill with the camera and I had to look good. It turns out that he wasn't up there, but at least it gave me the motivation. And as I passed a nice older gentleman he told me I looked really strong. Needless to say that gave me an extra boost as well. After that hill I was ready to be done so I kicked it up a notch. I started passing people in cars that were driving by and I was thinking man I could just jump in that ladies convertible. She looked at her husband and said, "she's fast" and I hoped she was talking about me. The crowd support at the end was incredible and definitely led me into the finish. I felt really strong at the finish. No puking feeling, which left me wondering if I should have run harder. My Garmin time said 1:18:18, but my official time was published at 1:19:04.

The finish was a little hectic with people everywhere. No one was pushing us through the food area so runners, walkers and spectators too were just lounging and crowding the area. This made it really confusing to find anyone or see anything. Luckily they had shuttle buses back to the high school so I jumped on one of those and then walked to my car where I called Dave to meet up. This is when I noticed what I really didn't want to notice. I had a lot of pain in my left leg from him to knee to heel to arch of foot. I was not happy. In fact when I saw Dave I started to tear up because I just didn't want to be hurt. I'm feeling much better now as I right this (Monday), but it did take a couple of days.

I would probably recommend this race to someone and would probably do it again if they bring back chip timing and put in some pace signs to help line up. This really makes everything confusing and can throw a runners time off pretty bad.

Here are my highlights of good and bad. (And as a side note, if you're race director or participant or whatever and think I am dissing this race, please just keep in mind that this is just my opinion and I'm not being mean, but just offering feedback for the future.)

Reasons race was good:

• Pretty few miles along the ocean
  
• Pretty couple miles through nice shaded country roads


• Perfect amount of water stops right where needed


• Cop #1 was super nice and helpful


• Lots of volunteers


• Good post race fruit selection


• Great course
  

Ways the race could be improved:

• Clearly mark registration for those of us not familiar with the high school


• Add pace signs to help runners line up at the start


• Bring back chip timing (It is ridiculous in a race this big not to have it and I'm curious why they don't. Rumor has it they just got rid of it for 2008.)
  
• Help push runners through the finish area a little better and do not allow spectators in near the immediate finish area (causes it to get way too crowded)


• Give me a race goodie bag filled with stuff from sponsors - I love that free stuff!
  
• If the website says there will be signs for alternate parking, please have them - I saw absolutely none

Final results (officially published even though I disagree with my time):
Time: 1:19:04
Pace: 7:54 min./mi.
Place Overall: 425th out of 2,289
Place Age Group (20-29): 19th out of 994
Place Gender: 66th out of 997

___________________________________________
Updated 7/30/2008

Pictures from Capstone Photography went up today. I will probably order the one on the left.

Race Report: Mattapoisett 5-Mile Road Race

On Friday morning I drove the hour plus down to Mattapoisett for a 5-mile road race. I came out of this race with an "eh" feeling. I liked and disliked the race itself. I liked and disliked my performance. Here's how it broke down.

Results:
Official Time - 37:40 (7:32 min./mi.)
9th in division of 85 females aged 19-29
146th overall of 973 total entrants

Reasons I Didn't Like the Race:

1. There were no signs for parking like the website said there would be. It's such a local race that I can see why there aren't, but put them up if you say you are going to, please.
2. The National Anthem was played 10 minutes before race start. I'm sorry, but I had to run through this and I couldn't stop to listen. Ten minutes before equals a lot of runners still warming up. Please wait until just a few minutes before race start next time.
3. Because many of us were still running during the National Anthem, one very rude woman had to say, "Stop walking/running the National Anthem is on." Which then forced me to use my filter and not say, "Hey fatty, you better walk whether they are playing the National Anthem or not." I know that's not yogic, which is why I acknowledged I was not being proper and didn't say it.
4. The clocks at each mile were way off. The first clock I hit said 7:00 and although I wanted that to be true it definitely was not.
5. Terrible after party. There was some good fruit to eat which was nice because it was humid, but the one activity afterwards (unless I didn't hang around long enough) was the awards. Let's party for a bit people!
6. I had no idea where the start line was and thus didn't know when to start my watch.
7. About 80% of people who lined up ahead of me were running 2 minutes per mile slower than me. It's always nice to have pace signs so people have some kind of general idea where they should be.
   

Reasons I Did Like the Race:

1. Mattapoisett is beautiful! The course was just incredible. There were a couple rolling hills, but nothing very difficult. There were trees, shade, lots of crowd support, people were actually cheering and holding their hoses out as sprinklers.
2. A really nice lady who also came alone sat by me afterward and we chatted for awhile. It's always nice when someone does that.
3. There were a lot of fast people there, which I find really inspirational.
4. Even though the race was big, the crowd spread out after the first mile-ish and then it was just nice and easy.
5. A girl actually said good job to me as I passed her. I later saw her and found out she is only 15. I'm not sure what that means or how I feel about it.

Reasons I Did Not Like My Performance:

1. I did not PR as was my goal.
2. I had to stop for 10-ish seconds because of a terrible side stitch that I was unfortunately unable to run through. What the heck causes those things anyway? I hardly ever get them.
3. At the end of the race I was left wondering if I really gave it all I had. I don't like that lingering thought. I prefer to know I did give it all I had.

Reasons I Did Like My Performance:

1. I felt strong throughout the race.
2. I don't believe that anyone I passed came back to pass me.
3. I stayed very focused throughout the race mentally encouraging myself along the way.
4. It just felt good to race again.

So that's a breakdown of the race. I would recommend it to someone looking for a scenic 5-mile race that is sort of laid back. I would not recommend it if you are looking for something perfectly organized (or for a good t-shirt, these ones were boring).

I'll get back on track with weekly training updates this week probably. The boyfriend and I are super busy putting some finishing touches on the house so we can just get it to good-enough-to-move-in status, which has to happen by July 31st. Ah! So If I'm not writing, then I'm either running, working, teaching yoga, stripping paint, sanding, priming, painting or at Lowe's.

2008 Run to Remember "Race" Report

On Sunday, I took part in Boston's Run to Remember, which is a tribute to remember our fallen heroes. I ran it last year and it just wasn't fun, but I signed up again as a way to start the spring/summer racing season and as a way to welcome myself out of my intensive yoga training and back into my running. Steve (my ex-boss), John, Paul, David & myself all met up prior to the race. It was great to know so many people running. When I moved to Massachusetts it was so hard for me to meet people because I moved here basically on my own, but running has introduced me to so many great people.

My experience for the 2008 Run to Remember started out great. Why you ask? Because of ... get ready for this ... the bathrooms! Yes, that's right. The bathrooms. I never used a port-a-potty at that race. The bathrooms inside at the World Trade Center, where the race starts, were clean and smelled so pretty. And then Paul came through with finding the lobby bathroom at the hotel across the street and that was just incredible - beautiful full length stall doors, nice paper towels and good smelling soap.

Speedy Steve left us to get to his starting position and the rest of us got in line around the 8:30 - 9:00 mark. The race started with a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem and then the blow horn sounded and we were off. It's difficult through the first few miles of this race because the crowd is either pushing you along or holding you up too slow and there are so many turns before we all spread out that you are just forced to go with the crowd. Needless to say we went with the crowd for the first few miles. Once we were over the Longfellow Bridge we had a good amount of running room, but unfortunately little shade. It was a hot day (like last year). The temperature was only in the 60's at race start, but the sun was intense and just beating down on me. Lucky for me I remembered how hot and miserable I was last year and bought a nice super-lightweight Nike tank, which I was completely comfortable in.

So today's plan for me was to run at a comfortable place for the first 10 miles and then break out into whatever I had left for the remaining 5K. And that was pretty much what I did. John, Paul and I stayed together through the race pushing each other to paces anywhere from 8:23 - 8:48 for those first 10 miles while we talked intermittently. The only snafu was around mile 7 when all of a sudden my GU fell into the street. I had it safety-pinned to my shorts and with all the repetitive motion the safety pin just wore right through the packaging and it fell off. This wonderful gentleman stopped to pick it up for me, which was just awesome. So I helped him out with giving him what pace we were at since he thought he got a little excited taking the turn on Memorial Drive.

Let's get one thing straight here. I like John & Paul. They are great, fun and motivating to run with, but I was really trying to beat them. We went into the last 5K together. John was looking strong and I know I (and I think maybe Paul) was struggling with the heat, but I wanted to stay with them - obviously, since I was planning on beating them. Paul and I stopped for water at the last water stop while John continued on. I was able to catch John out of the water stop, but I didn't know what happened to Paul until he came up on my heels just a few minutes out of the water stop. I stayed with John and Paul until about mile 12.2 and then I just started to slip. I was anxious to finish and think I started to kick a bit too early so I tired out and slipped back - not too mention John and Paul were just motoring on ahead. I kept them in sight and pushed up the hill coming back to the World Trade Center. I tried to catch them, but my kick just wasn't strong enough.

I was really happy with the way that everything turned out. I know I'm not in the shape I was back in October at the BAA Half, but it will come back and I'll be even better. I just have to be patient, work hard and train smart.

Official Time: 1:52:49 (8:34 min/mi pace)
Official Results: Coolrunning.com