Marathon Part Deux

I'm a little late posting this, but I wanted to quickly write about the marathon I ran on 10-10-10.  After 4 months of training and hundreds of miles of running, I finally got my second chance to run a marathon.  I was in much better shape, and hopes were high for a huge improvement over my previous performance (5:28), which was marred by unseasonably high temps (83°F).

Nathaniel wasn't able to go watch his daddy run, but he offered his support.


I left early that morning (~5:40 am) after only 3 hours of sleep.


I ran with my friend, Stephanie, and at mile 9, we were right on pace but felt things starting to heat up (note the sweat).


By Mile 18, we were really feeling the heat, and our time had slowed quite a bit.  Around Mile 20, we ran by a bank that showed a temp of 87°F.


The last 6 miles were pretty tough.  I had to pull over several times to stretch muscles that were starting to spasm.  Thanks to Stephanie for her patience and sticking with me.  The brightest spot of the entire race was seeing Kristina cheering for me around the last 100 m or so.  That was really emotional for me.

So, second marathon and temps in the 80s again.  At the half-marathon mark, I was on pace to finish around 4:25, which was what I was hoping for.  The reality of the temps resulted in a 5:00 finish time...28 minutes faster than last time.  So, that's something at least.  Watch out for my time when I do Marathon Part Trois!  Stay tuned!  In the meantime, check out the rest of the marathon pix here or view the professional pix taken during the race here.



Christopher