The gun sounded and I was off on my first Marathon. I found the Training partners shortly after the gun. After the crowds made it past the finish line I was a little behind the 3:40 pace group. I was shooting to beat 3:30 but I wasn't too worried, it was early. I found Alan and Stan who I figured I would run with most of the way and we chatted and sang with the bands and ever so slightly sped up. The crowds kept the first mile around 9 minutes but most of the next 4 or 5 came between 7:30 and 7:45. I never really felt like I was hitting a groove which I wasn't thrilled about. I had been nursing a knee injury for about 3 weeks, a patella tendon injury via self diagnosis, and I had only 2 runs in in the 2 weeks prior to the race. My legs weren't loose because of it and I could tell. We all passed the 3:30 pace group around mile 7 and around 8 or 9 Stan and Alan had continued to speed up and I decided to fall back since I didn't want to speed up too much too fast. I ate a GU at mile 6, it seemed early but it was the right time. When I was deciding on my nutrition for the race I realized that even in my 20 mile runs I had been fueled on 2 gus and water for the entire workout. This didn't seem like it would be enough for this race. I figured every 6 miles at least I would eat a GU. By mile 10 I was really starting to feel tired, I stopped to use the restroom at the aid station and grabbed a gatorade and water like I had at many stations. I felt better for a little while but soon decided I was going to need the next GU at mile 11. This was new territory, I never felt this tired in 11 miles. Around 12 miles the 3:30 pace group had caught me and I decided I would keep with them. I hung on until the halfway mark, they were right on pace crossing right at 1:45. It didn't take too much longer that I had to stop and walk. My body felt exhausted, I kept saying I would make it to the next aid station but it didn't come fast enough. I gave myself a minute to walk at a fast pace. Walked at the next aid station as well, ate an orange slice and had gatorade and water too. I felt so hungry. For the next few miles I ran between aid stations and took in everything I could as I walked through. The stations were just over a mile apart so I told myself I needed to at least keep this up. I was out around the lake at this point and about to head back in where the wind would begin to seriously hurt the pace. Another guy came up and suggested we draft off each other for a while. We joined forces with another man woman, I assume husband and wife, he was helping her BQ, she needed 4 hours. He said he would pull us all. It was a welcome break, we stuck as a group till somewhere around mile 18 and I stuck with the guy that I first joined until a little after the mile 19 aid station. It was sponsored by hooters... they should all be sponsored by hooters :). I had to walk a little to let my stomach settle from the water and Gatorade. This is where the last hills began. There was a lot of uphill between mile 19 and 21. Folks were handing out Beer a little towards the top of one hill. By this point I figured I wasn't going to be reaching any amazing time so I'd enjoy all I could. I grabbed a cup of beer and had a sip. Tasted pretty good, people cheered. Finally got up the last of the hills. My calfs were close to cramping and my hips were really tired. I had been mostly running still up till mile 23. I hit mile 20 at 2:50 and still had visions of finishing under 3:40. That turned out to be beginners optimism. Around mile 23 the quads started to Cramp. I paused in my walk at the aid station to grab an orange and almost didn't get going again. A guy begin to join me in the walk run and we chatted as we went. He was on his 13th Marathon and I on my first so he had more Marathon stories. I hit mile 24 at 3:30 and thought I can still get under 4. I tried to walk faster and run when i could but every 100 yards my quads would severely cramp up. I kept trying to gut through all I could I passed up the mile 25 aid station and had to walk a little more, then I saw the 1 mile to go sign. I looked at my walking partner and said I'm going to run it in from here. He headed on ahead, he was a sprinter, he lived for the last mile. I got about half way through and had to walk again, gave myself 20 seconds and made my self start again. I could finally here the finish line and the clock was clicking close to 4 hours, I really wanted to beat that. I gave it all I could through the finish line. My run was more of a limp and I could feel the blisters on my feet. My right IT band kept me from bending my knee much at all and I was starving. I kept looking around for someone I knew, a guy handed me a medal, I never even realized there were finisher shirts until I saw Lisa's later. I took a picture with my walking partner and on my own and then went off to find some food.

TRAIN. I did this on about 3 runs a week, and it was not enough. It led to the knee injury when I started doing longs runs and had me much less prepared then I'd like to be. I kept thinking my two 20 mile runs would get me through but my joints needed much more consistent running.

I quickly found the food and then headed inside the American Airlines Center and signed up for a massage. I ran into Lonnie, Stan and Alan on the floor of the Arena and chatted with them while I waited for the massage. When I tried to head back up to the massage area my right IT Band was killing me, I couldn't bend my leg at all. I hobbled to the medical tent and got some ice for it. After the ice I got a massage and then headed back to Gary's to take a shower.