I really can't imagine a scenario where the first 17 miles or so of this marathon could have gone any better. My goal going in was to average somewhere around 10:00/mile and finish in the 4:20s. At mile 17 I was still averaging about 10/mile and my HR was staying around 155. Needless to say, I was thrilled with these numbers.

During the middle miles of the race, I was thanking God for Bobby and all of his expert advice and coaching over the past 20 weeks. It is clear, now after having finished with a new PR and feeling relatively good, that the training... all the hours of volume building and early mornings paid off in a big way. The middle miles seemed to breeze by. I'd say from miles 6 - 15 I sort of lost track that I was even running, it felt effortless.

I think I need to focus more on the last 7-8 miles of this race than anything else (not because this is the most widely read thing on the internet, but because I often use these write ups in the future as a way to prepare for upcoming races and I often find myself hoping I would have written more). When I look at my splits, I see that there is a noticeable change that takes place during mile 17, when my average heart rate went above 160 and stayed there throughout. My times didn't really reflect that change until I got into mile 18 when I went to 10:10 and continuously rose from there and never came back down. This could be due to a lot of things: 1)It started getting significantly warmer and sunnier at this point with about 5-6 miles left to go on the Wantagh Pkwy. I knew at this point the race was going to change for me and I was going to need to simply hang on throughout the last 8 miles. 2) I think the rise in the HR and the decrease in the speed can also be related to overall fatigue... I actually started getting tired all over, not just in the legs, but also my back, shoulders and neck started to feel "heavy".

At mile 20, I started walking through the aid-stations, I thought this would be best for me because I wanted to be sure that I was able to take in as much fluids as possible. This slowed me down a bit, but I thought that running through them and not getting that built in rest would end in me walking 12-13 minute miles towards the end and then I would be nowhere near my goal. I think miles 20-23 was the absolute worst for me. With three miles to go in the most boring portion of the race, I started to fall apart a bit... I know that if I weren't as well trained as I was leading to the race, I would have been done and mailed it in at this point. I was starting to overheat quite a bit and the sun started to sizzle me a bit. Fortunately though, as if a gift from God, the sun went back into so huge clouds and a cool breeze picked up a bit. At mile 22 they gave out full bottles of water, I quickly grabbed one and poured the entire thing over my head, this, in conjunction with the increased wind, acted like air conditioning and it was perfect.

I continued plodding along at this point, knowing that a sub 4:30 was definitely doable. The worst part of this race is when you have to go on the exit ramp and the overpass of the Wantagh Pkwy. For a relatively flat course, this is a huge hill. I was rejuvenated when I started passing handfuls of people at this point who were walking on the side of the road and stopping altogether. I knew I had something left in the tank and I could finish comfortably.

The last 2.2 before you enter the park are on shaded tree-lined roads. I felt pretty good through here. And to be honest, I don't truly remember a lot of it. I just sort of zoned out and kept telling myself that I am far too well conditioned to walk.

I entered the park with 1.2 remaining and felt... OK, not great, not good, but decent. I walked through the station here, grabbed another bottle and poured it in my head again. During the last mile I just kept telling myself to remember all of the hard work I put into this training plan and how it was the first time I really followed a marathon-specific plan. I was not about to let that training block go to waste. I was going to leave it all out there and I did. I ran hard for the last .2 miles and was pleased to be surrounded by many cheering spectators, which pushed me along.

I really can't explain exactly how I feel. I owe so much to Bobby for all of his help and guidance during this training. I could never have done this without him. It is starting to sink in that I just cut 15 minutes off of my marathon PR 15 freakin minutes!!! That's really insane. I'm exhausted as I write this and I really am looking forward to some time off this week and I'm looking forward to getting back to some triathlon training again.


I've thought a lot about this and here is what I've come up with:

- I think I need to get myself in the weight room or start running hills during my training in the future. I thinkk I am rarely limited by cardiovascular fatigue, rather, my legs just get tired.

- I also think I need to really plan out pacing a bit more. I think in hindsight, putting "time in the bank" as I did in this race worked out well, but I'm not sure if that willalways be the best plan... it could blow up in my face one day.

Walked around, just kept moving and I ate all of the stuff they gave us at the end.


I know I would have performed better if I were 7-8 lbs lighter yesterday, but I'm not going to beat myself up about that. Like I have said so many times before, I am finally at a point in my life where I feel healthy and I feel like I am at a weight I can maintain and be proud of myself.


They could start handing out GUs at the beginning, not at mile 10.