I had no expectations going in. I was 3 weeks out from a 3:14 marathon, then 1 week cycling, and a GI bug that hit me Fri morning. Ate nothing on Fri, very little on Sat, and was still nauseated when I got up race morning. Add in the upper 30 degree temps with wind, and it was a miserable day. I thought I might run an easy 3:30 or so. Eased into it, ran ~9:00/mi for the first 2 miles, and thought that as I warmed up, I would feel better. It never happened. By mile 8 my quads were already killing me and I knew it would be a loooooong, painful day. Ran with a nice lady from Indianapolis until about mile 21 when she fell back. I shuffled in only 55 min slower than my last race, 3 weeks ago, and it was miserable. I knew it would suck with the recent GI bug, but I every time I tried to pick up the pace during the first hour, I began feeling nauseated. Once I resigned myself to a slower pace, the pain started, and it was a mental and physical struggle to get thru. I was too nauseated to drink much, and I only ate 2 gels because I didn't want to vomit any more.

Keep fuel down the 2 days prior to the race.

Really, nothing different. I had no time goal, other than to finish, and while it was very ugly and painful, I did finish.

Check NH off the list.

went straight to the shower, and airport. Made it with ~30 min to spare.


GI illness, lack of motivation, weather, etc


Decent smaller race. Interesting course, lots of steadily rolling hills, none too steep or long, just lots of them. Cold and windy, which wasn't fun, but at least it was dry. Lots of volunteers and aid stations. Not a bad race, but I won't be signing up for it again.