race day : 3:58:55.

I had no idea whether or not I'd be able to sleep the night before the marathon. Turns out, I actually didn't do too bad - slept well from about 10pm to 1pm. Then up until 3:30 or so. Then back to sleep until about 5:30am. From there it was a mad dash to pack everything up, eat breakfast, grab coffee, hit the restroom and BOOM! I heard the gun go off. I looked over at Bess and thought, I guess here we go.

The first eleven miles the half marathon and the full marathon courses were the same and therefore, Bess and I were able to run together. I was surprised at both our pace and the ease and pain-free running for about the first 14 miles. We were running about a 3:52 and I could not have been happier.

Then around mile 15 I started to hit some mental walls. Its the middle. Its not the adrenaline fun from the beginning or the Sigh knowing that you're almost done. Ugh, just thinking about it makes me tired. I knew Tyson would be joining me soon which was about the only thing I could focus on. Its strange the things you focus on in order to pass the time. Little milestones. Tyson joined and mentioned an upcoming hill he saw on the map at mile 17. The hill sucked. Steep. Totally killed me for a little bit and my pace slowed to a 3:56. Finally around mile 20 I started to feel good again. Tyson ran in front of me which was a great way to stay motivated and stay with him. I jammed to some tunes on my iPod and tried to focus on the fact that I had less than an hour left.

I felt really strong until mile 24. One would think that by the time there is only two miles left, adrenaline and happy feelings would take over. They did not. Those last two miles I would venture to say, were terrible. My pace slowed. My mental focus gone. It was everything in me to keep going. And I had nothing left. When I saw the finish line I also saw Haley cheering on the sidelines. I couldn't look at her, because I knew if I did I would begin to cry.

Coming down the final stretch. Look at Haley!:



I also saw the clock, ticking away at 3:59 and on and on. My goal was to finish in under four hours. I began to sprint and when my foot crossed the finish line the clock read 4:00:08. Disbelief. After all the training and work, I'd missed my goal by only a few seconds. But alas, I had not factored in the chip time! We headed off to the Boundary Bay Brewery for some beers and calories to wait for the posted results.


Final race result: 3:58:55. I'm done. I made my goal. I'm ecstatic.