Part of Alan's running adventure classified as Running

Cross this one of my life list. I completed a full marathon. It was not heroic, fast, not really “fun”. The final time was 5:26:01 just withing my secret, unblogged goal of 5:30. I came in 5264th place! That New Zealander in first place could have lapped me (he finished in something like 2:15, how do people do that?).
I want to send a big thanks to everyone who encouraged me, a double thanks for my sponsors, the folks who responded to my twitter messages. A big extra thanks go to Eric and family for showing up near mile 10, and a huge thanks to Travis and Britt for cheering me through mile 25. That was awesome.
All in all, the first half was great and second… not great.
The day was perfect, a total contrast to the 2007 FreezeFest. I knew it would get hot, so started in my shorts and singlet. I saw people shedding all kinds of sweats, garbage bags, gloves as soon as the sun came out. I got downtown in plenty of time, we had our Team-D meetup/photo, and I was primed:

All in all, I likely went out a bit too fast, as I started to fade past the halfway point. Here’s the splits which show a sliding pace…
- 10:40
- 10:42
- 10.53
- 11:27
- 10:15
- 11:07
- 11:00
- 15:00 (bathroom break, sent twitter message via phone)
- 10:33
- 11:47 (stopped briefly to greet friends)
- 10:47
- 11:06
- 10:54
- 11:50
- 11:31
- 12:02 (uh-oh starting to slow)
- 12:19
- 13:47 (yes, getting tired)
- 13:12
- 14:46 (started walk intervals, sent twitter message, to tired to spell)
- 14:20
- 13:22
- 17:55 (ugh!mostly walked)
- 14:31
- 13:51 (picked up a bit more slow running)
- 13:38
He’s Smiling; Is It Real?

Some favorite t-shirts seen today (there was a lot, but my memory got fuzzy)
- “The only easy day is yesterday”
- “Marathon Virgin” (2 of em)
- “Another LSD* Marathon” (Long Slow Duration)
All I can say is.. .I Am DONE! and the name of this blog stays as it is.
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