See Jon Run

As I’m getting back into this running I’m finding that it’s pretty hard to get back into the shape I was in a couple of years ago. I guess getting older doesn’t help but I’ll keep working on it. I saw a picture of Sly Stone and I’m thinking “wow! He’s over 60 and still looks like that!” Of course I don’t ever think I’d look like him but it would be nice to get back to where I was 5 years ago. I was down to 133 and running well. Now at 155 running is not going as well as I’d hoped it would.

So far April is looking pretty good. 1st week I was able to get 31 miles of running including an 11 miler and a 10 miler (not bad). I only rode 47 miles on the bike (not good), but I did get 3 trips to the gym.

2nd Week: Did another 31 miles running (feeling good), 55 miles on the bike (getting better) but only 1 trip to the gym. Doesn’t sound all that good to me but as soon as I start doing some long rides on the weekends I’ll feel better.

3rd WeeK: Only 13 miles of running as my running partner is tapering for Boston. I guess I could have run more but lots of things going on. It rained Tuesday night, T’s last soccer banquet was Thursday and we’ve been doing some painting around the house. Only 35 miles on the bike and 1 trip to the gym. Terrible……. Not a good week.

4th Week: Our 24th wedding aniversary was Sunday so no running. Helped out with a cycling event both Saturday and Sunday and did some more painting around the house. Real romantic….

Well, after recurring overuse injuries I took several months off. Sarted running a month ago with no more than 2 miles at a time. I’m now up to three to four 4 mile runs per week but I’m building up slowly. Did lots of cross training while I wasn’t running so my cardio is still good, just hard to start again. Marine Corp Marathon in October so I’ll have to start increasing the miles soon. We’ll see if I can get through this injury free.

As I’ve mentioned in several posts, I’ve suffered for several years with plantars fasciitis (PF). While I don’t consider myself to be an expert on PF, I do think I’ve probably aquiried enough knowledge to give some useful practicle advice. Here’s my history with PF. About 5 years ago I suffered a bout of PF that lasted just over two years. I read about PF and talked to some professionals as well as other runners and researched on the web. Lets just say I’ve tried just about everything out there that is supposed to cure PF. My first bout started out fairly harmless and I only experience problems in the mornings after a moderate run of over 5 miles. The pain would make itself known as I got out of bed in the morning but subside as the day went on. The pain was still moderate so I pretty much ran through the pain and it really didn’t cause too much of a problem. As the problem got worse I started haveing more pain until I was unable to walk far or stand too long without having to sit down. Walking and standing slowly presented more and more probems but I was still able to run so I just worked through it. Everything came to a head one summer after a short run along the beach caused the pain to become unbearable and I could no longer just ignore it. I had trouble walking after that run so I made an appointment to see a local podiatrist asap. He diagnosed me with PF, gave me a cortisone shot and said that should take care of the problem. Well it took care of the problem for a week or so but the pain came back. I began reading everything I could get me hands on, talked to a few fellow runner and I set up a plan I thought would help cure my problem for good. My plan was to ice the foot, use insoles, wear a night splint, stretch and take time off. So I started icing the foot each night, wore and night splint, tried every insole I could find, stretched and stopped running (this killed me).

Here I must put in a plug for an insole I feel helped me get through the pain during my healing phase. As I mentioned, I tried several different insoles (about 15 in all) and only one really helped and some actually caused substantial pain. The insloes I tried ranged in price from about $3.50/pair up to just over $80/pair. I finally found a pair of insoles called 2 oz. miracles by Pro Feet and they really made a difference in my ability to walk and stand with less pain. I felt the difference immediately after purchasing the insoled and ended up buying a pair for every pair of shoes I owned. I found these at Target for less than $5/pair. POSSIBLY THE BEST $5 I EVER SPENT.

Despite my regimented self treatment it still took about 6 months before the I was finally pain free and able to run again. Yep… You heard me right 6 months of no running. I’m told that depending on the severity of the PF it may take a shorter period of time to heal. The key is to listen to you body and take care of the problem BEFORE it becomes cronic. I thought this was the end of the probem but a few years later it hit again. The pain started more intensely than last time and I once again set up an appointment with a podiatrist. This time he gave me some very specific instructions about proper stretching and I was instructed to start the routine (20 min per night) and take a week off from running. I followed his instructions to a ‘T’ and stretched every night and started running the following week. Almost immediately the pain returned so I set up another appointment. He sold me a night splint (my second and this one cost $175). He said continue the stretching and wear the night splint for a week and try running the following week. Once again I followed his instructions to a ‘T’ but the pain returned after my first run. (to be continued)

Ok, I feel like I’m finally really back at this running thing again with no problems or pain. Feeling pretty good. I’ve managed to get some 10 milers in and the latest was an 8 minute pace, not bad. I don’t have any race plans at this point so I’m just running for the fitness. I have about 15 pounds to loose so that’s my goal now. Started riding again so hopefully the pounds will fall right off (yeah right!!). Running is a little more difficult right now due to the extra weight but I’ll keep at it and hopefully it will get easier and I’ll pick up my speed.

March:
Week 1: I was able to get in a long run of 8 along with a 15 mile ride on the same day so a pretty good workout day. Ended up the week with 16 miles running, 30 miles riding and two workouts. Not a bad week but I’ve got to pick things up if I’m going to get into shape.

Week 2: Long run of 10 miles on Saturday (8:10 mile avg) not terrible but not great. Just happy to finish without any problems. Ended up the week with 18 miles running, 25 miles on the bike and 1 workout. Gotta pick it up.

Week 3: Bad week!!! Uncle Harvey passed away. Very sad. Headed to Virginia to be with Aunt Peggy. We’re really going to miss him. Marine Corp Marathon won’t ever be the same. One good workout day with an 8 mile run and 25 mile ride. Ended the week with 18 miles running, 40 miles riding and 1 workout.

Week 4: Not a bad week. Sunday I got in a good 10 mile run and averaged 8 min pace then 10 miles on the bike (Good day). Monday was a short ride up to the gym for a decent weight workout. Tuesday was a good day with a 3 mile run then 25 mile ride. Wednesday got a 6 mile run and work out at the gym. Thursday was a good workout with a 25 mile ride and 5 mile run (legs are tired). Saturday was a 6 mile recovery run. Total for the week: Ran 30, Rode 65 and 2 workouts not bad. Feeling good but still not losing weight.

Sometimes I wonder if maybe I’m getting too old and should stop putting my body through all this torture. I’ve been running along for the last two years with one injury after another. The best I’ve felt lately is during the training this past fall when I went for a little over a month with no pain. Felt great! Then, out of nowhere, ITB syndrom. I went ahead and ran the marathon against the advice of everyone I know because I trained, paid for the marathon and already had the tickets to fly up to D.C. As I mentioned I finished in a respectible time and despite the pain I’m glad I did it. I hate to sound like a whinny little baby but I’m getting tired of all these injuries. I took some more time off but I thought I’d never get over this ITB problem. Last time I had the ITB syndrom I laid off a couple of weeks and was back to normal before I knew it. This time I’m afraid I might have done a little more damage so I had to take 12 weeks off while trying to rehab the knee. I completely stopped running after the marathon and did no exercises that required bending of the knee. That meant I got no cardio workouts for 2.5 months. Talk about gaining weight. I hit the gym and did upper body training and lots of stretching but no running, riding, elyptical, or arc machine. Around the first of January I felt like I could start riding. I started off slow and the first ride was very painful and I turned back at about 7 miles. I waited a week and tried again, this time got 20 miles in but did experience some pain. I kept it up for the next few weeks and noticed the pain was subsiding so I continued. After 4 rides the pain continued to subside so I started adding some stair stepping twice a week. By the middle of January I was running 2 miles three times per week. Feeling much better. By the end of January I’m running 3 miles three times per week and a 5 miler on Saturday. Still feeling good and not pushing the pace.

February:
I started running 5 miles three times per week and feeling good. No pain. Long run of 7 miles on Saturday. Still hitting the gym three times per week and getting about 50 miles per week on the bike. Not bad but I’m in terrible shape.

2nd Week: Running 5 miles three time and a long run of 8 on Saturday. Feeling real good but I don’t want to push it. 2 days at the gym and rode 40 miles this week.

3rd week: Running 5 miles three times per week. 8 mile long run on Saturday. Still feeling good. My plan is to not run any further than 10 until I’m training for a specific marathon. Once I get several more weeks under my belt I would like to start increasing the speed. Gym workout twice and got another 50 miles of riding. Still not losing weight. Uggghhhh.. I’ve got a long way to go.

Last week in February: Getting in three 5 milers and long run of 8 miles. Two gym workouts and about 40 miles on the bike. I’ve got about 15 pounds to loose so it will be a long battle. Why is it that you can gain a couple of pounds a week but you can’t ever seem to loose more than a pound here and there despite all the hard work. I don’t remember working very hard to gain but I’m working my butt off and can’t seem to loose the weight. Oh well…… work harder. March I start working with Nick to get him prepared to run Boston. I didn’t qualify this year so I need to really concentrate on prevention of overuse injuries and just slowly build my milage base agian.

After the miserable experience at Boston, I decided I really need to heal everything up before I attempt another marathon. Boston was April 20 and I didn’t plan on any marathons until Oct. 25th. That gives me 6 months (3 months to heal and 3 months to start training again). Sounded like plenty of time. I didn’t do any running, instead I picked up mileage on the bike and used the non-impact cardio training machines at the gym. Well, things didn’t heal up as quickly as I thought they would. The PF was doing well but the shin splints were a different story. The pain just lingered on and on. July 1st I decided to try a short one mile run on the treadmill. Right away the shin pain came back and I stopped about a tenth of a mile into the run. More time off. I tried again at the end of July and still experienced pain but not as bad. I waited until the middle of August to run again. Things went much better this time but I now I didn’t have a lot of time to get back up to speed. Only 9 weeks until the MCM. I started with the first two weeks doing 1-2 mile runs about three to four times per week. I was feeling really good. It’s been a few years since I’ve been able to run pain free and that was nice. I began picking up long run mileage each week first to 3 miles then 5, 8, 11, 13, 16, then 20. Great, I finished a 20 miler with no pain. Just two weeks out and I’m feeling good. Our last long training has us backing down to a 15 miler then an 8 miler, then we run the marathon. Well as luck would have it I started feeling pain in my knee during the last half of the 15 miler. I finished the run and took a few days off to rest the knee. We ran 5 a few days later and the pain was pretty intense. I discovered I had ITB syndrom again. I esperienced this a few years ago but got over it pretty quick so I wasn’t too worried. I tood a few more days off and ran the last long run (an 8 miler) but withing the first mile I was experiencing pretty sharp pain. I was able to finish but decided that I better take the next 7 days off and just try to heal up for the MCM. I started the MCM back where I could hang with the 3:40 group. I felt I could manage a 3:40 or so if the ITB would just hold up. The gun fires and off we go. Unfortunately the ITB pain started right up and I’m thinking I’m in for a long day. I tried to just keep an easy pace and try to hang in and see what happens. The first mile was really slow at a 9 min pace. The second mile was no better and I was thinking the 3:40 pace group must be right behind me. After the second mile I decide not to wait for them and pick up the pace to an 8:30. Still no pace goup so I’m getting a little worried that maybe they passed me and I didn’t see them. I pick up the pace again or at least that’s what I thought, that’s when I hear a pace group coming from behind. I decide to just join in and run at their pace. As they pass I notice this is the 3:50 group, not the 3:40 group. Oh well I’m in some significant pain at this point so I just hang with them and hope I can make it to the end. We head in to mile 5 and I’m thinking about just calling it quits. My knee was absolutely killing me and I can barely bend at the knee so I hobble along. I decided to suck it up and try to make it through mile 8 as that’s where the marathon flattens out for the remaining 16 miles. I stopped at mile 6 for a nature call and almost couldn’t get my legs going again. I managed to make it past mile 8 and by now the pain has become a dull pain and was managable but I’m not sure what type of damage I’ve done. I was able to pick the pace up to 7:50′s and was feeling pretty good at this point. The next 12 miles I was running 7:40 – 7:45′s and things were going well. The ITB was contained and cardio wise I felt great. Mile 20 the pain started again and the ITB felt very inflamed. I knew at this point that I was not going to give up only 6 miles to go. Somewhere around here I caught the 3:40 group and I was going to do what I had to do to get this marathon done. I hung with the 3:40 group for about a mile then started feeling a little better so I picked up the pace again and left them with less than 5 miles to go. I finished in 3:36 which in some ways is a little disapointing but in other ways I’m amazed I did that well concidering I really felt I needed to stop at mile 5. Good run all-in-all.

After the run I was supposed to meet Nick and then the rest of our support crew (who had all my stuff). Nick felt terrible and crashed at the end of the run (he ran a 3:23) and I never found him. I must have walked 6 miles around that place. I knew his wife would be finishing so I hung around the finish line looking for her. Waited for two hours and decided I must have missed her. I decided to go to the area where pictures are taken to see if I can find them there but no luck. I waited for about 30 minutes and no luck so I decide to go wait at the exit where every runner if funneled out. As I’m waiting I see Julie (my neighbor) and decide to go with her to get some money for the subway. I felf that if I had some money I could at least get close to Uncle Harvey’s house and walk the rest of the way (Nick was my ride). I walk with Julie, got some money then back to the finish line to try to find Nick and the support crew. Around 3:30 (about 4 hours after I finished the race) I decided to head to the subway and make my way back to Uncle Harvey’s house and get some food and rest. I walked about 1.5 miles back to the subway, waited for about 30 min. for the correct train and head out. The ride is fairly quick (about 20 min.) and it just feels good to sit. I get off the subway and start on the 2 mile walk back to Uncle Harvey’s house. Love the hills in Virginis. I make it back to the house around 5PM and I’m beat. 26.2 mile run and nearly 8 miles of walking…. I’m starving and ready to take a nap. Long day.

Well, the last time I wrote I was taining for the Boston Marathon. That was a marathon disaster for me. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. My Plantars Fasciitis never totally healed properly but worse than that I developed shin splints. I should have known better but because I was trying to heal the PF up I had a shorter time to train and picked up mileage too fast which caused the shin splints. I KNOW BETTER…. but didn’t take my own advise. In addition to the shin splints I dehydrated for the first time and really suffered during the last 10 miles. I KNOW BETTER…. but it was cool out and I just plain didn’t drink enough. I estimated that I drank about 8 oz. of water and 4 oz. of sports drink during the marathon which as we know is no where near enough. Ran the first 16 averaging 7:42′s. The last 10 took forever…. walked for the first time ever and had several 12 minute miles. Ouch…. that makes for a long miserable day. If took me so long to finish my support crew left thinking they had missed me. Oh well, chalk one up to a learning experience. I finished another Boston Marathon. Time to heal…… again…….

Well I’m finally back to training.  When I last wrote Nick and I had just finished the Marine Corp Marathon.  That was a disaster because of some nutrition and Plantar’s fasciitis (PF) problems.  Nutrition is something I should have had control over but the PF is another story.  I had PF about four years ago and it lingered on for a little over two years.  If you’ve never experienced PF I would not wish it on anyone.  Mild PF is painful but something you can manage and deal with while continuing to run but if it becomes cronic then you’re in for some serious time off and pain.  After MCM I took about three weeks off which I thought might be enough to heal the PF.  Upon my return to running I set out to run 5 miles and within the first 100 yards I knew I was in trouble.  The pain was terrible but I finished the 5 miles and as it usually does the PF didn’t feel too bad after a couple of miles.  I ran 5 again the next day and the same thing, first mile or so was very painful but the sharpe pain calmed to a dull pain and I finished the 5.  Two days later I ran 8 and the first two miles made me want to cry it hurt so bad.  Once again the pain calmed to a dull pain by mile 3 and I was able to finish the 8 albeit very slow.  I couldn’t walk normally the following day so I decided I better go visit my local podiatrist just to make sure I’m wasn’t doing some serious damage.  He did a complete exam, took x-ray’s and confirmed my PF, gave me some stretching excersises to do and told me to follow this regimen for a week then try to run again.  I did as he said but, once agian, the first mile or so was extremely painful.  I finished the 5 then tried 5 again the next day with the same results.  I decided to take three weeks off, keep up the new stretching routine and give it a try again.  By now we’re approaching the new year and I’ve not really been running since the end of October.  I’ve tried to keep up my cardio by riding and doing lots of miles on the eliptical and Arc machines at the gym.  I was hitting the gym about 5 times a week and hoped I wasn’t loosing too much fitness.  I tried to run again right after the new year but again within the first few hundred feet the pain is there.  I push on and complete the 5 miles and then try again the following day with the same results.  I call and make another appointment with my podiatrist and he prescribes a new night splint (my third night splint).  This one seems to be more comfortable so I purchase it for a tidy sum of $175.  He tells me to wear it for four nights then try to run.  I follow his instructions (don’t forget I’m still icing and following his 20 minute stretching routine every night as well).  After the first night my heal feels really good so I’m pretty pumped.  By the fourth day I’m feeling very little to no pain.  I set out on a five miler and once again I’m in extreme pain within the first few hundred feet.  I finish the 5 miles but I’m very disapointed.  I decide that if I have any hope of running Boston again this year, I better just take the next 5 weeks off then I will have 12 weeks to train for Boston.  Not enough time to have a good run in Boston but I’m just trying to make it at this point.  This will take me into February which is the latest I can go before I must start training for Boston.  Back to the gym for some elipticle and arc training again.

After about 2 weeks off I noticed my heal wasn’t getting any better.  I remembered at our company health fair last year we had a chiropractor who said he was trained in a technique that was effective in treating PF.  I was desparate so I contacted him and set up an appointment.  My first visit we did a lot of talking and he spent about 45 minutes doing what I can only describe as a very deep tissue massage.  The treatment was extremely painful and he explained the reason it was so painful was because the months of tearing the Plantars Facia caused scar tissue to build up.  The first thing we had to do is to break up that scar tissue and then begin stretching the PF back out so it would begin to heal.  I told him that I only had two weeks and then I had to start running agian.  He said I may not be completely healed by then but he would give it a try.    

Two weeks later and about 6 treatments at my chiripractor and my foot is feeling much better. He tells me to start running a mile at a time and let him know how it goes. The following day I set out to the gym to run a mile on the treadmill. I start with a half mile walk to warm up then run a mile with almost no pain. I do the same thing for the next three days and I’m feeling pretty confident. I go back for my twice-weekly chiropractor visit and report that everything was going well so we decide to cut back to a once a week treatment.

The treatment my Doctor is using on me is know at Active Release Treatment (ART). Here’s what their website says about ART: ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they are often a result of overused muscles. You can find out more about this treatment at www.activerelease.com

Here’s what I can tell you about my experience. As I mentioned I had PF several years ago and it lasted over 2 years during which I was unable to run due to the pain. ART has allowed me to start running again with very little pain which is about as much as I could ask for. I would highly recomend it to anyone with this type of problem. Although I never completely healed during the next 12 weeks of training, I was able to train for the Boston Marathon with very few problems and very little pain.

Well training for Boston was a real problem this year. After all the problelms I had at the Marine Corp Marathon I had to take some serious time off. After several attempts at training I was finally able to start running in February which didn’t give me much time to get ready for Boston in mid April. I started the first week of training by doing 3 one mile runs at the gym. The following week I moved up to a two mile run and two 3 milers. I then went to two three milers and a five miler which is where my next problem began. As I mentioned in my previous post I’ve been bothered with Plantars Fasciitis for about 6 months and had been seeing a chiropractor trained in ART which helped keep me running. Anyway…during the five miles I felt a strange pain on the inside of my left shin along the tibia bone. I’d not ever had problems with my inner shins but continued to run for a couple more weeks with the pain increasing with each run. I finally went to the doctor and found out I had shin splints in my left leg. At this point I was less than 6 weeks out from Boston so I wasn’t stopping now, press on. I continued to run through the pain and picked up the mileage. With plantars fasciitis in my right foot and shin splints in my left leg I was a mess. It was kind of strange that like my plantars fasciitis pain the shin splints would be very painful for the first few miles then subside and I’d be OK for most of the runs. When I would finish the runs the pain would appear again. Anyway…. the training was mostly about survival and just trying to not hurt myself any more before Boston. I felt like if I just get there I’ll finish the marathon. A doctor friend of mine told me about a new treatment where they would place some sort of electrical impulse bandage looking thing with some cortizone on it directly over the spot where the pain was and it was supposed to help the cortizone reach directly to the affected area. I’m not sure if this really helped much but I was able to run so I make a twice weekly appointment to have this done. So now I’m seeing the chiropratcor once a week to help me through the plantars fasciitis and going to a physical therapist twice a week for the shin splints. Not to mention this is costing me about $100 per week.

LESSON LEARNED: In hindsite I would not recomend this much treatment to anyone. I think the next time I have this much trouble the best thing is to just stop running and heal up the old fashion way. The cortisone treatments were a total waste of time and money in my opinion. The chiropractor helped a great deal with healing the PF so I would recomend that but I would also advise to stop running while you are receiving this treatment.

All I have to say is thank goodness this race is ALL DONE….. The Marine Corps Marathoners had an interesting weekend. I was very worried about my Plantars Fasciitis problems and less worried about nutrition than I should have been. The crew (Nick and his wife Katie, Me and my wife Dawn) arrived in DC two days early so we could visit relatives and relax before the marathon. This worked out perfect, as Nick and Katie were able to spend time with Katie’s Aunt, Cousin and new baby while Dawn and I were able to visit with Uncles, Aunts, Cousins and Cousin John’s new baby. We made our way down to the Expo and all went well Friday, as we were able to actually enjoy the exhibition this year since we were not fighting the normal Saturday crowds. Saturday Dawn and I went to visit Uncle Johnny who is in the hospital battling cancer. All went well there and he was looking pretty good considering what he’s been through. Since we were visiting and doing other things we neglected to eat a good lunch which will come back to haunt me later. We arrive back at Aunt Peggy and Uncle Harvey’s place around 3:00 PM and were expecting to eat by 5:00 or so. Bad news is we’re eating steak and bake potato. Bake potato is good but steak tends to sit in the stomach for long periods of time and takes a lot to digest. This will also come back to haunt me tomorrow. We didn’t get to eat until the Cousins arrived after 7:00 PM so this means I could be in trouble. Bad nutrition the day before the marathon is not good, I know better but don’t want to be a pain to our hosts. This will come back to haunt me. No nice guy stuff the day before a marathon. Lesson learned.

It was a perfect day for a marathon. Reports said that it was in the 40s at the start with it warming up to the low 60s in the afternoon. Helicopters came flying by, the National anthem was song and shortly after the gun was fired. The first wave of the 32nd Marine Corps Marathon was under way along with Nick, myself and 12,000 other crazies (about 18,000 more started 30 minutes behind us in the second wave). Good thing this year was the corrals were by predicted finish time rather than bib number so Nick and I were able to get into the 3:20 – 3:30 corral with no problem. We were right near the front, which really helped. We expected our first miles to be held up slightly by the massive crowd, which they were but nothing like years past. Right around 8:30 pace for the first two miles, with the next miles settling in right where we wanted them, a 7:45 pace.

Immediately my fasciitis started shooting sharp pains up my heel. So much for the 10 rest days off hoping for some recovery, didn’t help at all. After a few miles the shooting pains dulled and I was able to get into a rhythm. No big deal at this point. We were enjoying the massive crowds to cheer us on. Through the first thirteen miles we were feeling good, hitting our 7:30 7:45 pace fairly consistently. We were able to see our lovely support group three times during the marathon, which is always nice. Coming through the halfway point I was feeling pretty good but knew if I kept this pace I would be in trouble. The fasciitis was causing me to run with a limp and causing other problems. Nick was feeling good so somewhere after mile 14 I told him to go ahead that I was getting into difficulty. The miles started slowing down fast after this point as my lack of good nutrition and fasciitis problems were beginning to take a toll on me. The miles from 15 –18 were generally about 8:15 – 8:30 but by mile 20 I had to stop several times as my reserves were sapped and I had nothing left. The calves were cramped due to overcompensating for the painful heel but I gutted it through 20-22 as I watched the 3:30 group pass me, what a disappointment. I kept taking in fluid (mostly sports drinks) but it was too late, my body was out of fuel. Luckily got some encouragement from a guy who was running past me. We ran together for about a mile when I saw the 3:40 group pass by. I told him I had to get moving and used the 3:40 group as inspiration. That inspiration was short lived as they dropped me like a bad habit. I managed to jog (yes I was only jogging at this point, not running) for the next miles and finally saw the finish line. What a bad joke. This year you actually run about a half-mile past the finish line, then do a turnaround and then up the hill to the finish line. I was feeling awful at this point and jogging very slow. I gritted my teeth and gave the last half-mile all I had and there it was the finish line at last. I crossed the finish line in 3:45 and some change. Thank goodness, this race is over. I was glad this was over and I learned some very valuable lessons about nutrition. Nick on the other hand had a good race and managed a 3:24 + change (top 900 finish for him).

A great weekend and a great race for anyone looking to do a marathon. I was hobbling around for a few days but was looking for vindication by Friday. Oorah! I’ll be better prepared nutritionally next time.

 I’ll be posting some nutrition advice later.