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Notes

At 4:20 a.m., I had a bowl of granola with milk, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on homemade bread, a banana, a cup of Gatorade, and a cup of coffee. I felt full. We left Larry and Judi's at 6:00 when I had a Clif Chew and then I had another chew at 6:30. Finally, I had a third chew right before race time. I met the pacers Zach and Caleb, visited with Sara, posed for a couple of pictures, listened to the Boston Marathan memorial ceremony (bombing happened Monday before), and did Star Spangled Banner. Then, we were off. Eight of us stayed right in the pacers' pockets for the first three miles, and by around mile five, we dwindled to the five that eventually would stay together until near the end. I carried six chews, ate a chew every 15 minutes, and drank a few swallows of Gatorade at all six of the aid stations. I dropped a chew around mile 2.5 when eating the first because they were nearly frozen and rattling around, but I only really needed five during the race.

In spite of it being 35 degrees at race time, I decided to wear shorts, two technical shirts (one long-sleeved), a stocking cap, and Henry's synthetic/wool gloves. I removed a sweatshirt right before the race started. Except for my hands and feet being cold for the first 2/3 of the race before finally warming up, the amount of clothes felt perfect. I didn't warm up at all. We started at a slower pace (around 7:20) and with each mile ratcheted down to the target of around 6:40 to 6:45. Some of the downhills were a little faster, and some of the uphills a little slower. There were two decent-sized hills which the race director said made this a little tougher course than in the past.

I thought that it might feel painful eventually, but that feeling fortunately never came and my confidence of beating 1:30 continued to increase. After mile 9, the pack started to spread out as a couple of guys started pulling away from the pacers. I felt strong and felt like I could start to ease forward a bit as well and opened a 20-30 foot space to give myself a little mental buffer to know that 1:30 wasn't "right on my heels" in case I started to tighten up. Well, sure enough . . . with about a mile to go I started feeling the tightness in my calves and quads and just tried to keep my arms pumping, shoulders down and loose, and my stride compact with good form. It worked and I was able to roll in 20 seconds ahead of the pacers at 1:29:27.

bib number: 1711

age: 42

gender: M

location: Newton, KS

overall place: 16 out of 916

division place: 2 out of 52

gender place: 15 out of 370

time: 1:29:27

pace: 6:50

It was an emotional and satisfying experience to say the least! Sara and the boys were there to greet me, I got to meet Scott Jurek at the finish line shortly thereafter, and the feel-good celebration began. Chicken sandwich from Tyson, and yogurt and a banana along with a water started the recovery with a Shock Top a little later (the thought of a cherry-flavored Clif Chew made me want to hurl). Thank you Caleb and Zach for allowing me to not have to worry about pace and to the Olathe Garmin Marathon for a great event!

Brad