I always love reading the race reports, so here's mine!

I woke up at 3:30am after 5 hours or so of fitful sleep.  I stretched a bit and then hopped in the shower to warm up my muscles.  Woke up my father - who was gracious enough to drive down with me - and we we off by 4:30.  I ate a bagel with some Powerade at around 5am and then put the seat back and dozed for a bit.  We got to the Tsongas Center at around 6am and it was nice and quiet.  I picked up my number and shirt and went back to the garage.  I talked with my dad till around 7, then I went for a 10 minute jog and did some dynamic stretching afterward. 

The race:

I remember having some company for the first couple of miles and then the half marathon runners split off and it thinned out a lot.  I didn't really have a fueling plan, it just kind of developed over the race.  I settled into taking a full cup of Gatorade, a half a cup, then Gu and water, then I would skip a station.  I talked to one guy during the race at about 6 miles in and he asked me what my goal was.  He ran with me for a bit and then took off(he was 3rd OA).  So for the rest of the race, I was alone.  I looked at the clock at 10 miles, and it said 58:57 - right on pace.

  I was kind of on auto pilot and then I hit the bridge around 20K and I just felt like things were taking a turn for the worse.  I did pass someone right after the halfway point - he told me to "go get 'em - and someone at around mile 15 told me I was #5.  I was really starting to slow down because of the wind and the rollers between the half and about 30K.  Don't get me wrong, this was an awesome course.  It was just bad timing for me to hit that part at that point in my race.  Better at the beginning or at the end.  I saw one of the Whirlaway guys on a cellphone around 18-19 miles and I knew that he had dropped out, so that meant I was 4th. 

 I hit 20 miles in a tad over 2 hours.  I really wasn't thinking about finishing under a certain time at this point; I just wanted to finish.  I developed an awful cramp on my right side and it slowed me down for a while.  I had to breathe my way through it.  I was starting to pass the half marathoners so that was motivating.  i made the decision to not look at my watch and just take everything in and enjoy my first marathon.  People were dressed in costumes at the aid stations and were very supportive.  I went over the bridge the last time and smiled to myself knowing that I was almost done.  I should have been paying attention, because there was a guy behind me sprinting to the finish and he beat me by .3 seconds - passing me at the mat.  I didn't really care though.  I ran a half marathon PR of 1:17:30 and then capped it off with a marathon debut in 2:41:34. 

I just wanted to thank Jeff, spaniel, Bad Dawg, and mikey for their wisdom and support.  RA is the best!  Mike, if I was still in the 2000 mile club I would have known to go to the Beer Works with you guys.  I promise I will do my best to get my log up and running in the future!

Splits

6:02

5:52

5:56

5:51

5:48

5:54

5:51

5:50

5:58

5:54  (10 miles - 58:56)

5:58

6:00

5:58  (half - 1:17:30)

6:05

6:06

6:11

6:16

6:17

6:15

6:09  (20 miles - 2:00:11)

6:41

6:56

6:27

6:21

6:30

6:34

1:18

Congratulations on running a great race.  I like the part where you ignored the watch and just took in the whole experience.

Thanks for sharing ..... Hope the recovery is going well.

I'm a little late, but this was an incredible debut! Congratulations!