Congrats that is such a great story.

Thanks Oski! It's no fun if you don't aim high, right?

Thanks Hilary! Right now I'm saying I won't be there, just due to money, but if I can make it happen, I'd love to be there! We'll see what happens as registration gets closer.

Thanks LRB! I talked with him later and he said he started struggling at mile 16, so tried to hang on as long as he could, definitely not gonna hold it against him. He did a great job keeping us distracted and on pace. I'm very interested to see how far I can go with more focus and time.

Thanks irishguy!

Thanks jjs! When I pulled away at mile 22, I had a few people in the group yell that I was sandbagging and it couldn't be my first marathon. lol Yeah, I guess that's the problem with setting the bar high, nothing but BQs until age catches up with me.

Thanks for the info Mike, that's not too bad, if demand drops a bit, I might be able to squeek in for next year. I'm going to see if there's a way I can make it happen, if not then I'll plan it for '16, but I'll definitely get up there eventually!

Thanks Lauren!

Thanks Ginny! It's crazy to think that two years ago I couldn't even run a half mile, never know until you try, right?

Thanks Dave! The Klompus Klub, I like it! It definitely took more focus without the pacer, that's for sure. It was nice to not have to look at my watch at all and just run for the first 20 miles.

Thanks lily, just trying to follow your example!

Thanks StepbyStep, Shamrock just seems to be my race. The half last year and now the marathon this year are my two best executed races so far.

Thanks Mitch!

Thanks B-Plus!

Thanks Jay!

Thanks George! I was looking at that in a thread the other day talking about percentage of people who BQ, which is something like 8-9%, who knows how many do it on their first shot. Then throw in that less than 1% of the American population has run a marathon, makes it a pretty small club, that I'm very happy to be a part of.

Thanks Brad! It's been great helping others and watching everyone grow together, part of why I like this group so much! Looking at the splits from the race info (below), it looks like we were either right on pace, or just a hair behind maybe at the 20 mile mark. I figured that's where we were due to the wind and if I could pick it up a lil I'd be able to sneak under. I was still getting my active pace on my Garmin, and I was running around 7:10 those last four miles. Here are the splits from the race info:

Interval      Time of Day    Chip Time     Chip Pace        
Start           8:30:10AM
7 Mile         9:22:35AM       00:52:26        07:30 min/mi   
13.1 Mile   10:07:43AM     01:37:34        07:27 min/mi   
18.1 Mile   10:44:25AM     02:14:16        07:26 min/mi   
Finish        11:44:17AM     03:14:07        07:25 min/mi  

Thanks again Damaris!

Thanks Fuzzy!

Thanks Bin! Me too, this next year should be interesting with more focus and dedicated speed work.

Thanks Mel! It can be tough when your training gets messed up, messes with your mind more than anything I think, even if you know your body is still capable. I think those last few strong long runs really helped put me in the right spot mentally going into the race.

Thanks Traci!

Thanks Kiwi!

Thanks Makk!

Thanks RSX!

Thanks PF!

Just incredible Dave. Anyone can easily see the talent in you. Going from overweight to a BQ marathoner in such a short time, it's just awesome. Congrats!

I've been looking forward to this report for a while, and you really delievered!  Congrats on hitting this one outta the park!

What's next on the horizon now that you've BQ'd?

fantastic stuff and excellent pacing!....great job dealing with the wind and hanging tough....sounds like your training and prep were spot on...enjoy the recovery!

Awesome! Congratulations on running a smart race and finishing under your BQ time. I agree with you, you seem to have a knack for this running thing!

Thanks for sharing the RR.

Wow, Dave!  BQ on the first marathon, very impressive!  Way to go!