To quote inspirational author Dr. Wayne Dyer, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." Instead of looking at the race as a defeat, you chose to look at the race as a victory of lessons learned. Good post.

Thank you so much Brugel! I love to read joyous RRs, of course, and want all Boomers to have greta runs all the time, but of course we are in the real world. It is so kind of folks to take the time and share their painful experiences for the rest of us to read and ponder. This prolly wasn't fun to write up for us; you're a real pal to care enough to do so. I want to echo your very sage advice. Like you, I went out in a marathon that was H&H--in Rochester, Minnesota, believe it or not. It was Memorial Day 06--the race started at 8 am and it was already 80. I thought I was taking slow enough, but nope. Fortunately, there are a lot of medical types working that race as volunteers (home of the Mayo Clinic) and one stopped me at mile 13, told me in no uncertain terms to ease up and take it much more slowly. I came really close to a DNF, and felt really beaten up at the end. Since we are heading into the warm seasons, this is especially worthwhile to keep in mind. Here's to your next run. You know we'll all be rooting for you and as has been said, you will be a smarter and stronger runner because of this experience. Blessings and grins (your wife is right, of course!), A

Good stuff, Bill. This has been a good learning experience. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Now linked to the Wiki. Now my DNF will live in history. Bill

...excellent advise Burger//.......you got posted over at KR too........ thanks..... ,,,,,,,,,ps,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,....aaaaaaaarrrrrrrr.....

Hope I (and other new runners) will be smart enough to learn from your experience; thanks for sharing!

Bill - just got to your post. Thanks for sharing! Pretty insightful stuff. I personally enjoy this kind of sharing the most. It helps us all. Good luck with your running. PJ