"If man wishes to gratuitously fight nature, not for existence or the means of existence but for fun, or at the worst self-aggrandizement, it should be done with natural weapons"

So I ran 26.2 miles again, with nothing but my feet and a pair of shoes with over 1,000 miles in them. I think Dan did the same recently, but I don't see any race report to confirm this.

Was I in as good of shape this year for the Chicago marathon as last year? No. But I do have more experience. So I got a little cocky. Pushed my pace a little in the first half. I thought when I got really tired if I had banked enough time I could still run at least 8:45 miles.

I was wrong. I hit mile 22 and i just couldn't keep it up. I was even run/walking the last mile which I didn't think was possible. If the finish line is in sight I figured that would be enough motivation to keep me moving, but it wasn't. Around mile 18 or 19 I swore off marathons. I also though a PR was out of the question with 3-4 miles left which made me not care about pushing my pace. I ended up finishing in 3:32:28, which is less than a minute slower than last year. Glad it was a decent time, but when I finished I felt so shitty I didn't even think about the time.

I think I'll keep running marathons, but I wont worry about time until I think I can qualify for Boston.

*This race report was written on behalf of Ed Hayes. Congrats Ed on finishing 474th in your 45-49 age group.