Re the runner who passed away, any news about the cause etc?

Little for me to add other than what has been reported in the press:

Mark was running with his brother. They ran a 1:47 with little difficulty by all accounts and then he just collapsed. I crossed the line about 12 minutes after them and saw the medics administering CPR before taking Mark off in an ambulance. The autopsy results are due out late this afternoon. I don't know if they will be made public.

Great stuff Sean. Nice running and great pics!

Next stop... under 1:50:00?

Also... dammit man!

You go under two hours at the end of Jan ... I go under two hours and beat your (old) PR by a couple of minutes and you don't let me bask in the success of that for even a week before bringing in your next PR .... over a minute faster than mine! Way to keep the pressure on 

MTA: Pics from the Dallas Rock & Roll half. Scenery was different:

Your pictures are fantastic! Looks like an amazing place to race and to kick your PR like that is huge! Nicely done! 

3 days before the race, I had a brutal side-stitch (1st time in months) which still felt slightly uncomfortable the morning of the race. I'm not sure what was going on with my stomach but I was worried it would flare up again and ruin the day.

Before the race with my brother-in-law (I'm on the right)

• Mile 1 7:43 - Typical first mile of a large race, it took 2 minutes to cross the start line, and I had to do a lot of extra work running around people who felt a need to line up with the 5 and 6min/mile runners.  I'm sure it cost me a few seconds, but it's to be expected.

• Mile 2 7:48 - I eased up a bit on the pace since it was mostly uphill. The idea was to do as little work as possible on the hills and still be in a position to make a run at it in the second half, once we got out of the park.

• Mile 3&4 7:31,7:29 - trending downhill, let gravity help. At this point the crowd thinned out enough to attempt to run the tangents.        

Looking goofy about 3 miles in

• Mile 5&6 7:51,7:48 - Uphill again, and the stomach started acting up.  Fortunately, running hunched over at the waist at practically a 90º angle for about 20 seconds was enough to make the pain go away.  Somehow I managed to do this without tripping, though I'm sure I looked ridiculous. I needed to do this about 4 more times throughout the race, but thankfully did not have to stop at any point.

• Mile 7-10 7:34,7:32,7:31,7:31 - With the hills behind me I wouldn't say I was feeling strong, but I was OK, and started pushing the pace, as planned.

• Mile 11 7:30 - This is where the pain started to set in, but was able to keep pace.

• Mile 12 7:39 - About half way through mile 12 the gas tank hit E. I knew I needed to run sub-1:30 to have a shot at 1:39:59, but no matter what I tried mentally and physically it just wasn't there.  I was right on the verge of completely falling apart, as someone just ahead of me turned off and prepared to hurl.  Thankfully I got passed him before he did, or I'm fairly certain I would have joined him.  At this point I knew my shot at 1:40 was gone.

• Mile 13 7:29 (last 0.23@7:24 - garmin 305 had it at 13.23m) - After good crowd support in the park and basically no crowd support for miles 8-12, we reached the boardwalk in Coney Island.  In addition to being a really cool place to finish, the crowd was great and I was able to accelerate the last 1/2 mile or so with the finish line in sight.

Dramatic finish for the cameras 

Chip time 1:40:18 (forgot to stop the garmin for a bit) - #978 out of 7006 finishers

This is a PR of roughly 8 minutes since my 1st half marathon was 1:44:35, but was only 12.6 miles.
I mentioned a few excuses above (crowded, stomach, etc.) for the 18 seconds, but at the end of the day it really came down to my fitness coming up just a little short.  About 1.5 miles short.  For the next half, whenever that will be, the plan will be to get in a few more long runs and up the weekly milage for the last few weeks from 30 to 35 or 40.

That being said, I'm really happy with the results and feel I ran the best race I was capable of running on that day.

My brother-in-law ran with me which made it even more fun, finishing his first half in 1:39:24, feeling "good the whole way".  He's a stronger runner than I am, which is great since it gives me something to chase.

My #1 fan - DW

Great PR (again!!!) Sean - one of these days you are going to run a race and not get one.... then what will you do?

I also had a 10k today. American Hero's 10k in Arlington TX.

Goal for the year is to go under 53:00. Today's stretch goal was under 52:00 (I ran a 10k split in a 15k in Jan in 52:08).

Safe to say that today was not the day. 82F on the start line, a little windy + quite humid. I can't blame the weather, I just was not trained for it. First mile was OK but about 1.5 miles in I knew that 52' or 53' was not going to happen. Switched to my backup goal of trying to make 54'. To summarize the rest of the race - I just died on my arse in the heat!

I am pleased that:

1. I finished without walking and;
2. I realized early enough that I was going way too fast and slowed down soon enough to adjust my pace.

A year ago I would have kept on at that pace for another mile and then walked the last 4 miles home!

Waiting for my official results but Garmin clocked me at 54:01.06 so failed to even meet the backup goal! Sometimes them's the breaks.

Still, a great event supporting all branches of the military with a phenomenal Apache flyover at the start.

Thanks to all who serve or have served.

There will be another 10k - hopefully a little cooler next time!

You may be surprised at your official time.......hopefully they have you at 53:59 or less.....you never know, it could be.

Officially 54:00.60 - LOL, missed by sixth tenths of a second!

That said, I entered the "Clydesdale" (Fat Boy) category for the event and came second, out of 13.