Notes
Knee had been giving me grief leading up to the race but it felt OK on the starting line, I was fit, and aiming for 2:55:00. First mile on the Dover Speedway track was great, I was probably somewhere between 10-15th to leave the stadium and settled into that place. I was chasing mostly the same runners on a straight stretch in the 8th mile, assuming incorrectly that at least one of them was running the full. A gentleman on a motorcycle on the side of the road said. "If you're running the full, you need to turn". It's a really good thing he was there, never thinking I could be the lead runner I would have followed the half marathoners off course (even though the turn was marked on the pavement). I turned right and heard his bike roar to life. I no longer had runners ahead of me, and the motorcyclist would be my companion for the next 18 miles. Lost about 30 seconds to a pit stop in the 9th mile, but it was time well spent. A little after mile 12 I turned at the end of the out-and-back and was running for a minute or so before I saw the next runner on the opposite side of the road, giving me about a two minute lead. I crossed the half too fast in 1:25:11 and spent the rest of the race trying to drown out the voices of self-doubt, aided immeasurably by a ton of encouragement from Peggy. It was warming up and I was really hurting in the last 10k, but I knew that everyone else would be too. I never would have dreamed about finishing first in a marathon, but the reality was better than any dream could be anyway. A day to remember for sure.