HIMYM Marathon

When I first watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother, I didn't think it was very funny. But between then and now, I've since gone back and watched it from the very beginning. The jokes are very clever and funny although sometimes very crude. Now you may be wondering how is this a marathon? In the span of a week, I've gone through almost 4 seasons' worth of episodes. I have 10 more episodes that I'll try to watch before tonight's season premiere episode.

This video is freaking hilarious: Robin Sparkles

This marathon came at a pretty convenient time since I've been waking up anywhere from 1:30 to 4:00am in the morning without the aid of my alarm. There's nothing but crap and depressing news early in the morning, so a sitcom is perfect for the situation. The alarm now serves to tell me when I need to stop watching so I can get ready for work... SUIT UP!

It may be an awesome show. But all truth be told, I would like to cut into this marathon and go out to run in the dark but my right ankle has been feeling somewhat weak during my runs this weekend. So TV it is!

Saturday's run: ~11.8 miles with lots and lots of hills at ~9:17 pace
Sunday's run: ~3.4 miles at ~8:40 pace (easy)

Big Bear Lake Marathon

In a nutshell
Holy Snikes! That did not go very well. The course time limit was 6hrs, I used 5:53:55.

Pre-race
The best part of the race was driving up to Big Bear Lake. I left the house at around 4:15 and got there around 6am. It was fun taking those corners in the Mini Cooper. It was kind of chilly when I went to pick up my race packet, but that changed really quickly as the sun came out and warmed everything up. I waited in the car listening to my tunes on my iPod. It was nice and toasty already when I left the car to head for the starting line.

First half
Here's a video of the start: link. It's not too hard to spot me! I went out running as comfortably as I could. There was a big downhill at mile 2 followed by a bit of a climb at mile 4, but I was still feeling ok. But by mile 6 I had to start taking walk breaks just to catch my breath. I knew I could've pressed through it, but mentally I just wasn't there. The course kept rolling up and down. I was taking 1 Endurolyte salt cap every hour along with the shotbloks that I normally take. I just wanted to finish this marathon without any trouble. It took me longer to get to the halfway mark than I had planned, but everything was still feeling manageable. I got to see Vixen from RWOL twice as she was close to finishing her half and I was turning around for my second half.
1: 9:39
2: 8:44
3: 9:37
4: 10:57
5: 9:37
6: 10:20
7: 10:27
8: 10:54
9: 11:16
10: 11:33
11: 11:26
12: 12:09
13: 11:30
13.1: 2:21:16

Second half
I took my last salt cap around mile 15, but apparently I wasn't replacing the electrolytes fast enough because the legs were beginning to cramp at every hill that I climbed. After about mile 19, I kept cramping when I tried to run or jog. At this point, I was out of salt caps and my brain was fried, so I just called it a day and walked the rest of the way. This was pretty much déjà vu from Montaña de Oro. I was just trying my best not to have both legs lock up on me like last time. Tony from Pasadena caught up to me around mile 22 and decided to walk with me. He could've ran it in but he decided to call it a day as well. On the very last corner, I finally convinced him to run it in and that I would see him at the finish line. That turned out to be a lie since I could barely force a jog and went straight for a chair as I hobbled across the finish line. The ladies from the medical tent came by and treated me for my leg cramps. I think I've figured out the cramps, but man I just ran out of salt caps since I clearly underestimated the heat, elevation, and the time that it would take for me to finish. I should just carry a whole bottle with me next time until I figure out how many I need to prevent the cramps.
14-15: 27:11
16: 16:04
17-18: 30:08
19: 15:57
20: 17:12
21: 18:23
22: 17:35
23: 17:51
24: 16:48
25: 17:41
26: 17:19
26.2: 3:25
2nd half: 3:32:38

Finish: 5:53:55

Post race thoughts
I love the medal and the shirt. I really had to work hard for them. I must say that the aid stations were fantastic! The volunteers wore vests that said what they're handing out, so there was no guesswork in what they were offering. Anyways I need to train harder. Guts and determination is not getting me very far anymore. My fitness is barely good enough for a half marathon right now. I should not have been messing around with a marathon at elevation on a sunny day.

Disneyland Half Marathon

Expo/Packet Pickup
The expo/packet pickup was somewhat confusing. It seems as if they were trying to address the crowding issue from the prior years, so they moved the bib pickup to the underground parking structure. Then you walk back up to the expo floor to pick up your shirt and goodie bag. It was standing in one line after another. But I suppose we were at Disneyland... lines are to be expected. I did a quick sweep through the aisles and stopped by the Competitor/Elite Racing table to say hi. One of the girls that I see all the time introduced herself and told me her name. We shared a few good laughs and we'll see each other again in Vegas. I had to let her go back to work.

Pre-race
I am not where I should be with my fitness. The only recent run I have done was my 5 mile run on Monday. The run left both of my calves very sore for the next couple of days because the route was hilly and I attacked it. But with a bad half marathon at AFC and a DNF at Montaña de Oro, I really didn't know what to expect out of this race and to make things interesting my lower back has been sore. Given the circumstances I knew one thing and that was that I still love running this super expensive race because I am a big time Disney fan! My goals were still the same.

Goal A: sub 1:50
Goal B: sub 1:55
Goal C: sub 2:00

I carbed up with karamiso ramen on Friday and with pho and spring rolls on Saturday. Those foods always work for me. I tried to sleep early, but I ended up watching Tyson. Love him or hate him... believe him or not... it was a good intriguing movie.

Race day
I got to the parking lot at 4am where I relaxed and ate my Powerbar while listening to my tunes on my iPod. The parking fee had inched its way up to $12. There is no recession when it comes to Disney. Around 5am I stripped down to my race clothes and headed out to the starting area.

I went out conservatively making sure I did not overtake the 1:40 pace group. They stayed about 5 secs ahead of me and eventually pulled away from me. I think more races should emulate Disney and place people in corrals based on previous race results. Even though it was crowded during the first mile, it was good enough that I didn't have to keep adjusting my stride and not once did I pass a walker that had no business being in the front. The pace that I wanted to hold was 8:30 min/mile. The first 5k was easy as most of it was inside the 2 parks.
1: 8:38
2: 8:25
3: 8:20
5k: 26:23

I still stuck to my run/walk plan. I would take a 1 minute walk break for every 30 minutes of running. I used to do that to prevent injury, but now I think it's more for me to take a mental break. Here we ran through the streets of Anaheim. I was feeling ok after 10k.
4: 9:00
5: 8:19
6: 8:31
10k: 53:05

I tried to pick up the pace after a slow mile 8, but I knew that I was getting close to my limit. There was a small series of short climbs. I took my Hammer gel at the 1 hour mark.
7: 8:52
8: 9:17
9: 8:23
15k: 1:20:41

Going through Angel stadium was ok. This time we ran on the "warning track" in front of the dugouts and the home plate. I was starting to fade and could not get the legs to turn over any faster. The cheerleaders right before the tunnel were loud and the energy was much needed. I tried to muster up a faster pace for the final mile, but I was gassed and unmotivated since I knew the PR was out the window after 3 consecutive slow miles.
10: 9:01
11: 9:15
12: 9:11
13: 8:35
13.1: 0:48

Finish: 1:54:40

Post-race
It was so great to see a lot of my friends at this race. I was actually surprised to get a 1:54 out of my legs this weekend... only 23 seconds off of my PR. I was expecting something bad to happen. I really need to get off of the marathon maniacing so that I can start training for quality races. If I get healthy and start putting in the miles, I should easily be in the 1:40s. But that'll have to wait because it's on to the next race, the Big Bear Marathon on Saturday!

Montaña de Oro 50k

Pre-race thoughts
Going into this race, my confidence in finishing the race was extremely low. After a horrible race in the AFC half marathon my plan was to take it easy, go slow, and if necessary use all of the 9 hrs that they give you. I knew the course was hard, but I'm never known to pick the easiest race. I picked it because it was close to my birthday and I wanted a good challenge. But in the end the timing of the race was bad. I caught the flu a few weeks out, ran horrible marathons at SF and ET shortly thereafter. Follow that up with a lousy half marathon and I just knew it wasn't going to be smooth sailing for my first 50k.

FE/Carbo-load
I drove up on Saturday morning around 9am. When I got to around Santa Barbara, it started to rain and when there's a few drops in sunny California, accidents were sure to follow. I passed about 3 accidents before stopping off in Santa Maria to carbo-load at an Olive Garden. I met up with my friends there. I ate a little bit too much and I felt like barfing. I think from now on, I'm going to stick to ramen or pho. I stayed at the Travelodge in Morro Bay. It was a pretty run down motel. I was probably better off staying at a Motel 6. I didn't really want to eat dinner because my stomach wasn't entirely emptied of Olive Garden. But I went anyways to The Galley, which was highly recommended by everyone. I had the sea bass and 2 beers (Firestone Double Barrel Ale and Reissdorf Kölsch). I was carded for the beer... are you serious? I can count on 1 hand how many times I've been carded in my life. Anyways it turns out that the restaurant owner was also running the Montaña de Oro as his first 50k.

The 50k race was 4 loops: run the 25k route twice: 12k + 13k + 12k + 13k.

1 - 1:39 12k
This first loop wasn't too bad. You get to see a lot of the ocean at the beginning. I was very disciplined and didn't pass anybody unless they were walking. The only bad part was going up to Valencia Peak because there was a lot of loose rocks making your footing pretty bad. Oh yeah and it was a steep climb. Coming down from the peak was fun. I love downhills but I knew I was overworking my quads. During the loop, I kind of made a mental note of where the 8k loop breaks off from 12k loop. I guess I was just being prepared for the worst for when I get to cover the same loop again.

2 - 2:12 13k
There was a lot of steady climbing in this loop. By this point the course was pretty open since most of the people ran the 8k or the 12k. I was getting extremely fatigued because it was just non-stop climbing. When I got to flatter sections, it was very hard to convince myself to run. I was taking my shot bloks and gels every 30 minutes, but my legs were feeling way too exhausted to go another round! But mentally I felt pretty good when I came into the aid station so I thought I might as well give it a shot. If something horrible happens, I'll just bail out and run the 8k.

3 - 2:10 8k
I walked the entire beginning flat section just to give my legs some rest. It was here that I was passed by Larry Macon, now that's a true maniac! I went to the bathroom right before the climb started. The straw that finally broke the camel's back was probably when I ran when I got to the first downhill section. My quads were toast. Then as the climbing resumed, all of the leg muscles slowly cramped up, rigor mortis was setting in. Here's where the fun began. It got so bad that all I could do was stand. I took in whatever gels I had left on me. I limped around but it was too painful to climb. I kept looking around for people or something to lean up against but I was all alone. Eventually those behind me caught up and checked up on me. One nice lady gave me 2 salt capsules and massaged my legs. But in between my grunts from the pain, I was shooing them away. I didn't want to keep them from finishing their race. I was extremely dejected because I knew my day was over. Time to drop out. Montaña de Oro 1, Emil 0. Then I started to wonder, "how in the heck am I going to get my butt off of this mountain?" I couldn't sit down because there was nothing to sit on. I found a small little ditch and sort of sat in there for a while. But I just wanted off so I got up and started to climb again. The 2 girls that had stopped by earlier yells back to me that the turn off for the 8k was pretty close. Pretty close was all relative... it took me a while to get there. I knew I needed to park myself somewhere and wait for the salt to kick in. When I finally reached the top and saw the turnoff, lo and behold a most welcomed sight: a picnic table! But as soon as I planted my butt on the bench, the muscles cramped up so badly that it was almost unbearable. When they finally subsided, I just sat there not wanting to move. But eventually I got up and started walking down the 8k loop. Here's where I got the chance to roll on the ground because everything seized up again. I looked at my muscles, they were all knotted up or twitching like mad. But I got back up and forced my legs to keep on moving. The salt finally kicked in where I was able to walk down and end the misery. The legs were actually good enough to run, but I didn't care much for that at that point.

DNF - 6:01 33k

Post-race thoughts
... and that folks is my pathetic "race" report. Good game, thank you, come again. My first thought afterward was that I should just stick to road racing. It is rather unlikely that I'll give the 50k another shot, but I had just been completely and thoroughly humbled by Montaña de Oro suffering my first ever DNF, so who knows if I might change my mind later when I forget the agony that I went through. I really wanted that dang coaster, but it was impossible. Even if I had completed that 3rd loop, I would still have to cover the 4th loop. I will definitely have to go back to the drawing board and adjust my electrolyte replacement for hot/humid weather and hilly terrains. I've gone back and looked at all of the races where I suffered severe cramps and they were all hot, humid, and hilly. I will continue to cut back on the racing so I can let my body heal up. I will go from 18 marathons to about 10 in 2010. Then in 2011, I will further cut down to 5: Pasadena, Seattle, LA, SD, NYC/Honolulu.

America's Finest City Half Marathon

A recipe for disaster
I pulled into the parking lot at about 5:20 am. It was a little tighter than I had originally planned since the final bus takes off at 6 am. I was watching the IAAF Worlds and sort of lost track of time. I was able to find my friends in the starting area which was nice. I wore my old Asics DS Trainer 11, my "peppermint shoes". I wanted to log at least a sub 2 hr half marathon in those shoes before I retire them. Well I kind of knew before the gun went off that today was going to be a hard day. I had run a hard marathon last weekend and my breathing was labored in my shakeout run the day before. But that didn't stop me from going out hard from the start which ultimately led to a rather painful grind for most of the race.

My Goals:
A: sub 1:50
B: sub 1:55
C: sub 2:00

First 10k
I ran out as hard as I could with the idea of trying to maintain a 8 min/mile pace which is faster than what I normally run. That was ok for the first 3 miles. But the huge downhill on mile 4 really done me in. My right hamstring started tightening up. Apparently it had not recover from last weekend's romp on the Extraterrestrial highway. Since I have my birthday 50k run coming up next weekend, I backed off on the pace. Periodically I would speed up to test it, but the hamstring said no. No means no and thus began the slow grind. Even though things were coming apart pretty early in the race, I'm glad that I'm still able to run some sub 8 min miles.
1 - 7:44
2 - 8:01
3 - 7:52
4 - 7:29
5 - 8:57
6 - 8:49
6.2 - 50:51

The rest
I was losing my legs really fast. I tried to regroup and speed up, but the only thing that happened was my left hip started to give out on me. It became increasingly harder for me to put weight on that leg, so once again I backed off on the pace. I did some quick math to make sure I get in under 2 hrs. I never had to work so hard just to come in under 2 hrs. After I climbed the 6th avenue hill, I saw my friend Ryan. I was able to muster up a faster pace and ran for the finish line. Good thing my left hip and right hammie allowed me to finish strong.
7 - 9:01
8 - 9:32
9 - 9:25
10 - 9:39
11 - 9:58
12 - 10:36
13.1 - 10:15 (9:19 pace)
13.1 - 1:57:25

Post race thoughts
Wow, that was not fun. Well... being at a race and seeing my friends was fun. The grind from mile 5 to the finish was rather demoralizing... definitely a "gun-to-the-head" experience. I felt like I was giving a piggyback ride to a small child. I need to be a little more wise on when I decide to run an aggressive race. I was begging for an injury running faster than I've ran in a while as well as coming off of a hard marathon. I really thought that I might have had to drop out when my left hip was dying on me. Oh well, I hope I saved enough of my legs for next week's 50k romp through the mountain of gold!

ET Full Moon Midnight Marathon

In a nutshell
It was more than I had bargained for... the marathon itself was very challenging and difficult especially for this morning person. My body was thoroughly confused starting with a big meal at 8 in the morning and the fact that I was asking it to run a marathon when it was ready to go to sleep. I did like the atmosphere and the sheer craziness of this event. During the race I got to see lots of shooting stars, but sorry... no aliens! It was pretty much for the most part a very surreal experience. Most of the time I was running alone... just me, my thoughts, and the darkness.

It was a race of several firsts. It was my first time...

• eating a buffet at 8 am. I love the Rio Carnival World Buffet, but the quality has gone down a lot since I've last eaten there.
  
• running a Calico Racing event.
  
• running a marathon at midnight.
• running with a headlamp.
• running with my hand-held.
• practicing drinking from my hand-held while running. I'm so done with drinking from cups.
  
• not gambling at all while in Vegas. I usually would at least drop a few coins in the slots.

The morning before the race
I left for Vegas at around 4:30 am. There was little traffic at that hour. I made a little pitstop in Primm and arrived at the Rio Carnival World Buffet at a little past 8am. I ate about 4 plates. My favorite item was the Peking duck. So weird to be eating so much so early in the morning. I made my way over to my hotel to see if I could check-in early, but the rooms weren't ready. So I walked across the street to a CVS and bought water and OJ. I waited in the lobby reading my book and eventually took a nap. The guy at the front desk then woke me up saying that my room was ready if I didn't mind being on the first floor. Of course I didn't mind. I got my stuff from the car and went to my room. The room was pretty huge. I could've fit about 5 Ryans comfortably in this one. I took everything that I needed for the race and laid them all out. I took a nap for a few hours and woke up to watch some TV.

Packet pickup
I went to pickup my packet at about 4:30 pm. The race director sent us an email telling us not to wait until the last minute and it looks like everybody was there at the same time. I was in and out of there in about 5 minutes. There was a long line of people buying reflective tape for $3. But since I was going to run with a headlamp and wearing my orange shirt, I bypassed the line and went back to my room.

Last minute stuff
I attached the bib to my shirt and the timing chip to my shoe and resumed the TV watching. After lounging around for about 2 hours, I got ready and went out to board the bus at about 8:15 pm. It was a 2.5 hr uneventful bus ride out to the "black mailbox" on the ET highway. I was greeted by somewhat cool temperature and plenty of wind when I got off the bus. They gave everyone a glow necklace. As I was in line for the portapotty, I was spotted by my marathon maniac friend Mitch. He said that it's always easy to spot me because of my orange shirt. I'm becoming a permanent fixture at marathons. I kept going back to the potty because I was a little anxious to get going. We lined up at the stop sign, which was the starting line and right at midnight we were off.

First Half
I had taken a peak at the course and elevation profile before the race and realized that the first half would be a steady climb, but I thought it would be good practice for the AFC half marathon next week. Boy was I surprised! I definitely was not prepared to run that uphill section into a very stiff headwind. The sustained wind gusts blew me all over the place and made my mouth really dry. I tried to stay behind a couple of guys and a girl, but it barely helped. After I hit my first walk break, I was sad to see my windshields go. I was surprised to only see a few people pass me during my break. I realized that even though my pace was slow, I was going too fast for the conditions and my current level of fitness. My right hip would remind me to slow down when I was around mile 10. Also I was having GI issues. It felt as if my guts were doing somersaults and back-flips. I kept thinking that I need to use the next portapotty or find a spot to do my business, but the urge would subside. I think it was the spicy shrimp I ate at the buffet, most likely a poor choice for carbo-loading. I made it to the half right where I wanted to be in order to give myself a chance at finishing a tad under 5 hrs.

1 - 8:07
2 - 9:21
3 - 9:25
4 - 10:11
5 - 9:26
6 - 10:15
7 - 11:27
8 - 10:20
9 - 11:33
10 - 12:05
11 - 12:53
12 - 12:40
13 - 13:06

Second Half
I was pooped by the time I got to the Coyote Summit, the highest point of the race. It was all downhill from this point, but I had to walk a lot more than I had planned. The GI issues was pretty much taken care of when I ran out of my Gatorade and switched to Heed. I'll have to look into that. As I reached the town of Rachel, I started to feel the onset of the leg cramps. I took a potty break when I reached mile 20. This was where the half marathoners turn left and finish at the Little A'le'Inn restaurant. It's somewhat demoralizing to see the finish line and then have to cover another 6.2 miles before you see it again. My legs were locking up at this point, so I decided to walk the next mile. That's when Mitch caught me. He said that he had trouble breathing in the first half due to the altitude. I guess that was another thing that was working against me. We were running at an altitude between 4000 and almost 6000 feet. The recovery walk alleviated the leg cramps. Anyways, the turnaround point was at around mile 23. During this stretch, a girl with knee high white most likely compression socks kept leapfrogging me. She must have been using my orange shirt as a target. Anyways I kept alternating between walking and running until I was about half a mile from the finish. I took off as fast as I could and crossed the finish line just at the break of dawn. I could not eat any of the breakfast spread after having sucked down Gatorade, Shot Bloks, Heed, and GU for the past 5.5 hrs.

14 - 13:10
15 - 12:21
16 - 12:03
17 - 12:31
18 - 14:47
19 - 13:21
20 - 15:18
21 - 19:25
22 - 15:13
23 - 13:35
24 - 13:55
25 - 13:52
26 - 14:05
26.2 - 1:54
Total: 5:26:33



Post race
After I cleaned off my face, it was another 2.5 hr bus ride back into Vegas. Once I got back to the hotel I took a shower, packed up, checked out, and headed back to the Rio Carnival World Buffet for round 2. This time I had about 6 plates. I was really craving the duck. Next time I'm back in town, I'm going to have to look for a new buffet restaurant. From this race, I discovered that I like Heed. It's not as sweet as Gatorade and if I can avoid GI issues, that would be swell. I like visiting Las Vegas. It's a fun place even if you're not there to enjoy its vices. There are a lot of running destinations in the surrounding areas. You come across lots of different walks of life since it's a tourist town. But next time I'll probably fly instead. The car ride home was not fun: little sleep + marathon + post-race buffet... you do the math. :D I pulled over at Primm just to get a bottle of Coke. I might come back to run this again next year, but I want to run some of Calico Racing's other events... in particular, The Running with the Devil.

San Francisco Marathon

The deck was stacked against me!
My only goal for this marathon was to run a sub5. I needed to finish no later than that or I would have missed my plane to St. Louis. My lower back had been bothering me for awhile so I ran less and less since the Seattle Marathon to give the back a rest. And to make things interesting, I caught the flu 2 weeks before the race. Also I was unable to take that week off from work... definitely no rest for the weary. In the aftermath of the flu, I was sporting a nice lingering cough. I went for a shakeout run on Friday. It was no good. My legs felt retarded and filled with lead. Breathing was still labored. Of course, I had the usual people question my decision to go ahead and run the race. The trip was already paid for and I've ran in worse conditions. So why not?

I flew out of John Wayne on Saturday morning. First time flying out of there and first time flying with Virgin America. The flight was delayed due to fog in SF. After kicking around the terminal for about an hour, we were finally allowed to board the plane. The cabin was illuminated like a nightclub with purple lights. Everything was very modern looking. There was a screen in front of every seat where you can listen to music, watch TV, or text other passengers. I played with it for a little bit but ended up reading my book. Once we landed, I rode the BART to my hotel. Thank you for not going on strike!

The Expo
I tried to check into the hotel early, but my room wasn't ready. While I was figuring out where to meet up with my friends, the guy at the front desk tells me that the room is ready. After dropping my stuff off in my room, I hoofed it over to the Hyatt to wait for the bus. It was a short ride to the expo. I could've walked over, but I figured I'll do plenty of that on Sunday. The expo was a zoo. Very crowded. I picked up my race packet and t-shirt and met up with Ryan. I said hello to Dane Rauschenberg since he's at almost every marathon that I run. We left right away since we wanted to try and tackle the Pho Challenge before the FE at Fuzio.

The Pho Challenge
Here's the link to their website: Pho Garden. The Pho Challenge is: finish 2 lbs of noodle and 2 lbs of meat within an hour. Long story short, when we got there, we were unable to take the challenge because they have people already lined up for it. You have to reserve a spot since they only have 4 of those huge bowls available. Since we were already there after a long bus ride, we took the unofficial mini challenge by eating an extra large bowl of pho. I've read from reviews that the challenge is about 3-4 times the size of the extra large bowl. That's a lot of pho!

The FE at Fuzio
After the disappointment, we vowed to come back next year and headed over to the FE at Fuzio. It was good to see the bay area folks and some new people from the forum! Since I already ate pho, I decided to have a few drinks instead. I stuck to the plan and cut myself off at 3 drinks: Anchor Steam, Guinness, and an Irish coffee for the cough.

Too much pre-race fun!
Robert, Ryan, Cat, and I headed back to our hotel and the BART, but somehow we ended up at Murphy's Pub. I ended up having a Black Butte Porter, Murphy's Stout, and Racer 5 IPA. That's 3 more beers that I didn't intend to have the night before a marathon! I must admit, they were good and hit the spot! I made sure I drank my water before going to sleep.

Race day
I slept pretty well. Woke up, drank my orange juice and ate my two chocolate Powerbars. ***TMI alert!*** Everything was going just as planned, but it looks like the "running" started a bit early. It must have been the alcohol, but I was definitely not feeling good. I got ready anyways and we were off. Ryan had to catch an earlier wave so he gave me his drop-off bag and jogged to the start. I jogged a little bit slower and had to duck into the Hyatt to use their bathroom. Good thing I stopped at the Hyatt, because that portapotty line at the starting area was long! I dropped off Ryan's bag and headed for the wave 4 corral. I sat down at the curb feeling exhausted and I hadn't even ran a mile yet!

First half
After waiting a few minutes, they released our corral. I made sure I didn't run out too fast. I was kind of worried that I couldn't get a single mile under 9 minutes. I knew I was in for a hard day since I was having to labor hard to maintain a slow pace. I was feeling a bit nauseous for about the first 5 miles. I had the taste of pho and beer in my mouth. But after 5 miles and getting the Gatorade into my system, everything started to feel better just in time for the Golden Gate crossing. While I was going out on the bridge, I got to see my friends Billy, Danica, and Jerry. On my return trip across the bridge, I came up to NYCParkrunner (Joe). Even though I passed him, I would see him later. When I came up to the half and full marathon split, I was very tempted to turn left and head for the 1st half finish line.

1: 9:26
2: 9:03
3: 9:28
4: 9:23
5: 9:05
6-11: 59:02
12: 11:02
13: 11:00
13.1: 2:08:36

Second half
I really do not like marathons that have to share the course with half marathoners. But it was really cool to see the elite runners for the 2nd half. I was spotted by Gundy around mile 17. He was pacing a friend. From viewing the elevation chart before the race, I thought the uphills would be over after reaching mile 18. But as the course continued to roll, I got really demoralized and started to stroll through the park. This was not a good idea, as I was passed by everyone. "Stampede in the gorge! Simba's down there!" I felt as if I was going to be trampled as the course was really narrow. As I left the park, I continued to take two more recovery miles. I saw Billy somewhere around here taking pictures of course. Later I spotted Joe again, so I ran up to talk to him. I had to let him go since I could not keep up. I stuck to my jog/walk method and just wanted to push hard enough to come in under 5hrs. As I was coming up to mile 26, I saw Danica on the side cheering. I was so dead by then. I was able to muster up a fast trot. Bart Yasso gave me a high five and told the crowd about my orange Worldvision shirt, the charity that Ryan Hall supports.

14: 10:21
15: 11:32
16: 13:06
17: 11:48
18: 11:37
19: 15:42
20-21: 27:19
22: 12:49
23: 12:49
24: 12:30
25: 13:34
26: 13:15
26.2: 1:47
Finish: 4:55:46

Post race thoughts
I need to come back and have a do over on this race. I was very surprised that I was able to meet my goal and get on the plane to St. Louis in time for work. Even though I probably drank a tad too much before a race, I think it is good to let loose and have fun once in awhile. Oh and I have to go back to take on the Pho Challenge!