i missed my goal of 3hr 45min however i started in the last grouping because Susan was assigned to the last grouping (5:30 estimated time or greater), however she had submitted an estimated time of under 4, as did i and i was assigned to the grouping right after the elite racers. and without proof of time you can't change groupings. we had her PEI 1/2 marathon time but she ran with a slower person so it would not have moved her up. so we started together in the last grouping and i ran 5mi with her. due the number of people and the pace of the last grouping, our average pace time was a 10min mile. i wanted to start around 9min mile. once i unchivalrously took off on Susan i was passing everybody since i was running at a 8:30 pace while most were running at an 11+ pace. things were going great. then i had some gas building up and my bladder was filling up. needed to take a bathroom break upon entry to the Magic Kingdom. guy in the stall next to me laughed when heard what came out of my bowels... probably lost about 2min. by the halfway point i calculated that i had to then run an 8min mile for the rest of the race to get around a 3:45 finish. i kicked it up a notch and maintained just over an 8 min pace for a few miles. the pace after that started to creep up a little. once i hit mile 22 it was over. i hit the "wall". the mind was willing, but the body was not responding. i could no longer palate any more carbo/electrolyte fuel gels or powerade. i could barely drink water. pouring a cup over my head and down my back seemed to be more beneficial. not for my headphones though. i don't think they will ever sound the same... yes i had to listen to music since i was not being too social anyways, passing everybody. the last 4mi was the hardest 40min of my life! it was particularly disheartening because i knew i had to maintain a sub-8min pace to finish within my goal. i basically had to walk every 4min. i was now just trying to finish under 4hrs (my second goal) and that started to seem difficult. i was afraid i was going to throw up. i managed to do the last mile without any walking breaks, but i was not running very fast. i was about to cry when i realized that a marathon is not in fact 26mi but 26.2mi. you can't understand how long 0.2 miles feels after 26... but i made it. by the time i crossed the finish line there was not one more running step left in me. there was no sense of great accomplishment or pride, just pure relief that it was over.

it didn't help that we had to be up at 3am and we tried to go to bed at 9:30, but couldn't fall asleep until around 11pm. Susan started the race with wet feet because she stepped in a pseudo-stream while going for pee in the bushes. she also tripped in the race a fell flat on her face on the asphalt ( i was long gone at that point). remarkably she suffered no scrapes, just a bit of a charlie horse. she subsequently had to walk for a mile. she said that everybody around her stopped to make sure she was OK, and everybody cheered when she got up. those kind of stories are what these races are all about.

below is a per mile breakdown of my times. you'll see that my attempt to make up ground after the halfway point cost me in the end. ideally i would have liked to have run faster and faster miles and finish strong. i would say "next time" but right now that is laughable. many of you know that i don't actual enjoy running, but a marathon was always something i wanted to say that i've done. and now i can!!

per mile breakdown:

1 9:41
2 10:52
3 10:07
4 9:38
5 9:17
6 8:17
7 8:32
8 8:23
9 10:29
10 8:30
11 8:25
12 8:21
13 8:17
14 8:07
15 8:04
16 8:05
17 8:16
18 8:14
19 8:06
20 8:44
21 7:65
22 8:28
23 9:33
24 8:29
25 10:18
26.2 10:54