After taking a few years off marathoning, this was the year. I signed up for the Portland marathon in August. The schedule for the left just had enough time to get a couple long runs in before the race in November. I was suprised with a good finish. With a good PR at that race, I had 
the bug. I could make Boston for sure. I signed up for the California International Marathon scheduled for the next month in Sacramento. It was a great race but I did not perform as well as I had hoped. Wine tasting in a Napa and poor meal planning did not help any. I a great time but finished a couple minute of my Boston cutoff of 3:10. So it was with much anticipation that I signed up for the Arizona marathon in Phoenix. Looking at the calendar, Phoenix was the only real marathon this winter. It would be the only chance I had to make it this year.
The course was great. The course was senic an flat as a kansas prarie. Weather could not have been better. As one of the speakers said, it was no excuse weather. My race plan was meant to get me across the line just before my cutoff. 3:10:59 would have been fine with me. We started with a 20ish person pace group at the start. It was obvious that they were a bunch of guys who wanted to qualify for Boston. Our pace group leader seemed to be strong. It wasn’t until 10 miles in that he mentioned that this was only his 2nd marathon. Not a good sign. Later, he dropped back when he saw his wife having a hard time. Oh no! Who was going to pull my ass to the finish? The group soldiered on with a more or less steady pace. I tried as best I could to keep on pace.
Mile 20 came up hard as usual. I started to think of all kinds a great reasons to stop and start walking. Hey, this is just for fun isn’t it? I don’t really care what time I get. I think the cost of the trip and knowing that my wife had already signed up for Boston kept me on going. One foot, two. The last 4 miles seemed to be an eternity. The struggle really was keeping a positive outlook. Little mantras are the only thing that seem to work. “there is only success” “ there is no failure” and “anyone can run 5 miles”, “anyone can run 2 miles” did the trick. Soon I was running into Sun Devil stadium with a minute to spare. Yeah!
the bug. I could make Boston for sure. I signed up for the California International Marathon scheduled for the next month in Sacramento. It was a great race but I did not perform as well as I had hoped. Wine tasting in a Napa and poor meal planning did not help any. I a great time but finished a couple minute of my Boston cutoff of 3:10. So it was with much anticipation that I signed up for the Arizona marathon in Phoenix. Looking at the calendar, Phoenix was the only real marathon this winter. It would be the only chance I had to make it this year.The course was great. The course was senic an flat as a kansas prarie. Weather could not have been better. As one of the speakers said, it was no excuse weather. My race plan was meant to get me across the line just before my cutoff. 3:10:59 would have been fine with me. We started with a 20ish person pace group at the start. It was obvious that they were a bunch of guys who wanted to qualify for Boston. Our pace group leader seemed to be strong. It wasn’t until 10 miles in that he mentioned that this was only his 2nd marathon. Not a good sign. Later, he dropped back when he saw his wife having a hard time. Oh no! Who was going to pull my ass to the finish? The group soldiered on with a more or less steady pace. I tried as best I could to keep on pace.
Mile 20 came up hard as usual. I started to think of all kinds a great reasons to stop and start walking. Hey, this is just for fun isn’t it? I don’t really care what time I get. I think the cost of the trip and knowing that my wife had already signed up for Boston kept me on going. One foot, two. The last 4 miles seemed to be an eternity. The struggle really was keeping a positive outlook. Little mantras are the only thing that seem to work. “there is only success” “ there is no failure” and “anyone can run 5 miles”, “anyone can run 2 miles” did the trick. Soon I was running into Sun Devil stadium with a minute to spare. Yeah!
Next stop Boston. Maybe I can hang with Lance for a few miles...http://dailyviews.runnersworld.com/2008/01/its-official-la.html
