Philly Marathon Race Report

Now I understand what Lance Armstrong was talking about when he claimed that running a marathon is tougher than any feat that he had claimed in his previous life as a professional cyclist, including those miraculous climbs up Alp D'huez.

My goal for the race was to run a 3:15. Nothing more nothing less. When I arrived at the start line however the pacers were 3'10 and 3'20. I chose the 3'10 group and decided to hang on as long as possible. I stayed within 50 yards of this group until I ran into a problem with the need for bathroom breaks. The porta johns were few and far between....I went where I could (I will spare you the details) and sprinted back to the pace group. However, after my third stop (somewhere around mile 17) i simply didnt have it in me to pull a Michael Johnson. I lost the pace group and decided I would try to clock 7'30s for the remainder of the race.

Somewhere around mile 22 my pace took a nose dive. It was all I could do to manage an 8'00 pace. I felt boston slipping away. It was at this point that I noticed alot of entrants resorting to walking...I was so tempted to stop. My calves were screaming for me to stop....i simply didnt have anything in me...it was at this point that i tried to focus on things unrelated to running...i thought about my billable hours at work, i thought through several partnership tax issues, and then I decidd to stop thinking about work and instead to pretend that all of the spectators were heckling me.....as silly as it sounds it worked...i got angry and was able to crank it out for the remaining miles.

I finished in 3:13:40. I am very sore...and at this point very much craving another race.