Race Report: 2025 Bound for Boston Marathon

On August 17, I ran the Bound for Boston Marathon in Maple Grove, MN.  This race is put on by Five Star NTP, which also has “Bound for Boston” marathons in several other cities.

I only learned about this race a few months ago.  I was pleased to discover a local race that I could run in August.  Deb had knee replacement surgery two weeks ago, and I don’t plan to travel anywhere until she’s farther along in her recovery.  If I was going to run a marathon in August, it had to be a local race.

I was so excited to find a race I could do without traveling that I didn’t look too closely at the details of the race.  It wasn’t until later that I discovered that this race was first held in 2024.  When I looked up last year’s results, I saw only seven names listed.  Of those, only five finished.  I’m not sure what surprised me more, the small number of participants or the fact that two didn’t finish.

I belong to various clubs like the 50 States Marathon Club and Marathon Maniacs.  They have rules about what’s considered to be a marathon.  It can’t just be a few friends getting together and running a 26.2-mile training run.  It has to be an official race.

This race met most of the rules.  There was a website, they provided advance notice of the race, the course was measured to be at least 26.2 miles, there was a race director and independent timekeeping, and they publish results.  There was only one potential problem.  Those clubs require a minimum number of finishers.  Five isn’t enough.

I initially attributed the low turnout to the fact that 2024 was the first year.  I didn’t know about this race last year.  Maybe other people didn’t know about it either.  I was cautiously optimistic that they would have a higher turnout in their second year.

The course is certified, and the race is billed as a good place to qualify for Boston, because the course is flat.  I was skeptical of that.  To run a fast time, you also need favorable weather, and August isn’t known for cool temperatures.

About two weeks before the race, I noticed something else that I had previously overlooked.  As I was looking up the race morning schedule, I saw that packet pickup started at 5:45, and the race started at 6:30.  That’s all fine.  Then I noticed that the course closes at 10:30.  What?  That’s only four hours after the start.  I had to doublecheck.  The time limit was four hours.

Now I understood why so few people do this race.  Apparently, they’re only expecting runners who are trying to qualify for Boston.  Four hours is a tight enough time limit to deter many middle-of-the-pack runners.  It completely excludes back-of-the-pack runners.

I know several runners who do most of the local races.  In general, they’re always looking for an opportunity to fit an extra race into their schedule.  Unfortunately, four hours is just too fast for them.  I couldn’t even be confident that I could finish in four hours.  On a good day, I can run a time in the 3:40s, but that’s with favorable conditions.  If it was a hot day, finishing in four hours might prove to be difficult.

I was expecting temperatures in the 70s with high humidity.  The wildcard was a possible thunderstorm.  A large storm system had stalled over the Midwest.  The day before the race, we had periods of heavy rain with thunder, and there were flash flood warnings.

I set my alarm for 4:00 AM, but a loud noise woke me up ay 3:30.  I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I ate breakfast and started getting ready.  I was relieved when I looked outside and didn’t see any rain.

I checked the weather app on my phone.  It said heavy rain would be starting in about an hour.  I looked at the weather radar and saw a large storm system was slowly moving up from farther south.

Would they cancel the race if there was a thunderstorm?  I checked my email and saw a new email form the race organizers.  It made no mention of the weather.  It was just the QR code I would need to pick up my race packet.  I left a little early, in case I had to drive through heavy rain.

The race venue was Fernbrook Elementary School.  The course was 24 laps of a 1.1 mile loop going around the school grounds.  It was mostly paved, but had a section of wooden walkway.

I showed up with several concerns.  Could I stay on pace for a four-hour finish in these conditions?  How many other runners would be running?  If I finished in time, would my running clubs even count it?  Would I be running in a thunderstorm?

I was going to give it a try regardless.  It’s been three weeks since my last marathon, and my next one isn’t until September.  If nothing else, I needed a long training run to bridge the long gap between my last marathon and my next one.

I got in line behind two other runners to pick up my race bib.  The runners ahead of me were both doing the half marathon.  When it was my turn, I asked the race director how many people were running the marathon.  He said 24 runners were signed up for it.  That assuaged my first concern.  The race was large enough.

Another runner asked about the time limit.  The race director said they only say four hours, because they don’t want runners signing up who will need seven hours to finish.  He went on to say that he wouldn’t pull anyone off the course if they weren’t done in four hours.  He just didn’t want us to still be on the course at noon.

I talked to two other runners before the race who both said they were expecting times between 4:00 and 4:30.  If I couldn’t break four hours, I would still get an official finish, and I wouldn’t be the last runner on the course.  That took care of my second concern.  I would try to break four hours, but it wouldn’t be a big deal if I took a little longer.

My last concern was the weather.  When I left the house, it looked like heavy rain would arrive about the same time we were starting.  After making a bathroom stop, I checked my weather app again.  Either the storm was dissipating, or it was missing us.  At worst, we might have a few periods of light sprinkles.  As it turns out, we didn’t get any rain at all.

The path we were running on was wide enough for two runners side-by-side, but it wasn’t wide enough for a large group.  To keep the first lap from being congested, we had a staggered start.  We formed a line, and we were started a few seconds apart.  The race was chip-timed, so nobody lost any time waiting for their turn to start.

As I started running, I was on my own to establish the right pace.  I started somewhat aggressively.  Beyond that, I was scouting the course.  I had never run this loop before.

We had some periods of heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, so I was looking to see if any parts of the course were flooded.  I saw one puddle, but everywhere else we had dry footing.

As advertised, the course was flat.  As for the wooden section, it was a long bridge over a marshy area.  Bridges like this always make me nervous, but it was in good condition, and I never tripped.

We didn’t all line up in the same order we would eventually finish.  Inevitably, I passed a few runners, and a few runners passed me.  By the end of the first lap, however, everything shook out.  We were spread out far enough that I was running by myself, but I could always see the runner in front of me.

I felt like I was running too fast.  When I got my split for the first mile, it was 8:15.  That confirmed my suspicion.  To break four hours, I only needed to average 9:09 per mile.  For a Boston qualifier (3:50), I needed to average 8:45.  I was 30 seconds faster than that.

After that, I eased up a bit.  My second mile was 8:40.  That was more reasonable, but it was still fast enough for a Boston qualifier.  That wasn’t my goal at the start of the day, but I decided to go for it.  If there was a hard four-hour cutoff, I would’ve paced myself more conservatively, to make sure I finished within the time limit.  Knowing there wasn’t a hard cutoff emboldened me to run more aggressively.  I risked blowing up, but I knew I would get a chance to finish.

Early in my third lap, another runner caught up with me.  His name was Brian.  He was in town on business and saw this race as an opportunity to run a Minnesota marathon while he was already here.  Before the race, I met another runner who said the same thing.

I asked Brian what his goal was.  It was 3:45.  That was faster than my goal, but it wasn’t completely unreasonable.  I decided to run with Brian for a while and see how it went.

Although me didn’t have rain, we still had overcast skies.  That was a blessing.  The temperature was 70 degrees, and the dew point was 66, so the humidity was high.  Fortunately, we had a nice breeze that helped counteract the humidity.  The conditions, while not ideal, were about the best I could’ve hoped for at this time of year.

Brian and I were in our fifth lap when a faster runner came up on our left.  The fastest runner was already lapping us.  That wasn’t surprising, as this is a race that’s designed to appeal to faster runners.

There were tables in the start/finish area where runners could leave bottles or other nutrition.  They also had a table with cups of water and Gatorade.  As we were finishing our sixth lap, Brian needed to stop to refill his bottle.  I went ahead on my own.

Running with Brian, my mile times were in the 8:30s.  I was planning to ease up a bit while I was waiting for him to catch up, but I kept going at the same pace.

About halfway through the next lap, two more fast runners lapped me.  Then Brian caught up to me.  I didn’t expect him to catch up so quickly.  It seemed like he was running a little faster now.  I had to work harder to keep up with him.

I was drinking Gatorade at the end of each even-numbered lap.  As I paused to drink at the end of our eighth lap, I fell behind Brian.  I wasn’t able to catch up to him.  I had to let him go and run at my own pace.  My pace wasn’t as consistent now, but most of my mile times were still in the 8:30s.

I was in my ninth lap when the lead woman lapped me.  Her name was Olivia.  Before the race, I heard her tell another runner her goal was 3:35.  It’s not surprising that she lapped me, but it was surprising that she did it so early in the race.

After 12 laps, I was half done.  I wasn’t keeping up with Brian, but I was still on pace to break 3:45.

The cups at the aid station only had about an inch of Gatorade in them.  I was more conscious of the humidity now, and I realized I wasn’t drinking enough.  In the second half of the race, I drank at the end of every lap.

During my 14th lap, I realized I was catching up with Brian, so I worked a little harder to close the gap.  When I caught up to him, I realized he was slowing down.  I ended up going ahead of him.

When I paused to drink some Gatorade at the end of that lap, Brian caught up to me again.  I eased up a bit so I could run with him.  We were less than halfway through that lap when Brian told me he was fading and I should go on ahead on my own.  My time for that mile was 8:51, which was my slowest so far.  In the next mile, I sped up to 8:45, which was the pace I needed to average for a BQ.

As I was coming to the bridge in my 16th lap, I recognized Olivia in the distance.  She was just coming off the bridge.  It was a long bridge, but I was still surprised to see her.  I though she would be much farther ahead of me by now.  Two other women had lapped me, and I didn’t see either of them, so Olivia was no longer leading the race.

In the next lap, as I got onto the bridge again, I saw Olivia was still on the bridge.  I wasn’t as far behind now.  I challenged myself to catch up to her.  I brought my pace back down into the 8:30s.

Early in my 18th lap, I saw that I was going to catch up to Olivia.  I wondered if she still expected to break 3:35.  I was still a lap behind her, but I wondered if it made sense to run with her for the rest of the race.

I was just about to catch up to Olivia when she started walking, so she could drink some water.  I passed her and continued running on my own.

After 18 laps, I was three quarters done, but it was getting more difficult.  I was feeling the humidity in a big way now.  The conditions had not changed.  They just gradually took a toll on me.  Other runners were slowing down.  So far, I was keeping up a consistent pace, but it was getting more difficult.

For two more laps, I kept up the same pace.  I had built up a cushion, and I wondered if I was going to give it back now.

The race director had a PA system.  Whenever someone finished a lap, he announced their name, how many laps they completed, and their time for the lap they had just finished.  When I finished my 20th lap, my time for that lap was 9:29.  To stay on pace for a Boston qualifier, I needed to average 9:35 per lap.  With four laps to go, I just needed to average 10:15 per lap the rest of the way.

At this point, I began to slow down.  My split for mile 22 was 8:54.  The next mile was 9:04.  In lap 22, I felt like I was running out of gas, but I fought to keep from slowing down too much.  As I neared the end of that lap, I saw that I sped up to 9:02.  That was reassuring.

As I started my 23rd lap, it occurred to me that I just had 2.2 miles to go.  I was fading, but I was pretty sure I could keep it together for 2.2 miles.  I might slow down, but I would still break 3:50.

I fought hard to keep up my effort for another lap.  If I could hold pace for one more lap, I would have room to slow down in the last lap.

In mile 25, I slowed to 9:13.  That wasn’t too bad.  As I finished lap 23, I checked my time.  To break 3:50, I needed to run my final lap in 12:08.  So far, all my lap times had been under 10 minutes.

I could afford to average almost 11 minutes per mile in that last lap.  The scary thing is that I often run as slowly as that in summer training runs.  If I allowed myself to slow to a pace that felt comfortable, it might not be fast enough.  I had to force myself to keep up my effort for one more lap.  I knew I could do it, but it wasn’t going to feel good.

I only slowed down by a few seconds in my last lap.  I finished the race in 3:47:46.

Immediately after I finished, one of the volunteers handed me a bottle of water and a bottle of Gatorade.  I don’t usually feel like drinking after a race, but I knew I would need both of them.  I also drank a cup of Gatorade from the aid station.

They had the same medals for both races, but marathon runners also received a pin that said “Marathon.”

I was also handed another pin.  There were awards to the top three men and women overall, the top master (over 40), the top grandmaster (over 50), the top senior grandmaster (over 60), plus age group awards.  I expected to win the senior grandmasters division.  I was surprised to find out that I was third overall.

When I got back to my car, my clothes were soaked, and I was still sweating profusely.  Sweat from my forehead was dripping into my eyes, making them sting.  I really could have used a towel, but I didn’t think to bring one.  Four hours after getting home, I was still working to get rehydrated.

This race took a lot out of me, but I couldn’t be happier with my result.  I originally just wanted another marathon to bridge the gap between two marathons that were seven weeks apart.  I would’ve been content to run it like a training run.  Instead, I got a BQ and a third-place finish.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:47:46

Average Pace:  8:41 per mile

First Half:  1:52:20

Second Half:  1:55:26

Marathons/Ultras in 2025:  25

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  560

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  114

Boston Qualifiers:  180

A Quadzilla Update

My primary motivation for running the Jackal Marathons was to get a quadzilla in another state.  I’ve been trying to run quadzillas in as many different states as I can.  It’s not actually possible to run one in every state.  There aren’t series of races in every state.  I’ll run the ones I can find.

The term “quadzilla” was coined by members of Marathon Maniacs.  Today, there are numerous series of races held over multiple days, but it wasn’t always like that.

When I joined the 50 States Marathon Club, I heard about other runners who would sometimes run a marathon in one state on a Saturday and then run one in another state on Sunday.  They called this a weekend double.

I ran my first double in 2005.  I was already signed up for a race in Connecticut called the Mystic Places Marathon.  Then I learned that there was a race in Newport, RI the day before.  Deb and I flew to Providence on Friday, spent one night in Newport, and then spent the rest of our vacation in Mystic.

Running a “double” was tough, but not nearly as tough as I expected it to be.  A year later, I did another double with races in Indiana and Kentucky.

The next step up was a triple.  I knew of only one place where you could to that.  It was the Tahoe Triple, which is in California and Nevada.  Over the course of three days, you run all the way around Lake Tahoe, with a little bit of overlap.

Before I ran my first triple, I joined Marathon Maniacs.  This club is all about running marathons frequently.  Some members, including the three founders, had done something they called a quadzilla.  In recent years, the Tahoe Triple has taken place over a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Originally, it was Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, making it possible to run another marathon on Sunday.  A few guys combined the Tahoe Triple with the Bizz Johnson Marathon, and the quadzilla was born.

I had my sights set on trying the Tahoe Triple in 2011, but then I learned about another triple.  There was a race in Portland, OR that was always held on July 4, regardless of what day of the week it was.  It was a race sponsored by Foot Traffic called the Flat Marathon.  In 2011, July 4 was a Monday.  Steve Walters, who lives in the Portland area created two smaller races on Saturday and Sunday.  These races could be combined with the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon for a triple over the long weekend.  Steve called it the Firecracker Triple, and he ordered T-shirts.

I ran the Firecracker Triple in July and then ran the Tahoe Triple in September.  The next step up was a quadzilla.

With the Tahoe Triple shifting to Friday through Sunday, it was no longer possible to do the original quadzilla, but now there was one in Seattle.  The Seattle Quadzilla consisted of four marathons over the Thanksgiving long weekend.

At the time, the Seattle Quadzilla was the only place in the United States where you could run marathons on four consecutive days.  Today, there are numerous multi-day series of marathons, but none of those existed yet.  The quadzilla was still the pinnacle.  For a Marathon Maniac, it was the most badass thing you could do.

Flash forward to 2013.  July 4 was a Thursday.  Steve Walter held races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  If you did those three plus the Flat Marathon, it was called the Firecracker Quadzilla.  I ran the Firecracker Quadzilla in July, and then I ran the Seattle Quadzilla in November.

On the second day of the Seattle Quadzilla, I was wearing my T-shirt from the Firecracker Quadzilla.  Another runner saw my shirt and said, “Look.  That guy’s a quadzilla expert."  Steve was standing next to me at the time, and it started a brief conversation.  We wondered how many states there were where you could run a quadzilla.  We didn’t consider the new series Mainly Marathons had where you could run marathons in several different states on consecutive days.

Besides the Firecracker Quadzilla in Oregon and the Seattle Quadzilla in Washington, we could think of only three others.  There was the Texas Quad, which was also held over Thanksgiving weekend, the Day of the Dead Series in New Mexico, and the Savage Seven in Florida.

It was this conversation that planted the idea in my mind.  I wanted to run a quadzilla in as many different states as I could.  I don’t know why I focused solely on series that were all in one state.  Maybe it’s because I was a member of the 50 States Marathon Club, and I saw running quadzillas in each state as a similar goal, even though I knew it was impossible.

I didn’t add my third state until 2015.  By then, the Day of the Dead Series had grown to a seven-day series.  I didn’t do the whole series.  I just ran the first four days.  That was enough to complete a quadzilla in New Mexico.

Mainly Marathons had been adding more and more multi-day series, but they all spanned multiple states.  I lobbied Clint Burleson to add a series in Hawaii.  Eventually he did.  It was called the Aloha Series.  It was a four-day series with every race on the island of Kauai.  I ran that series in 2017.

Clint also added an Alaska Series, giving him marathons in all 50 states.  Then he sold Mainly Marathons to two brothers from Minnesota.  They added a series of four trail marathons in Minnesota and called it the Minnesota Brothers Trail Series.  I ran the Minnesota Brothers Trail Series in 2019.

In 2019, I also did four days of the Savage Seven.  The Savage Seven was a seven-day series in Florida.  The series started the day after Christmas and ended on New Years Day.  I didn’t want to travel on Christmas Day, so I flew to Florida on the 26th and only ran days two through five of the series.  That was enough to get a quadzilla in Florida. I was able to fly home in time for New Years.

I had plans to run the Alaska Series in 2020, but I cancelled those plans because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  I had lots of race plans that got cancelled that year, but I found something epic to replace them.

The Rueckert brothers had rebranded their Minnesota series.  Now it was called Summer Camp, and they expanded it to six days.  They already had two other series that included races in Minnesota.  Their Heartland Series had races in seven different states, with the last one in Minnesota.  Their Prairie Series also had races in seven different states, with the first one in Minnesota.  Their grand plan for 2020 was to hold these three series back-to-back.  If you did all three, you could run marathons on 20 consecutive days.  There was just one problem.  The pandemic made it nearly impossible to get permits to hold races at venues in 13 different states.

Most of their series had to be cancelled that year, but they rearranged this one.  After learning what they had to do to get permits for races in Minnesota, they merged these three series and pulled all the races into Minnesota.  They called it Running Ragged 20 in 20.

I ran the Running Ragged 20 in 20 series, even though I already had done a series in Minnesota.  It was something epic to replace all the races that got cancelled that year.  Two months later, I did the Texas Quad.

In 2021, I finally did the Alaska Series, which was a four-day series.  I didn’t add any more new states until this week, when I did the Jackal Marathons to add Tennessee.  Now I’ve run a quadzilla (or more) in nine different states.

I’m planning to do Arizona next.  Aravaipa Running has multiple events going on at the same time during Across the Years.  Most of them are fixed-time ultras, ranging anywhere from six hours to six days.  During their six-day race, they also have marathons each day.  I’m planning to do all six, even though I would only need four to get an Arizona quadzilla.

If you’re reading this, please consider joining me in Arizona to run as many as six marathons from December 28 through January 2.  If you can’t make it for the whole series, consider doing the races on January 1st and 2nd.  I’ve looked at past results, and they get plenty of runners for the first four days, but not as many on the first two days of January.  I think too many people need to get home to return to work.  I’m hoping to recruit enough other runners to make sure there are at least 15 of us every day.

Running quadzillas in different states is sort of a silly goal.  I’m off in the weeds on my own for this one.  It’s silly for three reasons.  First, I know I can’t run them in every state.  I’m already running out of states that have quadzilla opportunities.  Second, running a quadzilla was once the be-all and end-all of running on consecutive days, but that’s no longer the case.  Finally, it ignores the many multi-day series that include marathons in more than one state.  Mainly Marathons has numerous multi-day series.  There’s also the Four Corners Quad Keyah and the New England Challenge.

I’m running out of serious goals, so I guess I’m down to the silly ones now.  In other news, the Jackal Trail Marathon was my second marathon starting with the letter J.  If I do one more race starting with Q, I could complete another round of the alphabet.

Race Report: 2025 Boston Marathon

My last post was a race report for the Boston 5K race, which is held two days before the Boston Marathon.  This post picks up where that one left off.

Saturday, April 19

Race weekend is a time when I get together with various running groups.  My first meet-up was Saturday afternoon.  Saturday was the warmest day of the weekend, and I had some free time after lunch, so I went for a stroll through the Boston Public Garden.

There’s a statue in the garden called Make Way for Ducklings.  On marathon weekend, the ducklings are often dressed up.  This year, the people doing the decorating outdid themselves.

One of the groups I always see in Boston is called Boston Squeakers.  We met at Time Out Market.  Getting there on the T was a bit of an adventure.  Time Out Market is near Fenway Park, and I was going there about the same time that people were heading that way for the Red Sox Game.  Every train was packed.

Tiem Out Market is a good place for groups to meet, because there are dozens of long tables.  There’s also a variety of food and drinks.  Our squeaker reunion lasted for about two hours.  Then a few of us went out to dinner together.

Sunday, April 20

I had breakfast with two friends who were also in town for the Marathon.  We went to The Friendly Toast, which is a brunch spot I had never been to before.

After breakfast, I did a workout at the hotel and organized all my clothes for the race.  Then I headed out to walk around town a bit.

Sunday is the day that various running clubs get together for group photos at the finish line.  I belong to three groups that were meeting for group photos.  The first one was Marathon Maniacs.  They always meet at the finish line at noon.

The next group is called the World Marathon Majors Challenge Group.  Runners in this group aim to run all of the marathons that are collectively called the World Marathon Majors.  They met at 12:15.

The last group meeting for a photo was Boston Squeakers.  They met at 12:30.  After this group photo, I had lunch with two of my squeaker friends.

In the afternoon, I had another meet-up at Time Out Market.  This time it was with members of the 50Sub4 club.

Time Out Market has about a dozen restaurants, including one with pizza.  After most of the others left, I stayed to have dinner.

I went to bed early, so I was already sound asleep when the fire alarm went off at 9:00 PM.  This is the third time I’ve stayed at a hotel that had a fire alarm while I was sleeping.  It’s always the night before a race.

I heard a few short bursts of an alarm buzzer that was too loud to ignore.  Then I heard a PA announcement.  I sleep with ear plugs, so I couldn’t hear the announcement until I took out one of my ear plugs.  By then, I had missed part of it.  I was only semi-conscious, so I didn’t hear it clearly.  What I thought I heard is that some floors might need to evacuate, but to wait for further instructions.

I probably should’ve got up and got dressed, but I just wanted to go back to sleep.  After that, it was quiet for a while, and I may have fallen asleep again.

After a while, I heard the alarm sounds again, followed by another PA announcement.  I had my ear plugs in again, so I didn’t hear this one at all.  I convinced myself that if we really needed to evacuate the building, the alarms and announcements would be continuous.  It got quiet again, so I stayed in bed.

When I heard the alarm sounds a third time, I got up.  I took out my ear plugs in time to hear them say, “All clear.”  Then I went back to sleep.

I slept for a few more hours.  I woke up some time after midnight.  Then my mind was immediately on the race.  My body was ready to go back to sleep, but my mind was active.  I tried to get back to sleep, but I was awake for the rest of the night.

Monday, April 21

Monday was race day.  The third Monday in April is a state holiday called Patriots’ Day.  The marathon is a big part of the Patriots’ Day celebrations, making it a community event.

The start is in Hopkinton.  Most runners get there by taking school buses that pick them up at Boston Common and drop them off at Hopkinton High School.

Some running clubs arrange for their own buses to take them to Hopkinton.  I’ve been riding on a club bus for the past several years.  It costs extra, but it has some advantages.  Instead of being dropped off at the high school, we get to stay on the bus until it’s time to walk to the start corrals.  The club buses park at Hopkinton Elementary School.  There are plenty of port-o-potties near where the buses are parked, and the lines there are much shorter than the lines in the Athletes’ Village at the high school.

I was lucky to be able to get a room at the same hotel where club buses pick us up.  I could board the bus any time after 6:15.  The bus left at 6:45.

The ride to Hopkinton took about an hour.  That gave us a lot of time to sit and wait before the race started.  I knew several people on the bus, and I brought some water and snacks.

To get to the start corrals, we first had to walk over to the Athletes’ Village.  From there, we walked the rest of the way along the same route take by the runners who waited in the Athletes’ Village.  In all, it was about 1.4 miles of walking.  I allowed plenty of time.  There are port-o-potties set up around the parking lot of a CVS that’s right near the start corrals.  I stopped there for a final bathroom stop before walking to my corral.

Boston weather can change significantly from day to day.  On Saturday, it was unseasonable warm, with a high of 82.  On Sunday, it was unusually windy.  On Monday, we had weather that was nearly perfect for running a marathon.  The temperature at the start was in the mid-50s, and it didn’t change much during the race.

The race is divided into three waves with staggered start times.  I was in the third wave, which started at 10:50.  We were seeded into start corrals based on our qualifying times.  I was in the second corral of my wave.

My qualifying time was 3:26:56.  Everyone else in my corral had a similar qualifying time, so I was surrounded by runners who were most likely aiming to run a time in the 3:20s.

I run dozens of races each year, and the qualifying time I submit is always my fastest time.  I ran my best time on a course that descends 3,700 feet.  I can’t run that fast on a more typical marathon course.  My goal was to break 3:50, but I was surrounded by runners who were much faster than that.  One of the challenges in pacing myself well was to ignore the runners around me.  If I kept up with them, I’d start way too fast.  Adding to this challenge, the first four miles are downhill.

The first mile starts out sharply downhill.  I ran down the hill at a pace that felt comfortable.  I knew better than to push the pace.  Most of the runners around me were starting faster.  I did a good job of ignoring them and just running my own pace.

The course is marked in miles, but early in the race, they also had signs at each kilometer.  The first mile was mostly downhill, but it turns uphill right at the one kilometer sign.  Going up this hill, I maintained the same effort as before.  I didn’t worry about slowing down.  I didn’t want to expend any extra energy on this hill.

I needed to run an average pace of 8:45 per mile, but I knew some miles would be faster and some would be slower.  I was hoping to keep my effort consistent.  I ran the first mile in 8:22.  That was faster than my target pace, but I expected that.

The next three miles were also mostly downhill.  I ran them all at about the same pace.  After four miles, I was already 90 seconds ahead of schedule for a 3:50 finish.

Starting with mile five, the course leveled off.  Some miles were slightly uphill.  Others were slightly downhill.  For the next several miles, there was verry little net elevation change.

Although my target pace was 8:45, I could now afford to be about 10 seconds slower than that over the next nine miles.  If I did that, I would reach the halfway mark right on schedule.

In mile five, I kept up the same effort as before.  I wasn’t sure if that would give me the pace I desired.  I had to wait and see.  As it turns out, that mile wasn’t as fast as the first four, but it was still a little bit faster than my target pace.

I tried to ease up a bit in mile six, but my pace was still about the same.  Now, I was starting to get concerned that I was running too fast.  On the plus side, I was doing a really good job of ignoring all the other runners.  Everyone was passing me.

In mile seven, I did a better job is easing up on my pace.  I slowed to 8:59 in that mile after doing the previous mile in 8:39.  It momentarily shocked me to see that I slowed down by 20 seconds.  I had to remind myself that this was the pace I needed to be running.

Mile eight was slightly uphill.  I picked up my effort, because I didn’t want to run any slower than the previous mile.  I ended up running a little bit faster.

At nine miles, we passed a lake.  The wind was blowing across the lake, and the breeze felt good.

Over the next few miles, I was running a reasonable pace.  Overall, however, I was still ahead of schedule.

Runners who have finished the last 25 Boston Marathons are members of the Quarter Century Club (QCC).  These runners have special bibs on their backs with their names and the number of consecutive Boston Marathons they’ve finished.  QCC members no longer need to qualify for the race.  As long as they keep finishing each year, they get guaranteed entry.  They also get to start in the second wave, which gives them extra time to finish.

As I was catching up to QCC members, I went out of my way to congratulate and encourage them.  I hope to join the QCC someday, but it’ll take me another 11 years.  By then, I’ll be in my 70s.

About halfway through mile 13, I reached Wellesley College, where the students come out and make a lot of noise for us.  I estimated I was about 70 seconds ahead of schedule, so I could afford to slow down enough to take out my phone and take several pictures.

That mile was my slowest of the race, but I thought I was still ahead of schedule by about 25 seconds.  When I reached the halfway point, I was shocked to see that I was actually 15 seconds behind schedule.  My watch had been consistently giving me splits before I reached the mile markers, and the disparity had been growing.  I realized now that my actual pace, on average, was about three seconds slower than the splits I was getting from my watch.  I had to adjust for that in the second half.

I had two goals for this race.  My first goal was to break 3:50.  My second goal was to run negative splits, which is challenging on this course.  At this point, if I didn’t run negative splits, I also wouldn’t reach my time goal.

I’ve run lots of other racers after only getting a few hours of sleep.  I usually feel tired before the race, but I don’t notice it once I start running.  The lack of sleep doesn’t hit me again until sometime in the afternoon.

This race has such a late start time that I wasn’t able to shake off that tired feeling.  I had felt tired since the beginning of the race, and now it was already afternoon.  I felt like my effort so far had been quite reasonable.  If I struggled in the late miles, it was more likely going to be the lack of sleep that would catch up to me.

For the first half of the race, the wind was coming from the south, so it was a cross-breeze.  Now, the wind had shifted.  It was coming from that east, making it a headwind.  I had mixed feelings about that.  The breeze out of the east would keep me from getting hot, but I didn’t know if it would be tiring.

The next three miles were downhill, and I used them to re-establish my pace after having a slow mile going past Wellesley College.  In mile 14, I picked up my pace enough that I was now keeping up with the runners around me.  I sped up to 8:28 in that mile.

Mile 15 was also downhill, but not as much.  In that mile, I was just a few seconds under my target pace.

In the second half of the race, I started to see digital clocks showing the current time of day.  To be an official finisher, you need to finish by 5:30 PM.  These signs helped back of the pack runners know how much time they had to finish.

At about 25K, I began a half-mile stretch that’s sharply downhill.  Here, I sped up enough that I was passing other runners for the first time.  That caused me to have my fastest mile of the race.

Just before the 16-mile mark, I entered the town of Newton.  The next five miles would be the toughest part of the race.  This section has rolling hills.  There are a total of four hills.  I knew exactly where each one would start, and I knew exactly what each one was like.

The first hill starts right where you enter Newton.  It’s a gradual climb, but it’s fairly long.  On this hill, I challenged myself to keep running my target pace, even though it took more effort.  That hill was tiring, but after cresting the hill, I had almost a mile to recover before the next one.

I saw a spectator holding up a sign saying, “Welcome to Newton.  Have a Fig Newton.”  She was handing out Fig Newtons.  If you didn’t know, Fig Newtons were named after Newton, MA, so I couldn’t resist eating one.

Another spectator was holding a sign saying, “I ran a 5K once.”  I pointed at her and said, “I ran one on Saturday.”  That got a laugh.

When I reached the 17-mile mark, I was pleased to see that I had run faster than my target pace, even though that mile was mostly uphill.

At 17.5 miles, I made the right turn onto Commonwealth.  This is where the second hill begins.  This hill isn’t as long, but it’s steeper.  If I tried to maintain the same pace going up this hill, I would tire myself out.  Instead, I focused on maintaining a steady effort.  My time for that mile wasn’t as fast as the previous mile, but it was still pretty close to my target pace.

After cresting that hill, I moved to the right side of the street, to look for my friend, Eliot, who was volunteering at the next aid station.

The next hill was still more than a mile away.  Mile 19 is like the calm before the storm.  I made good time in that mile.

The third hill comes early in mile 20.  This is the smallest of the Newton hills, but I’ve learned to respect it.  After cresting the other hills, you come back downhill.  After this hill, the road just levels off.  If you’re tired at the top of this hill, you’ll still be tired when you start the last one.  I gave up a few seconds in mile 20, but overall, I was still on pace.

The last of the four hills is Heartbreak Hill.  This hill starts out with a gentle grade, but it’s a longer hill, and it gets steeper near the top.  You’re going around a bend, so you can’t see the whole hill when you start it.

Going up Heartbreak Hill, my goal was to run at a pace that wouldn’t wear me out.  I was willing to give up some time.  What I didn’t want to do is wipe myself out.  I was slow on this hill, but I knew it would be followed by a long downhill stretch.  If I had enough energy to run well there, I could make up the time I lost on Heartbreak Hill.  There was a banner across the road at the top of the hill, so you can see where the top was.

My time for mile 21 was 9:20.  My legs felt heavy after Heartbreak Hill, but I was able to recover as I started running downhill.

Mile 22 is all downhill.  I adjusted my stride, and I increased my cadence.  In this mile, I ran past Boston College.  The students there were cheering just as loud as the students at Wellesley College.  This is another highlight of the course.

I ran hard all the way through mile 22, using the downhill to try to gain some time.  I ran that mile in 8:28, but I was disappointed that it wasn’t faster.

After that, the course started to level off.  I didn’t know if I could keep up a fast enough pace when I wasn’t running downhill.  I fought to keep up with the runners around me.

I was most of the way through mile 24 when I caught my first glimpse of the giant Citgo sign.  It was still about a mile and a half away.  When I got there, I would still have a mile to go.

I kept up a good pace through miles 24 and 25.  At the end of mile 25, I had to go up a small hill to reach the bridge over I-90.  It’s only a small climb, but it made my legs feel just as tired as they were at the top of Heartbreak Hill.

As I reached the Citgo sign, I had exactly one mile to go.  There’s a line across the street.  I checked my watch.  To break 3:50, I needed to run the mast mile in 9:27.  I knew I would do that.  I had run faster than that in the mile that included Heartbreak Hill.  If I could put on a strong enough finish, I might be as much as a minute faster than that.

I ran under the Charlesgate bridge, which is painted with the words, “Boston Strong.”  I kept going and started down the ramp to go under Massachusetts Avenue.  I wasn’t able to pick up my pace going down the ramp, but I fought hard to maintain my effort coming back up on the other side.

I made the right turn onto Hereford and worked hard to charge up the hill to get the Boylston.  By the top, I was starting to slow down.

After turning onto Boylston, I could see the finish line in the distance.  It was about three and a half blocks away.  At first, I was just keeping up with the runners around me.  With a block and a half to go, I was finally able to speed up.

I finished in 3:49:07.  I ran a Boston qualifier with less than a minute to spare.  I ran negative splits by more than a minute.  It’s the third straight year that I’ve run negative splits on this course.  That’s never easy.

A lot of people were stopping to take selfies just past the finish line.  I kept moving as quickly as I could until I reached the volunteers with finisher medals in the next block.  The Boston medal is always my favorite.

Next, a volunteer wrapped a heat sheet around me, and another added a piece of tape to hold it in place.  Now that I was no longer running, I really needed that heat sheet.  The wind felt much stronger on Boylston, because of the way the wind gets funneled between the buildings.  The temperature had dropped into the low 50s, and the wind seriously felt cold now.

In the next block, I accepted a small bottle of Gatorade from a volunteer, not knowing the food bags would have a larger bottle of Gatorade plus a bottle of water.

When I got to the end of the finish area, I only needed to walk one more block to get back to my hotel.  When I got to my room, my first priority was taking a hot bath.

I had a ton of post-race food, but I only ate a fraction of it.  It was already 3:00 when I got back to my room, and I was planning to have dinner at 5:30.

I had dinner with several of my squeaker friends.  When I looked at a map, it didn’t seem like the restaurant was that far away.  It was about a mile, which was a long way to walk after finishing a marathon.  We were talking well into the evening.

Tuesday, April 22

I flew home on Tuesday.  In the airport, I saw several other runners wearing their Boston Marathon shirts or jackets.  Some were still wearing their medals 

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:49:07

Average Pace:  8:44 per mile

First Half:  1:55:15

Second Half:  1:53:52

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  543

Boston Qualifiers:  178

World Marathon Majors:  28 (14 Boston, 6 Chicago, 4 NYC, 2 Berlin, London, Tokyo)

Race Report: 2024 Route 66 Marathon

On November 24, I ran the Route 66 Marathon.  I needed a marathon in Oklahoma to finish my fifth circuit of 50 states, and this is my favorite Oklahoma marathon.  It was also one of the quarterly reunions of the 50 States Marathon Club, so I was motivated to finish at this race.

Friday, November 22

There aren’t any direct flights from Minneapolis to Tulsa.  Flying on Delta, I had to go through Atlanta, so it took most of the day to get there.  I wanted to attend the 50 States Marathon Club meeting on Saturday, so I flew to Tulsa on Friday.

Whenever I do this race, I stay at the same hotel.  The Doubletree in downtown Tulsa is connected by skyway to the Cox Business Center, which was the site of the expo and also the club meeting.  Doubletree has an airport shuttle, so I didn’t need to rent a car.

When I arrived at the airport in Tulsa, I called Doubletree to request an airport shuttle.  Nobody answered the phone for 20 minutes.  When I finally got through, I was told that it would be another 30 minutes before an airport shuttle was available.  I didn’t want to wait that much longer after already waiting for 20 minutes, so I took a taxi.

When I checked in at Doubletree, the hotel manager was apologetic about the delay and reduced my room rate by the amount I paid for the taxi.

I could’ve waited until Saturday to pick up my race packet, but the expo was close, so I went over there as soon as I was unpacked.  Instead of a T-shirt, my race packet included a nice warm vest.  I have hundreds of T-shirts, so I like it when I can get something different.

There are a number of breweries on the east side of the downtown area.  I found one that has Detroit-style pizza, so I went there for dinner.  After dinner, I spent most of the evening talking to another runner who belongs to a local hashing club.  His club was planning a run for Sunday.  He tried to talk me into joining them, but I didn’t think I’d be up for another run after the marathon.

Saturday, November 23

I had breakfast at Doubletree and then went for a morning run.  I was staying at the western edge of the downtown area, so it didn’t take long to get over to the Arkansas River.  Then I followed a paved trail along the river.  This same trail is part of the marathon route.

I didn’t coordinate plans with anyone, but I knew a lot of other runners who were doing this race.  As I was walking to lunch, I saw several familiar faces.  Most were runners.  One was a race-walker I remembered meeting at the National Senior Games.

After lunch, I had time to do a workout and organize my clothes for the race.  Then I went back to the convention center for the reunion meeting of the 50 States Marathon Club.

When you finish a round of marathons in every state, the club mails you a trophy.  The next time you attend one of these reunions, you can bring your trophy and talk about your experience.

This was my first club meeting since finishing my fourth round of states at this same race a year ago.  I told the group how I saw spectators offering donuts during last year’s race, but I didn’t stop, because I was going for a fast time.  This year, I planned to stop for all the food and beverages being offered by the spectators.

I was worried that the downtown restaurants would all be busy the night before the race.  I didn’t want to walk for 15 minutes only to find out that I couldn’t get a table, so I had dinner at the hotel.  Their restaurant had flatbreads.

After dinner, I went to a bar that was two blocks from my hotel.  I had a great conversation with the bartender, and I met a woman who used to live in Burnsville, MN, and went to the University of Minnesota.  This is why I love going to bars.  I always meet interesting people.

Sunday, November 24

This race has had cold weather in the past, but this year was relatively warm.  It was 55 degrees in the morning, and I expected it to get up to 70 by the time I finished.  It was a windy day, and I anticipated going slow and taking walking breaks, so I dressed warmer than I normally would.  I wore tights instead of shorts, and I wore a thin T-shirt underneath my 50 States Marathon Club singlet.

This race always rolls out the red carpet for members of the 50 States Marathon Club and Marathon Maniacs.  They had a VIP tent we could use in the start area with a private gear check and port-o-potties.  They also had a professional photographer to take pre-race group photos.

The race started at 8:00 AM.  I left the hotel at 6:45, which gave me plenty of time to walk to the start before the group photos.  When I arrived, I waited in the tent at “Maniac Corner” until it was time for the group photo.

Over the years, the course has changed several times.  This year’s course was similar to last year’s course, but there were a few differences.  We were warned that there would be more hills.  Last year, I qualified for Boston on this course.  This year, I opted to stay in my comfort zone and just take it easy.

I was finishing my fifth circuit of states, so I chose to view this race as a victory lap.  Instead of running for a fast time, I was celebrating all the races I ran to get to this point.  If I saw a beer stop or a spectator offering food, I was going to stop and partake.

I didn’t start as fast as I normally would.  I was following the runners around me, but I was also holding back a little.

About halfway through the second mile, I saw some spectators in the street handing something to any runners who stopped.  When I saw that they were small bottles of Fireball, I went over to get one.  That set the tone for the rest of the race.

I knew I needed to pace myself, so I didn’t drink it all at once.  I took a sip, put the cap back on, and carried it with me.  I drank it gradually over the next mile.

About halfway through the third mile, I saw some guys on the side of the road with a cooler full of beer.  I still had my bottle of Fireball, so instead of stopping for a beer, I raised my bottle to toast them, and then I finished my Fireball.

The first five miles of the course were hilly.  I didn’t want to wear myself out on the hills, so I sometimes took short walking breaks on the hills.

At about four miles, I saw a spectator holding out a basket.  When I saw the basket was full of bananas, I kept running.  Bananas at races are common enough that I wasn’t tempted.

About halfway through the sixth mile, I saw some spectators dressed as clowns.  They were holding baskets with Jell-O shots.  I took a Jell-O shot and ate it as I continued running.

I was just about to the 10K mark when I saw another beer stop.  This time, I stopped for a small cup of beer.

In the next mile, I saw spectators holding boxes with glazed donuts.  Last year, I skipped the donuts, so I wouldn’t have to slow down.  This year, I took a walking break while eating a whole donut.

There were aid stations at every mile, and they all had water and Gatorade.  Some also had bananas or gels.  I was looking ahead to the aid station at the 7-mile mark when I noticed that I was passing a table with cups on it.  It was another beer stop, but I was already going by it by the time I saw it.

The aid stations all had port-o-potties.  After drinking Gatorade at the aid station, I made a bathroom stop.

Right after my bathroom stop, I saw a table with a sign that said “shots.”  They were Fireball shots.  This time, I stopped.

I was only about seven and a half miles into the race, and I had already stopped twice for Fireball, once for beer, and once for a Jell-O shot.  I didn’t think I could keep up that rate of alcohol consumption for the whole race.

I started to feel a strong tailwind pushing at my back.  We had just turned onto a road that follows the river.  To my left, I could see the same path that I had been running on the day before.  I realized we would be following the river for the next two miles.

The good news is that running with the wind at my back would feel easier.  The bad news is that the wind was no longer cooling me off.  I started to get hot on this stretch.

Looking to my left, I could see runners on the bike path that was closer to the river.  These were the race leaders.  They were about four miles ahead of us.

Most of the food and alcohol is in residential neighborhoods.  People living along the marathon route are encouraged to organize block parties.  Along the river, there weren’t as many spectators, so I wasn’t expecting to see any more beer or Jell-O shots.

At about nine miles, I saw a table on the left side of the road.  There were two women there handing out Jell-O shots.  I took a Jell-O shot and turned to see guys on my right with Fireball shots.  Since I already had a Jell-O shot, I skipped the Fireball.  That would be the last time I saw any alcohol for several miles.

In the next mile, my friend Angel caught up to me.  Her pace was a little faster than mine, so I had to speed up to run with her.  The pace felt tiring, but I knew we would get a cool breeze cool as we crossed a bridge over the Arkansas River.

On the bridge we were high above the river, so we were much more exposed to the wind.  It was no longer a tailwind.  On the bridge, it was a crosswind, and it felt good.

This bridge is a part of the historic Route 66.  This was the only time we were actually on Route 66, although we had crossed it earlier in the race.

After we crossed the bridge, the marathon and half marathon routes diverged.  The runners doing the half marathon did a U-turn and crossed the bridge again.  Then they followed Route 66 a bit farther on their way back into downtown.

Those of us doing the marathon turned left and got onto a pedestrian bridge that runs parallel to the Route 66 bridge.  We crossed the river on that bridge, went underneath the Route 66 bridge, and started following the bike path.

Now we had a headwind.  At first, I felt good, but it wasn’t long before the wind gusts started to get tiring.  I had mixed feelings about that.  I was overdressed, so I really needed the wind to cool me off.

At 13 miles, Angel made a bathroom stop, and I continued on my own.  Fighting the headwind was tiring, so I slowed down.  I assumed it wouldn’t take long for Angel to catch up to me.

We had to go about two more miles in this direction before turning around.  I kept expecting Angel to catch up to me at any time, but I made it all the way to the turnaround before I saw her.  She caught up to me shortly after the turn.

Now the wind was at our backs again.  I also had mixed feelings about that.  I was relieved that I no longer needed to fight the wind, but without its cooling effect, I quickly got hot.  I was starting to regret my clothing choices.

We came back along the bike path for two miles.  Then we turned and followed another paved trail for the next two miles.

At about 19 miles, we turned back onto city streets again.  The next few miles were hilly, and the trend was uphill.  We started walking the steepest part of each hill.

I was getting really hot and sweaty.  As we were walking up one of the hills, I took off my T-shirt.  It wasn’t easy, because I had to take off my hat and singlet before I could take off the shirt.

My T-shirt had short sleeves, so I couldn’t find any way to tie it around my waist.  It was too bulky to fit into my fanny pack, where I was already carrying my phone and a pair of gloves.  Then I remembered that I had an extra safety pin.  I put the shirt around my wait and used the safety pin to hold the sleeves together.

I was so preoccupied with my T-shirt that I didn’t realize we passed a spectator offering Jell-O slots.  On the next hill, Angel told me that I missed it.  It had been 11 or 12 miles since I last had any alcohol.  I needed the break, but now I was ready again.

The next few miles were around the Tulsa University campus.  Then we started coming back toward downtown.

At 23 miles, I saw some people on the left side of the road holding buckets.  I moved to my left to take a closer look.  The buckets held small bottles of Fireball.  I took a bottle and downed it immediately.  With only a few miles to go, I no longer needed to be conservative.

Coming back toward downtown, the trend was downhill, but we still occasionally encountered a short uphill section.  Each time, we walked it.  We were both struggling, but in different ways.  I was hot.  Angel had an upset stomach.

At 24 miles, I saw a table on the right with a variety of beverages.  The guy said he had Fireball, Coke, and mimosas.  I had never had a mimosa during a race, so I tried one.  It didn’t really taste like a mimosa.  I think it was actually a beermosa (beer mixed with orange juice).

I knew where we were now, so I knew when we were approaching Dead Armadillo Brewery, which is just outside of downtown.  I knew there would be a beer stop in front of this brewery.

Before drinking, I asked them what beer it was.  It was a beer I’ve tried before.  It was Dead Armadillo’s “Pickle Recovery” beer.  Most people would find it to be a bit weird, but at 24.5 miles into a marathon on a hot day, it was just right.

There’s a place in downtown Tulsa called the “Center of the Universe.”  It’s a spot with unusual acoustics.  When you stand in the center and talk, you can hear your voice echo.  People standing a short distance away don’t hear it.  The Center of the Universe isn’t on the marathon route, but it’s a short distance away.  When you register for the marathon, you can choose to take a detour to the Center of the Universe.  The detour adds 0.3 miles to your race.

In the past, I’ve always been trying for a fast time, so I’ve never wanted to run this extra distance.  This year, I wasn’t trying for a fast time, so I signed up to do the detour.  Angel also took the detour.

To get to the Center of the Universe, we had to cross a bridge over some railroad tracks.  We walked the uphill side of the bridge.  We ran past the Center of the Universe until we reached the turnaround point.  At the turnaround we each received a souvenir coin.  They also had a beer stop there, with three different beers from local breweries.

On the way back, we stopped briefly at the Center of the Universe, so Angel could experience the echo.  I’ve been there before.  Then we crossed the bridge again to get back to the marathon course.

We had two more turns and one more hill.  Then we reached 25.9 miles, where there was a digital clock and a chip transponder.  For people who didn’t do the detour, this clock wasn’t particularly meaningful.  For us, it was actually 26.2 miles (including the detour), so it was our marathon split.  For what it’s worth, my marathon time was 4:40:45.  Of course, I still had to keep going to reach the actual finish line.

After two more turns we could see the finish line.  Neither of us had the energy to speed up at all.  I crossed the line in 4:44:14.

They had different versions of the finisher medals, depending on which club you belonged to and whether you had also done the Oklahoma City Marathon.  My medal was the one for members of the 50 States Marathon Club.

Finish line food included pizza.  I didn’t even look at the other food.  I ate a slice of pepperoni pizza and kept walking until I reached the beer tent.

On our race bibs, we each had two beer coupons.  They had the same three beers at the finish line that were available on the detour.  I tried one at the detour, and I tried the other two in the finish area.

Next, we went to “Maniac Corner,” which was our VIP area in the finish area.  We had food, beer, and couches to sit on.  In cold years, we would all huddle inside a heated tent.  This year, it was 73 degrees and sunny, so we could be comfortable outside.  I spent about two hours talking with other runners at “Maniac Corner” before finally walking back to my hotel.

For the first half of my walk back to the hotel, I followed the marathon route.  I saw three friends who were nearing the finish.  In all, I had to walk more than a mile to get back to my hotel.

By the time I got cleaned up, it was almost time for dinner.  I didn’t feel like going out again, so I had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.5 miles (including Center of the Universe detour)

Time:  4:44:14

Average Pace:  10:44 per mile

First Half:  2:15:01

Second Half:  2:29:13

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  534

Oklahoma Marathons/Ultras:  5

Circuits of Marathons/Ultras in Every State:  5