my makeup may be flaking

Not much of a warmup up for me, just a slow jog to get to my starting corral.  I'll write more later, but let me first say that I am very pleased with how this turned out.  I again ran a positive split (1:17:37,1:22:50) but this was not so bad. Considering how awful I felt at the end and how fast I was going miles 8-16.  I can't believe it was only 5:13 more.  Anyway it was a great experience and I will definitely be back, everyone who can should try this marathon!

Extended Story. It was a unique experience from the start. First there was the bus ride getting there, which is impossibly long. I mostly listetened to other people's conversations. Sitting behind me where a couple of 2:40 types exchanging advice.  I actually ended up running the last 3 miles of the race with one of those guys. Anyway, there was a big traffic jam getting into Hopkinton and so all the runners started get of the bus to pee on the side of the rode.  When we finally got the start it took me about 20 minutes to find my college teammate Danny.  We tried to meet by the Poland Spring water tent but realized later that there were multiple such tents. The hour or so at the village flew by mercifully fast as we caught up on life. Most importantly, Danny gave me a name tag to pin onto my shirt. Then we warmed up on the way to our corral.

We got in at the back of our corral and even allowed some people from Corral 2 to get ahead of us.  I definitely did not want to get to wound up at the start. In fact I cost myself quite a but of time in the first mile given a lot of high fives. First mile was in 6:20. Thanks to the conservative start I was passing people all the way up until the last couple of miles. Anyway Danny and I were joking around in the early going and I must have been outside of 1000th place at one point. Mile 2 was 5:59 and I thought that this would be a good pace to try to hold for a while. Mile 3 was then 5:48, which was a relief when I saw the split because that one felt harder and I signalled that we should slow down.  Of course, we were still passing people all the time as there were alot of people who had started fast. Mile 4 was 6:01, again right on, but then it was right back to 5:48 for mile 5. At this point I was fully warmed up and the road was flattening out a little.  I tried to shorten my stride and just find a relaxed rhythm. Then I rattled off a pair of 5:54 miles and Danny started to falter. We were not destined to run the same pace it seemed.  At this point it started to thin out and I new that it was time for me to get serious.  I tried to concentrate on passing people, striding efficiently, staying hydrated and high fiving spectators.  Everyone was cheering for me thanks to my name tag and so I felt almost superhuman. 8-10 were all 5:50, 11-12 were both 5:52 13 was 5:53 and 14 was 5:55. It was around here that my legs started to feel a little tired, but it was also around here that I felt the difference between this marathon and the last. My legs were willing to cooperate this time. I did 15 in 6:03. The next mile had a significant downhill and I made the most of it coasting to a 5:48 in mile 16. Then I braced myself for the hill. 6:16, 6:24, 6:05 from 17-19.  My 20th was 6:11 and I was still under 6 minute pace.  At that point I felt that if I could just get over heartbreak hill with a decent (sub 7) mile then I could coast in with a decent time. Mile 21 was 6:39, but I was broken at this point and could not respond to the downhill as easily as I had earlier. I still managed 6:11 for mile 22, but I was digging deep and it was during this mile that I passed Walter. After the downhill was over I was just completely done. I pushed myself vary hard and ran both 23 and 24 in about 6:30, which was one of the greatest feats of strength I've ever done.  The last two miles I finally cracked running 6:50 pace.Danny ended up only about 90 seconds behind me in under 2:42 (4+ minute PR for him). Despite that finish, or perhaps because of it, I was pretty convinced that I'd given it everthing that I had.  I definitely seemed more broken than about 95% of the people I saw at the end.  I was also excited by how fast I was able to go in the middle miles (5:48 mile 16).  I was thinking that I might run another one this summer, but I'm going to be lucky to recover by Wasatch Back. Next marathon I think will be Seattle in Thanksgiving. Thanks to everyone for their comments.