Marlin

i finally got a sub 4:00 hr marathon  3:59:54  now how close was that!!  I am very happy,   the race was put together very well i thought, there were people at every turn and the aid stations were good.  The weather was nice and cool and the poeple were very nice

I decided to run with out my fuel belt on this run and am glad i tryed it, not having that extra weight was so nice.  At the start i fell into a very nice 9:05 pace from the start but was going to start out at a 9:30 pace but the 9:05 just felt good and just keep it going. Picked up the pace around mile16 to around an 8:50 pace an it was good an i felt fine and was able to  hold that up to around mile 21, You see i know from past marathons that i do start to cramp a bit around this time and this race was no differant then the rest except i had back up this time. I ordered this stuff from SG running store called wintercrest and stoped to rub some on the sore areas, and man did it help!!!

At this time i decided to just back off a little and get back down to around a 9:00 to a 9:10 pace and  did not want ot risk pushing the pace.  I was still passing people witch gave me alot of motivation.  At mile 23 i fell down to a 10:00 min. mile and was just trying to hang on to my time and was giving it everything i had. I was looking back a time or two to see runners were gainning on me but they had slowed also.  Looked at my GPS and knew it was going to be close, and the last .50 miles i gave it all i had,  finish line  WOW  1:59:54  So Happy!!!! My wife and i had a very fun time at this race and got the PR i was trying for all summer. Thanks Jeff S. for the advice and all the help you givin us.    We even seen runners from I.F. there also that we had run with in past races.

Went to the gym this morning to use the equipment and stretch. I am going to focus on core workouts and med. light to med. weight training this fall and winter.  Got there at 4:10 and stretched and then ran 3 miles  on the TM  (not as good as running out side in the mornings) and then setups and back workouts for 35 min. and then stretch more and of to work.

Going to work into two a day runs but will ramp up a little slower.  The mornings will be weights and run at the gym and after work will be the Q run OUTSIDE.

4:30am at the gym, ran 4 miles at a 9:13 pace and then weight training on the hamstrings, and then setups and a good stretch after that.

4.60 miles around the Greenbelt, the first lap was at a 9:20 pace and was just a nice pace. I stoped at the truck and just wanted to see how the body was holding up and to do just a quick stretch and felt just fine so went for another lap and held a 9:13 to a 9:18 pace. a very nice run and the body is coming around very nice after last weekends marathon