I was running this one as a training run. Weather was going be tough with 61 at the start and climbing to upper 70s. I made 3 bathroom stops during the race just part of getting old. But wasn’t having a good day. Although 7:30 - 7:40 pace felt comfortable I kept telling myself to slow down due to legs were only trained to 14 miles. Sure enough I had to pay for trying to run a marathon without being properly trained. By 16 miles I was shuffling. I began to run from aid to aid station and talking walk breaks while refueling for the hot conditions. By 18 miles I thought this was definitely going to be a 4 hour marathon. Walk/run was working the short recoveries thru the aid allowed me keep my pace 8:30ish. As I got closer to the finish I picked it up there at the end. Now to get recovered and get a few good weeks of training before the Mickleson trail marathon in June. | 