Well, I made it to Seaside. All in all Hood to Coast went pretty well. As the 8 th runner, my first 4.5 miles were uneventful, although my van initially went to the 8-9 exchange instead of the 7-8 exchange and we had to backtrack along the course (angering some folks on those narrow country roads). But we made it there before out 7 th runner so it worked out okay. My second leg (#20) with the hills was actually not so bad. I have been trying to focus on hill workouts in my training and apparently it worked. The worst part about that leg was the darkness (it was about 4am) and the dust being kicked up by the passing vans. I passed 27 other runners on those hills (“Road kill” in HTC lingo) and finished the leg strong. I finished strong with leg #32, a relatively easy 4 miles. My training in the next few weeks will be aimed at those distance runs. I woke up this morning a little sore, especially in the quads, but was able to complete my routine 6 miles. I plan on getting in an 18-20 miler this coming weekend.

So back in 2002 in New York, I was ready for another marathon. I was in Podiatry school in NY and thought it would be nice if I could run the marathon while I was there. NY has a lottery system for entry, and initially I didn’t get in. About 8 weeks before the race, however, I was informed that they hadn’t gotten the international entries they had anticipated, so they had a 2 nd lottery and this time I’d “won”. I hadn’t kept up with my training, but I didn’t want to lose this opportunity, so I accepted. I had to scramble a bit to get ready, but on marathon day I felt prepared. My strategy hadn’t changed much since Atlantic City, but I decided to drink early and often during the race to stave off those cramps. That seemed to work and I crossed the finish line in 3:49, never having to stop, stretch or walk during the race. I made use of all the aid stations, which were located about every 2 miles along the course. Initially I only took water, but after about 10 miles I alternated between water and the electrolyte drink. One piece of advice to you is to find out what types of drinks/gels/bars will be available during your marathon. It can help to train with the same brand of replenishment you will use on race day so you body is fully prepared. Any variable you can control can help things go as expected.

Now that I had achieved my goal of the under-4 hour marathon, I had a new goal in mind --- qualifying for the Boston Marathon. The qualifying time for my age group (30-34) is 3:40. This was my goal for the Portland Marathon in 2006.