13.1 miles running with 20,000 people is way cool

Very humbling day for me. I was not over confident in what the day was to bring. I was excited and in awe of everything going on.
First I would like to say sorry to the people from blog land that I wanted to meet. It wasn't in the cards for me due to my still sick son. In fact as I type this I am waiting for his doctors office to open to make his appointment.

I have not run over 11 miles (ever) and I knew there was going to be some mental games from 10-13.1 for me. I also know my passion for achievement and desire to endure. My threshold is high and I can grind anything out.
The first thing I noticed having not run a road race in so many years was, things don't change. You go out hard and if you don't check yourself you'll just crack and never recover.
I kind of hurt myself when I had signed up for this race. I had only run 8 miles 2x and with the thought of adding 5+ miles to that, I placed myself in a deeper coral than I needed to be. I signed up for a 2:20 finish time. Considering where I finished it doesn't seem like it would be such an issue, but it was.

The first 3 plus miles was a huge challenge to find slots and gaps to dart through to get where I needed to be and settle in. The race splits show 3 mile split at 9:28, where my Garmin shows differently in the 8's. But really who cares at this point I knew right away this was going to be a problem. Getting through at a reasonable pace and then trying to keep anxiety down with a reasonable heart rate.

At about the 4 mile mark I seemed to get in a flow. Just in the last couple of weeks I had been hitting consistent 9 and below miles for 5 plus mile runs. As it turns out I did average 9:27 mpm. And mentally I was hoping for 9:31. But as I was out there and running and seen where I was consistently pacing at 8:51 to 9:10 I thought I would smash what I thought I would do.

The weather was overcast and cool, but not cold. I think for me, other than some dense fog, perfect run weather.
I saw Patrick on his way back in at what should have been about 11 mile marker. He was just about 30 seconds or less behind the 1:40 pace group. I was stoked for him, knowing where he was hoping to finish.
Ironically it was just about that same point when I got there that both my feet where really trying to start a fire in my shoes.
It was a long slight incline and I watched so many people cracking and dropping off on that section. For me, other than some hot feet I knew what was there, I have ran it,  road it, knew it.
However I had never been in pain up it.
I spent the next full mile fidgeting with my toes and trying different run strides and steps to ease the pain. I finally had to pull my shoes off and see the socks all bunched up. The problem was my socks had hardly shifted if at all.
I KNEW AT THAT POINT they were all just a series of blisters and I needed to man up, do a gut check and get the "F" back on my way.
Wasn't It just 30 minutes ago that you were going to crack 2:00 hours? Now how are you  going to act. Go get this thing done and then lick your wounds.

I pounded out the last two miles, even conjuring up a sprint finish for the last 200 yards. I was happy to be done, and now have a better idea of what to expect in the future. This is no 5k,10k or even a 10k after a swim and a bike. This is 13.1 miles at an ongoing race pace. All run.

Total time 2:07 minutes total miles 13.18 and all kinds of lessons learned. Congrats to those that hit there BQ, yeah Chris k.
Awesome job by Patrick, I knew where he was shooting to be and he blasted it, great job brother. As far as the rest of you, I look forward to your race report.
So some fails and some wins here. I did manage to pace my neighbors nephew through the race. He is 27 and had only ran 10 miles once at 2:05. I kept him in step the whole race, made him drink when necessary and kept him gelled at the right distance.When I had to stop to check my feet I urged him to keep going as steady as possible. He thanked me and did so and finished at 2:06 for 13.18 miles. He was appreciative and elated, thanked me for the motivation and the fuel. .

Now I have a true goal time to beat and I can't wait to tick minutes off as the time goes by and races get under my belt.
I'm still a hockey player in runners clothing but I'm getting there :-).

Both my feet ended up having blister issues. Both the balls and big toes plus my outer bases of pinky toes. That might have occurred when I tried to change my stride ?
My quads are a little toast and my right knee is a little swollen, but not bad for a guy 1/2 year ago hadn't ran at all. I'll be back at it tomorrow, targeting a couple shorter races and maybe even another fairly close 1/2 mary. Thanks for all the well wishes, I tried to hold up my end.