December Stuff

Well here it is the new year and December, where did it go....sigh

On December 6 I ran in the St. Jude, Memphis Marathon. I did a 5 hour 55 minute run and was pleased that I finished under 6 hours.

The course is interesting, the weather was cold (ran in a jacket and long pants from start to finish), the aid stations were great (one every mile...yes every mile), spectators were great on the first half of the course a bit more sporadic on the second half but still enthusiastic.

The start was in corrals, and I think I was in corral 12. I was somewhere in-between the 5:00 and 5:15 pace groups. I think we crossed the start line almost 20 minutes after the initial gun was fired.

I managed to stay ahead of the 5:15 pace group until near mile 14. I ran out of energy it seemed around mile 15 and walked a mile. Then I found the positive side of my mind again and decided I couldn't just walk this one in, so I started to run/walk again. I started to pass a number of the folks that had gone by me when I walked the mile.

The last several miles of the course are mostly downhill so that helps with being tired. Overall, it was a great race, not really that difficult if you do some hill training in advance.

Happy New Year to all......hope your holidays were safe and fun.