Little Rock Marathon

First race in the 30-34 age group. *this will not be my best race report (it also wasn't my best race)*

The weather was warmer than i had expected to begin, but knew with the cloud cover it would stay fairly constant. I began in starting corral "B", meaning I was fairly close to th front of the pack. The peeing was an issue again as well and even had to go in the first mile. I should have not worried about making up this time (especially right away) but I did. I raced on.

Thought my watch was set to show me my PACE w/ distance and elapsed time down below... Noticed it said 8:30... I thought *I should be running faster than this* so i stepped it up considerably and looked at my watch apr 5 minutes later only to see it say 13:30 *WHOA!!* then noticed it was on ELAPSED TIME w/ pace and Distance below... I was running 6:15 pace.

So Oops, but i didn't want to take it easy for a while either. I pushed on at 7:30-7:40 miles. There seemed to be, based on the cheers of the fans, an Elvis character behind me. I was happy to keep him there along with the 3:30 pace group. The amount winding and hills early on through me for a bit of a loop (almost like a dizzy bat race). I didn't know for sure where I was headed next (this may have helped and hurt).

I continued to take water and gatorade... found my rhythm for taking GU's to be just a little off. This could easily be due my disorientation. As finicky as my lap time button on my watch can be i wanted to shoot for hitting it every 5 miles... 8 min miles = 40 min (easy math). This formula would also break down my run (mentally at least). Sometimes I hit it a little early others were a little late: 5 miles segments: _1_ 5.08 miles @ 7:40 pace in 38:54 _2_ 5.03 mils @ 7:50 pace in 39:22 _3_ 5.28 @ 8:18 pace in 43:49 _4_ 4.5 miles @ 8:15 pace in 37:13 ((first 19.9 Miles @ 8:00 pace in 2:39:20)) _5_ 6.27 miles @ 8:52 pace in 55:34 Easy to see that I slowed immensely toward the end.

So poor pacing coupled with the number of hills (hard up and hammering down) led to a tough run.

Elvis caught me @ mile 16... i caught him again just before mile 22 and finished ahead of him by 7 minutes. This was a small victory for me until I learned he had run a marathon the day before. :/

The 3:30 pace group left me @ mile 18... @ this point I was just holding on, running under 9 minute miles as to still beat my San Antonio time of 3:38:13.

In the end it resulted in my second best Marathon time @ 3:36:01.

Age Group: 30th of 106
Overall: 159th of 1379 finishers

10k: 47:55
8 miles: 1:01
13.1 Miles: 1:43:10
20.6 Miles: 2:47:36
26.2 Miles: 3:36:01 Pace: 8:15

Praise God!!