After the fiasco that was the Rocket City Marathon, and my lack of recovery since, I am officially bailing on a race I am registered for, the Mississippi Blues Marathon. My first DNS (did not start) is also breaking my string of 14 straight months with at least one marathon finished.
  Now I just need to concentrate on recovering from my injuries so I can race the other marathon I am registered for in the middle of February.

Huntsville, Al
3:27:23
197th out of 1121 finishers
35th in age out of 133
      The people who know/listen to me knew that, at one point, I had planned on this being a PR attempt marathon. In the space of 8 weeks, it went from being a PR attempt to my worst marathon ever. Ugh, it was bad. I was not mentally prepared, physically prepared for what I tried to do, etc. It was just a really bad race.
    Before I start beating myself up, let me talk about who ran this race with me. My good friend and running nemesis, Coach Brian Olsen beat me again. He has been fighting what is believed to be a ‘sports hernia’. He started out strong, and crashed late in the race, but beat me by a massive 24 minutes and got third in his age group. We also ran with 4 of our cross country runners. Their season finished 6 weeks ago, but they kept their shape, did some extra log runs, and ran it just for the life experience. I was tasked with giving them their ‘extra’ marathon training which included every tip and trick I knew. You would think after 25 marathons in 30ish months, I would know what the hell to do. You would be wrong. Sorry, back to the other runners.
     One of our runners, Will D. was suffering from serious knee pain the week before the race. He decided to start the race and get as far as he could. Han managed 10 miles before bailing. Mike D. ran a great race finishing in 3:20. He passed me at about mile 18 when I started to really crash. He looked strong and slowed only near the end and finished 3rd in his age group.

      
    The girls, Hanna O. and Brittney B. however, kicked butt. Both of them have been suffering with serious knee issues for a while. Not only did they finish strong (both crossing the finish at 3:50), but they went 1,2 in their age group, and even negative split (something the other 3 of us failed to do) They ran smart and consistent the whole way. I was so proud of them.  
     Now, the bad news… Moments before the race start I gave last motivational words to my runners and made myself toward the front of the pack. You see, I wanted to break 3 hours, and I was in a great mood, my shin feeling ok and pent up runners energy from not having run at all since my last marathon, 4 weeks ago. Granted I have been working out on an elliptical machine that whole time, but I was still itching to run.
     I went at what I thought was a reasonable pace, mile 1 at 6:36. At mile 5, I was still humming along at 6:41 pace. At mile 7, a group of 10 or so people I had been running with left me behind.  I started to fade, 6:46, then 6:50, then 7 flat. At mile 9 or so Brian showed up. Had been creeping up on me for quite awhile.  He is the most competitive person I have ever met, and has more ‘guts’ than anyone I know. I tried to hang with him for as long as I could, but that was for a little more than a mile. By mile 11, he was gone. I knew he would crash later, and had hope I might get him.
     My pace just got slower and slower. Early in the race, about mile 2, I started getting a familiar pain in the side of my knee, familiar in that I got it for the first time 4 weeks ago in Tulsa. The knee pain did slow me, I know but that is only a part of it. I ‘crashed’ early, like mile 18. I had gotten too cocky. 25 marathons in just over 30 months, and I thought I could do it with little prep. The last week before the marathon I did not do my standard carbo load and Gatorade/water drinking/ taking it easy. No, I was an expert now, right? Wrong. The marathon is not for wimps, and she always will have control. Disrespect her and she will crush you. I learn something in every race I run, and I like to think I remember all those hints. This was my reality check race. Gut check, so to speak.  This one will linger longer and harder in my mind, but not for good reasons. A whole lot of bad news, but as with other negative examples, this was a learning experience for sure.