Well, it’s done. The pain will be lasting for a few days though, my guess is by Wednesday I’ll have full function in my legs back. I didn’t make my sub-4:00 goal, not by a long shot. New blisters started forming and subsequently popping starting around mile 5 and going until mile 22-23, and my legs turned into jello about halfway through. I hoped my general fitness would help me to a quicker time, but no such luck. The three weeks of not being able to do anything at all really killed me, as my HR was up around 190 even while churning out 8:00-8:30 miles. I finished in 5:09:45.

Now a couple thoughts on the race. First, the number of toilets at the start was grossly insufficient. I got there at 6:30, immediately got in line, and barely had time to run over to the bag check and make it to the starting line before the race started. Next, the course that is billed as “flat” is anything but. There are hardly any flat sections, and there are a few multi-mile long gradual, soul crushing hills scattered through the event. The Gu tables really should’ve been stationed right before water stations, rather than out on their own, but that’s not a huge issue, and finally, they need to get some real beer for the finish. I didn’t even bother going to the beer tent, since I’ve heard MGD64 is even worse than Michelob Ultra. Come on, we just did 26 miles, at least give us some High Life. Other than these issues, the event was run pretty well. Volunteers were largely great, traffic control was flawless (for the runners; I’ve read horror stories from people trying to drive through the mess). The official course cyclists were everywhere and helpful.

Once my legs recover, I think I’ll get working on speed for a while, since I can’t do any weight training for a couple more months. I feel a need to go back and do it right (ie break 4:00) but we’ll see how that goes.