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Another one I was not enthusiastic about.

The tight hamstring that has been plaguing me since Baltimore made me consider canceling this one.

A nod from the weather Gods caused an additional segment thru Toronto, when Air Canada cancelled all flights from Ottawa to Chicago. Luckily, I was watching, and got to the airport early enough for a re-route.

I arrived early enough to see the Olympic Mens Marathon Trials... That was the highlight of this trip. At midnight, a fire alarm went off at the hotel. When I got up to see what was going on, I torked my back.

Race start temperature was in the 20s. I had bought surplus sweats, but they were not very heavy. It was impossible to loosen up.

From the start, I could tell that the hamstring was going to be an issue, and was stopping every 5 minutes to streach. By mile six, I was considering dropping out. I passed my Hotel at 8, and it was all I could do not to hobble out of the cold. But my back finally loosened up, so I trudged on.

A 5 mile long hill started at 15... very steep, followed by a half mile drop then six miles of rolling hills. All very demoralizing.

As I crossed 26, I saw that my time was approaching 5 hours. Not wanting to be a 5 hour marathoner, and not realizing that my chip time gave me a few more minutes, I started sprinting....

Post race note: After running 27 marathons nearly back-to-back, and the last 20 miles of this last one in real pain (go ahead, and ask me the difference between pain and real pain) I have to take some time off.

But Boston is Looming....