View Marathon ...

Work had me in LA the week before; the flight from LA to GA was long, but uneventful.

100 miles from Atlanta, the drive took well over 2 hours with traffic.

Packet pickup was race day at the Museum of Aviation, and this causes me stress, though it was not crowded and I picked up my number in 2 seconds. They did keep my drivers license for some reason, with the promise that the would return it.

This was a small race, 150 marathoners and about the same half. There was a relay and a 5 K as well, though I saw no signs of either.

They had no bag drop off... Not convinced with the "Just leave your stuff on the chairs. No one will bother it..." I ran my stuff back out to the car. Another stress point.

Back inside the Museum, there was a restroom with a line that had all of the participants in it. I waited in it for 15 minutes and got virtually nowhere. Some of us went exploring for a secret bathroom, and somewhere between the 2 I lost my gloves. More stress, though my colon thanked me.

There was an announcement "If you're running the Marathon or Half, get outside -- you're late."

I ran outside and to the start in time for the gun to go off. It was then I really missed my gloves, as the 30 degree temp and the 40 MPH winds got to me. I was ready to quit by mile 3.

The wind continued thru the entire marathon. I saw a pair of discarded gloves at mile 7. In agony, I couldn't react to them fast enough, and continued on, figuring I would see another pair somewhere. No luck.

The wind made this run unbearable.

Even with the strong gusts I held ~10 minute pace. At the end of the first loop/half marathon point, I was was asking people as I passed (the finishers) for their gloves. No luck.

I found A pair at 16. Then the sun finally came out, and things warmed up a bit. Plenty of water on the course, about every 2 miles. Marking was sparse in some places, and at one part thought I fell off the course.

I held reasonable splits to 21. Mile 23 saw my first 11 minute mile, and even 25 was only 12 1/2.