The NYC Marathon was incredible! This was my second world major and second marathon. I had trained since the end of July with three goals in mind…

A – Beat 4:29:59
B – Beat 5 hrs
C – PR

I was in wave three in the green corrals so our group had the lower level of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. This made my Garmin do funky things as far as pace which made it impossible for me to know how fast I was going. So from here on out I was paying more attention to my time when I would hit the mile markers. But it also meant I was going faster at the beginning then I realized. When we got to Brooklyn it was amazing. The crowds were in full force and so supportive. Every time I’d glance at my watch after running through the crowds and getting high fives, I’d see that I was about 30-45 seconds faster than I needed to be. But it was so powerful seeing all the love we got in Brooklyn and Queens.

And then I hit the Queensboro Bridge between miles 15 & 16 and that’s when my stomach briefly felt nauseous and I had a cramp in my left calf. That elevation that late was tough. Up until then I was on pace to hit my A goal, but that section of Bridge again on the lower level kicked my butt. But fortunately, at the end of it at mile 16 was when my wife Lisa was waiting for me. That was a welcome boost. But the hill at 18 brought more cramping of my quads and left calf. I pulled into the BioFreeze lane at mile 22 and they sprayed my quads and calves real quick. That stuff got me through the Bronx. The crowds there were great too. And then we hit Central Park. Wow. Beautiful! By then my legs were shot and so was A goal, but I was determined to hit my B goal no matter what. I saw some of the @honeystinger crew (thank y’all!) there and Lisa again at mile 25. I was running with all my heart then running on legs that were screaming at me but I dropped into a pain cave and said to myself NOT YET!

I hit my B&C goals. Thank the good Lord for strength and health. And thank you Jim Burrows for helping me train! I’m still sore and processing this but my brother has already texted me about another marathon and I said ‘Yep!’ 😂😎