Okay, so maybe the motivation and inspiration provided were not to sit behind my computer cropping and resizing digital photos before trying to milk my thoughts into a logical progression so that I can share how the events of last Sunday morning helped me push through to a new PR at last Monday's Boston Marathon.

But I expect that you probably respect me more for getting back out there and running Wednesday night, conducting 5 project inspections Thursday and Friday (including two night time Interstate resurfacing inspections in the wee hours of Friday morning), and putting in a decent 18 on Saturday; pausing for 15 minutes to cheer for the participants of a 5k that overlapped my route than for writing this earlier. And if I am wrong...so be it.

Sunday, April 20, 2008 saw 146 of the best female distance runners in the USA absolutely conquer the 4 loop marathon course through Boston's Back Bay and the East Cambridge waterfront during the 2008 Olympic Team Trials. Though only the top three finishers will be travelling to Beijing in August to represent their country in the marathon competition, 47 of those women qualified for the next Olympic trials with their performances. 41 women ran new personal best marathon times, including 13 or the top 15 finishers.

From the very beginning Magdalena Lewy Boulet, 5th place finisher in the 2004 Olympic Team Trials, took ownership of her own destiny by opening a commanding lead of nearly 2 minutes from the rest of the pack. Her determination to run the race her way on her terms had most of the spectators around me wondering (1) who was this woman, (2) could she hold on at this pace until the end, and (3) what will the other competitors do in response?

Magdalena Lewy Boulet showed no fear of failure, no chance for regret. She went out there and sent a message to the world that the USA Women's Team was not going to be "Dena +2". I can honestly state that I was so impressed and astonished by how easy she made this look that it took a few hours for the magnitude of her accomplishment to sink in.

And some of that was due to the performance of the pre-race favorite 2004 Olympic Marathon Bronze medalist Dena Kastor, shown here making her move to separate from eventual third place finisher Blake Russell (far right). During the final 6 miles of this race Dena overcame a 1:17 deficit to overtake the leader at Mile 23.5, a feat I missed while fighting my way through the crowd 10 people deep lining the course so that I could watch the final 100 meter stretch leading up to and across the very same finish line that I would be chasing after less than 24 hours later.

But I was there to see Dena Kastor brandishing an American flag picked up along the course as she sprinted through the finish to win with a 44 second margin over Magdalena Lewy Boulet.

The crowd exploded in celebration as Massachusetts born Kastor merrily pranced back down Boylston Street to the Lord & Taylor before stopping to accept some congratulatory handshakes, pose for some photos, and even sign a few autographs while the remaining women streamed in to the finish behind her, including 1984 Olympic Marathon Gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson as she broke the US 50+ record with her time of 2:49:08 in her final competitive marathon. Joanie, as she is known far and wide in this part of the world, has never finished a marathon slower than 3:00. Which in an amazing coincidence, I have never finished a marathon faster than 3:00.

Perhaps I should shoot for never finishing slower than 4:00, which is a positive statistic that I currently hold and can feasibly maintain.

I was incredibly inspired by all of these amazing performances, by the sheer emotion rolling off of the crowd, and the determination pouring out of these fabulous athletes racing for pride. As much as I should have been off my feet and resting in advance of my impending marathon, I didn't care. If anything, I am writing it off along with the 16 hours spent on my feet working at the Expo the previous two days as conditioning for next month's Western States Endurance Run Training Camp - my first ultra running experience.

Surprisingly, my performance in the Death March Memorial Marathon received coverage by my local newspaper, the Somerville Journal. Not so surprisingly, they didn't get all of the details quite right. But that seems to go with the territory.

I finally stopped running around (literally) long enough to sort through the photos from my trip to give a little more insight into the experience. Part of me wishes that I would have had a camera with me while running the race, but to be honest, I don't think my photos would have been all that great. I would recommend visiting the race website and viewing the event photos online.

Upon arriving in El Paso, TX two days before the event, I realized (a) that I had spent way too long crammed into airplane seats, (b) that I needed to get acclimated to heat, the lack of humidity, the sun, the altitude difference, and the terrain, and (c) that I needed to do something fun and educational while I was here. So with that I headed out to the namesake of the missile range and visited the White Sands National Monument the morning before the race. It was about a 120 mile drive from El Paso (the scenic route) and as you can see, the sands are definitely white.

It is also a strangely barren place, which at the time I went was truly devoid of people. During my run along the 4.8 mile "trail" through the dunes I only saw 4 other people, the footprints of whom are seen below. The sand is powder fine and filtered through my shoes and socks and got into just about anywhere on my body that sand could get. Only about the top 3 inches are loose, but that is more than enough to slow a person down dramatically. I was lucky to manage just over 10 minutes / mile and was very thankful for the 44 ounces of sports drink that I was carrying along the way. Fortunately, the sand on the race course was actually much more coarse and therefore easier to run through. I didn't experience anywhere near as much trouble as I did during this training excursion, which is probably how I did so well.

But of course the event was more than just a run on the beach, a beach nearly 1 mile above sea level and hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean; it was a memorial to the soldiers who suffered the horrors of the Bataan Death March through the jungles of the Philippines in 1942. My trip would not have been complete without a visit to their monument in nearby Las Cruces, NM.

I am honored to say that I was fortunate enough to sit and talk with a couple of the survivors of this horrendous chapter from a war full of great atrocities. Eight of these men were on hand to send us off at the start of the race with a handshake and a "hurry back"; an order that I obeyed and used as my inspiration while challenging the 4 mile long hill climb in the middle of the course. I am also proud to say that I was welcomed back by these same men when I crossed the finish line. Below is a picture of Colonel Glenn D. Frazzier and myself (wearing my signature honor flags) after the race. You can learn more about the Death March and Colonel Frazzier's experiences in his book .

I am so truly honored to have been able to compete in this event in honor of these men as well as all who have followed in their footsteps by answering the call to service. I truly appreciate that I can show them all my respect for what they have done and continue to do in the name of liberty and democracy. I also am honored that you have chosen to help support these efforts through your participation in following my progress, in your comments of encouragement, and in your pledges of support for this noble cause to help the NESHV.

And of course, no visit to the White Sands Missile Range would be complete without a visit to the missile museum.

Well...only 7 more days until the Boston Marathon. I know that I am recovered enough to complete the full 26.2 mile marathon distance, but I am unsure of just what pace to set for myself. Especially since less than 2 weeks later I will be undertaking the duty of leading others in their quests to qualify for next year's Boston Marathon by holding the 3:30 pace (8 minutes per mile) throughout the New Jersey Marathon. I intend to better my time from last year and would like to at least finish in under 3:20, but I really want to requalify myself for Boston with a 3:10 or better. Ideally I would be shooting for sub-3:00, but that might have to wait until the fall at the Marine Corps. Marathon, depending on the outcome of my application to pace at a marathon I completed before.