Now that I have finished telling the recap of my entire day for the 23rd time to my coworkers and immediate family I can write a quick and simple little update for everyone else...Yes, I finished the Marathon on Monday.

I finished it in style too, setting a new personal record (PR) of 3:10:36 which bested my previous PR by 39 seconds and was a 22 minute improvement over my previous best time for the Boston Marathon course. The weather was near perfect for running and the crowds were thick and extremely supportive. The only things that could have made it better would have been to have a tailwind and some cloud cover. But at least my sunburn is mild and only on one side of my body, the benefit of a point-to-point course.

I had one minor muscle cramp episode that did of course impact my ultimate finishing time, but not by too much and fortunately wasn't enough to keep me from qualifying to compete again next year. It happened just after cresting the infamous Heartbreak Hill as I entered the water stop in front of Boston College. I pulled off to the right hand side of the road, reached out for the cup of Gatorade, and quickly pulled up short in a staggering hop between two of the volunteers who were very concerned with my well being (Thank you for that). Fortunately, I was able to quickly massage my left hamstring into a more user-friendly condition and carry on with my down hill journey through Brookline to Boston and the finish line. However, other than that setback, everything went according to plan and my even effort pacing remained right on target from start to finish. I even accounted for enough time to stop and give thanks to the Wellesley Scream Tunnel prior to the mid-point of the race.

I brought a disposable camera with me on the run and hope that at least one or two shots come out useable. I guess we won't know until they come back from being developed. However, I now have these two photos from the weekend of events to share. The first is me working at the Expo on Friday evening distributing Runner's bags (with T-shirts). The second is of me preparing to depart the Athletes' Village for my starting corral at the Hopkinton Common.

Oh sure, my legs hurt, my sunburn hurts, and I have remained tired and worn out for the past 49 hours, but in a good way! I will still be running at NikeTown tonight and giving thanks for the post race massages and Ben & Jerry's they had for us yesterday.