Firstly, can I say how much I have enjoyed reading the posts on this web site. I am sure everybody has been through it but when you do your first marathon there is a tendency to have loads of worries etc and to read the experiences and advice of others made the whole thing a lot less daunting.
As for the marathon itself--what can I say? The weather was superb and the whole ``American thing'' from the singing of the National Anthem to the great crowd support was an experience to savour. I felt that the time literally flew by compared to the long training runs which had dominated the summer. There were a few complaints about the slow start but after doing the Great North Run several times in the UK (30,000 ish) it was no big deal. Also the course was fairly loopy just prior to midpoint which can be a bit boring and soul destroying when people on the other side of the road are about three miles in front. However a great advantage is that it permitted my "supporter" to get from mile 9 to 18 to give me two big waves and shouts. Only shame is she missed me at mile 26.2 !
As for the tunnel at the end, it was a bit weird and I had exactly the same experience as Tex with lots of little white things dancing in front of my eyes. I thought it was snowing in there.
So coming out into the daylight again I made it to the finish of marathon no. 1. I was a bit disappointed with the time (3:52:00 official) but a combination of running well within myself through fear of blowing up near the end and also sitting on a plane for 8.5 hours on the Friday means that I will hopefully go faster in no. 2.
After the post-race party at the Hard Rock I headed off to San Francisco for a holiday. Any post marathon stiffness was certainly exacerbated by those hills. I tried running up one just two days after the marathon--everybody collapsed laughing.
Anyway enough of my ramblings. Thanks again for many interesting visits to this website. I will be off next to Rotterdam, Holland in April after a hard (I hope) winter of training. After that perhaps I should think about putting at least one hill in my marathons but for the moment 26.2 on the flat is enough.