DNQ

Did not qualify for Boston. It was a tough day. Too much heat and humidity; too many hills in Cherokee Park. It was 81 degrees when we finished. No one from our training group qualified. Rand missed it by less than a minute, and John and I missed by miles. John recovered well from an early bad stretch and finished impressively under 4 hours for his first attempt. I was really happy for him and proud of him.

I'm not nearly as disapointed as last fall. I gave it all I had and was on course for the first 15 miles. I just didn't have much left after that, although I managed one more 7.45 mile. I knew I was in trouble, however, when I could not run fast down the hills. I had nothing left after about 19 miles. I started cramping up in my calves.

My body did weird things today; things I've never experienced before. I still haven't quite figured out what happened, but I started leaning to right pretty severely. I simply could not straigthen up. Then I got a pretty severe side stitch for the last 6 miles. I never get side stitch.

I looked like a drunk when I finished. I kept staggering to the right. The medics tried to get me in a wheelchair. I refused. One very kind nurse (I think) walked with me a long way before I convinced her that I was OK. I lied. I was staggering around when John Heatherly found me and got me to a safe place. Kedra found me there. I think I'm OK, but I still have a pain in my side. Weird.

Rand ended up in the medical tent, and I have not heard any more. I never saw him or Bill at the finish; only John. Jim Sowders and Dennis Gillespie came down to watch and encourage. They did both wonderfully well. (Jim took the picture above at about the 11 mile mark. Bill and I, along with Rand, were running together; not sure why Rand is not in the picture.)

I am disappointed not to qualify but am pleased that I gutted out a finish, even though it was pretty slow (4.09). I ran the first 15 in just a minute or two over 2 hours and then took more than that to do the last 11 miles. I'm not sure what is next, but I'll make the third attempt to qualify, probably in the fall/winter. I am done with marathons in the heat. They just don't work for me. Most non-elite runners, like me, take 3 attempts to qualify for Boston. I read that somewhere.

The highlight of the day was having Lester run with me for about 8 miles, including the hard hilly miles of Cherokee. He was a great encouragement.