Official time: 3:53:56
Great race, good weather, enough variety in the course to keep it interesting, awesome spectator support, well-organized overall and the parts of the course along the river were beautiful.
I had forgotten my watch at home so I decided to run as I feel. This translated into classic Cherl: too fast to start and a slow death after mile 22. I suspected I might be in trouble when the 3:35 pacer came up alongside me at mile 11 (this is way too fast for me to maintain). I stayed with them until a small hill at mile 16, passing the halfway point around 1:42 (faster than my HM times). I started to really fall off track around mile 22-23 and basically shuffled my way to the finish. Running up from the bike path, along Agate and into Hayward Field was incredible. Great way to finish a marathon!
The Good: My official finish time was 3:53:56. That's an ELEVEN minute PR for me. I'll be over the moon for days!
The Bad: I ran the first half in about 1:42 and the second half in 2:10. Oops. That's ugly.
