An effort

The Little Rock Marathon turned out to be tougher than I expected, but I probably did a little better than I expected.
After worrying for a week about plantar fasciitis in my left foot, and to a lesser degree a tibial tendon problem in my right, it was a slow-forming blister on my left foot that caused me my biggest challenge.
First, I should report that I ran the race in 4:07:17 (my GPS). I thought it might be as slow as 4:20 if my feet gave me problems, but except for the blister, they never did. That blister started to form around mile 8. Thankfully, it did not blossom quickly, and I was able to sort of manage it by changing my footfall from my usual midstep, to heel-strike, which took some of the pressure off when going downhill. It got so I was grateful for uphill climbs, because it felt best then. I'm not sure if the blister affected my time, but it sure gave me something to think about for 18 or 19 miles. It never did develop into a blood blister.
I intended to run the first half of the race in exactly 2 hours and save myself for a bit of a kick in the last 6 or 7 miles. I don't know why, but I ran the first half in 1:56 and change, and it cost me after mile 21. I just didn't have any gas left for the last 5 miles. If I'd been smarter early, I might have come close to 4.
The Little Rock course started like a lamb and finished like a tiger. The first 13 miles are flat to gently rolling. I was always having to take my foot off the accellerator and slow down, knowing there were a lot of miles left. I didn't slow down enough.
Almost as soon as we turned off for the final 13, things got tougher. There were two or three long climbs. Not steep, but really long. Those climbs took something out of me, I'm sure, but it was one steep downhill around 18 or so that did me in. I covered it too fast and when it was over I could immediately tell my thighs had taken a beating doing it. They never recovered.
The out and back portion from 18 to 23.5 was psychologically tough, too. It seemed like the turnaround was never going to come, and then when it did we had to cover the same ground coming back. I was running on fumes for a lot of it.
I couldn't have run another mile. Just before the finish and just as I approached my wife, Kay, along the road, I had my first and only cramp (my right calf). Thank God the finish line was right around the corner.
The medal is touted as the biggest in the country, and they might be right. It weighs over a pound, and honestly it was tiring to wear it around the runners' village. I finally took it off and had my wife carry it.
Time to eat.