BY DANIEL BANNON (Photo/Elena Smentkowski)

Fourth formal marathon completed. I’ll start off by saying that was hard AF! Miles 21-26.2 were a struggle-fest for sure. Hello, cramps – I hadn’t encountered those before to the point of slowing or stopping me. Warning shots from my right calf came early, by mile 15, and I correctly deduced that nothing good awaited. It almost shut me down in both legs by the last few miles.

Finishing at 3:53-something was definitely not the race that I expected to run. I trained to 3:35, and I held that pace for 19ish miles. My cardio was fine, confirmed via post-action analysis, but the body betrayed me on this day. Why, I’m not sure yet…and may never know. And that’s okay too.

After a brief pause during the cool down, I shrugged and enjoyed the rest of my day and embraced the experience. Everyone I met wanted to talk about their experience. I wasn’t even that tired, never had a chance to push my cardio to the limit those last few miles. I had a vastly better time pacing 4:00 at Tunnel Light the other month, versus striving valiantly for 3:35 at Chicago. Light Bulb Moment, perhaps?

Sometimes you don’t run the race you think you will that day. I had to grind this MF out. No lingering physical problems a few days later fortunately.  Grit is what was required on this day. Not a fast finish. And I can live with that, with a big grin since the event itself was quite well run.

Run. Assess. Adjust. Run better. I’m enjoying LSRC club runs, volunteering, and pacing more than running for glory in ‘25. That might be it for formal marathons for a while. Getting into the remaining Abbott Majors appears to be a combo of luck, skill, and work I don’t currently feel motivated to do. Doing stupid distances with no particular objective? Seems more appealing!

Onward!