Somehow, I thought 4 hours of running would fill me with deep thoughts I could blog about. But it didn't. It was a great day to run and although I did not meet my under 4 hour goal (my time was 4:16) I had a good run and would have done better but for the leg cramps that hit around mile 20. I ran the race I wanted, mostly. I did not beat myself up, and I remained relaxed enough to enjoy the experience. But yes, it was hard to enjoy those last 5 miles! The best news for me was that I did not injure myself and was fully recovered within a couple days.

So what next? I know that if I want to run a better marathon, I need to do more 3-hour training runs. And that is hard, hard, hard to do. But I feel great now and if I could sign up for another marathon in the next 6 weeks or so, I'd go for it. But I don't think there are any nearby.