Made it!

3:54.  I'll take that!

I cannot say it was easy. I was cruising along at a remarkably-consistent 8:30/mile pace when at the 18 mile mark or thereabouts the quads in both my legs started twitching in an ominous, "we're thinking about cramping and putting you on your face in the middle of the road" kind of way. That was as close as I came to panic, wondering if my stems were going to quit on me. So I slowed it down considerably for a mile or two, drank a bunch of Gatorade and dumped a bunch of water on my head, and by mile 21 I was cruising again. The rest wasn't cake, exactly, but I was over the hump. What an experience! The crowds were incredible. Obviously I don't have anything to compare to, but post-race commentary suggested that Boston was out in strength. There wasn't a stretch without screaming people egging us on--and I saw a number of familiar faces along the way. Awesome feeling. The weather was warmer than expected - over 70 by race end. Again, though, I didn't have anything to compare it to! Got a nice little sunburn, but otherwise it worked out fine.

A few scenes from race day:

Anyone know where a guy could take a leak?

My outfit at the start:

 My outfit at the end!

My two biggest fans - huge thanks to Melissa for toughing out a hard day of logistical challenges to be there for me. Seeing the two of them at the 17 mile mark got me through the rest of the race! This is them crammed like sardines into a T car, racing to get to the aforementioned 17-mile mark! Note the strange man's buttocks using Sylvie's head as a resting place!

And here they are greeting me at the family meet-up post-race. Sylvie is very taken with my medal. She thought it meant I won the whole thing.

The long-awaited post-race beer.