Hooowah! I made my Boston Qualifier! Thanks to steady training, my brother-in-law Tom's lucky singlet, a good taper, ideal conditions and a good course.

I'm most proud that after the 12 mile mark, only 2 people passed me, and that happened within the last 1000 meters. The second half of my race was only 1 minute
(exactly) slower than my first half. I felt pretty strong throughout.

My race strategy was to maintain an even pace and push really hard the last 5 miles without bonking. After a mile or so, I caught up to the 3:30 pace group led by my friend Kelly Woodke. Kelly ran 3 hours yesterday on the Ridgeline Trail. He's training for the Grand Slam of Ultras - Western States, 2 others and Wasatch. Anyway, Kelly was advised by Lonn Robertson to put the brakes on my and make sure I qualified for Boston. In a gentle, advisory way, Kelly encouraged me not to rabbit, but to keep an even pace and he'd be sure I hit the 3:30 mark. Well, I ran ahead a bit. I'm glad I did. I had to hit the restroom at about mile 7. When I emerged from the blue port-a-potty, Kelly and the 3:30 group were right there! I said "I planned that". We got some laughs.

At around the 12 mile mark, I felt a bit boxed in by the pace group. Seemed I was stutter-stepping a bit, and just didn't have liberty to stride the way I would naturally. It was an easy pace really, I was hardly breathing at all. I decided to step out ahead, get some room and run my own pace. It was a good decision.

By mile 18, I was tired of ingesting 4x sodium 2x caffiene power gels. I felt full. I had consumed 5 of them already. I ate one more around mile 22. It was probably a smart move. My fuel management was pretty much right on. So was my pace.

It was interesting to cruise in the last 5 miles and reel people in. Two young guys passed me, one with 1000 meters to go, and one with 200 meters to go. Both were stronger than me at that point, although I finished cogent and strong.

I never walked during the race, and that felt good. Afterwards, the refreshments, band and comaradarie with friends was outstanding.

My friends Jim and Al had outstanding first marathons. My friend Lonn ran a PR at 3:17. My new friend from Toronto (Jess) ran a 3:11 and took 3rd in his age group. I ran into outstanding Trail Runner Scott Dunlap after the race and had a nice chat.

The Second Annual Eugene Marathon was well run, all the way around. They learned much from last year's inaugural event and made appropriate changes. What a great day. I believe this will continue to grow in popularity and should certainly be one of the top destination marathons in North America.