[Cassiel]

I know I'm not the only one who trained all summer for a fall marathon. How did yours turn out?
I'll start. I ran the Portland Marathon for the second time on Oct. 9 (last Sunday). I'm now fully recovered, and in fact recovered rather quickly compared with last year. It felt fantastic, though a little nausea got me midrace and I couldn't do my gels. So I probably hurt more toward the end than I might've. But I finished in 4:38:11, just over my goal of 4:30. I beat last year's time by an hour, so I'll not quibble over 00:8:11. I'm no Speedy Gonzalez, but I sure had a great time. Weather was perfect. I'm already planning for next year!
To celebrate my second marathon, I got tattooed today. A simple word, "Νενικήκαμεν", on my right ankle. It means "We were victorious" in Greek, and was supposedly the last words of Phaedippides, the runner at the battle of Marathon.
I'm gearing up for a half marathon on the 30th of this month, and I can't wait.
Now I want to hear about everybody else! Have you run yours yet? How did it go? If not, when will it be? How's your training going?

[CaptainSwab]

I guess mine is more of a winter marathon. I'm running the Las Vegas M on December 4th. It will be my 5th marathon.

It sounds like you did well at Portland. An hour improvement is amazing. I heard Portland is one of the best marathons to run in the US in terms of crowd support, marathon course, and things like coolmax finisher shirts. I bet that Portland has ideal weather. :)

Congrats on another successful thon!

[VeGluteus]

I've already run my fall marathon as well. I did the Wineglass Marathon in upstate New York on Oct. 2nd as part of a vacation to Farm Sanctuary. The course runs from Bath to Corning, NY. The course was beautiful, rural with the fall colors and such. I was aiming to beat my best marathon time of 3:54, but it was in the 70's that day and I bonked at 20.5 mi so I ran a 4:05. I feel recovered now, and I'll be going back to shorter races next month. I'm better at the shorter distances, but there's something about the longer ones that attracts me.

Cassiel, that sounds like a cool tattoo. I got one on my calf after doing my first Ironman tri this year.

[Cassiel]

:wayne: VeGluteus, you did the Ironman?! :boobies: Wow, I want to BE you someday! You rock.

[CaptainSwab]

Is it true that you get a wineglass at the finish line there instead of a medal? :)

[Shadowlee]

Cassiel, that's so awesome! I managed to run 10km and was proud of myself. I couldn't imagine doing a marathon.

My training buddy and I are planning to travel up to Sydney next August and do the City to Surf. It's 14km - I've never run that far!

[VeGluteus]

CaptainSwab said:

Is it true that you get a wineglass at the finish line there instead of a medal? :)

A full wineglass.. I would've liked one. :) Actually it is sort of true.. it's a 'medal' made from glass, with a grape design on it. We also got a little bottle of champagne from a local winery with the race info printed on the label. They also had the best coolmax race T I've ever received.

[VeGluteus]

CaptainSwab said:

I guess mine is more of a winter marathon. I'm running the Las Vegas M on December 4th. It will be my 5th marathon.

I heard they're actually gonna run on the strip this year.. sounds like a lot of fun!

[VeGluteus]

Cassiel said:

:wayne: VeGluteus, you did the Ironman?! :boobies: Wow, I want to BE you someday! You rock.

LOL if you saw my bike time, you'd ask that my bike be burned. :flush: :tired:

[CaptainSwab]

Hey, that is pretty neat that they give you a little wine bottle. :D

Yep, first time ever the LVM has been done on the strip and then down Freemont street. Should be fun. I hope they have Pina Colodas for us at the end. :D