GOOD NEWS! I finished 189 out of 705 runners. The bad news, I did not win the bottle of Moet.

My buddy came in 112 and beat me by about 4 minutes. My official time was 1:29:35 with a pace of 10:41 per mile (the race is actually 8.3 miles long).

Our good buddy over at News of St. John posted a nice youtube video of the first 55 seconds of the race. If you pause at second 42 I am in the center of the screen wearing the number 340 and sunglasses. (direct youtube video link here)

So a few words about the actual race. WOW… seriously hard. The inclines really suck the energy and air right out of you and the declines require real control of your legs. One mis step coming down those hills and you could easily have a very nasty fall. It was definitely a challenging race and except for dropping my ipod once it went without a hitch. Running out at the starting line with eye of the tiger playing was very cool. It had a surreal feel with so many other people all gathered together. I am definitely glad I participated and now I have an urge to look into other foot races. I guess we’ll see how long that urge lasts!

Overall I am actually quite proud of my finish. I have not stepped foot into a gym other than my single trip on Monday for more than 6 months so to be able to finish 133rd and only 4 minutes behind a guy who goes a couple times a week is pretty decent in my book. Anyway, after running the race he deserves the bottle of Moet, however there is a REMATCH NEXT YEAR! And I do NOT intend to loose twice.

As for the amount of pain - I think I got off without to much agony. I have some tightness in the shoulders and back and a bit of chaffing on my thigh (Tip: don’t wear cargo shorts on an 8 mile run) but other than that I am not feeling too too bad. Cheers for that!

Alright well I jsut caught the time and need to jet to work (Oceana) but let me end with sending out a big congrats to everyone who participated in 8 tuff miles! Including that couple from my home state of Virgina! I look forward to seeing you all next year!