The first 13.1 miles!!

Have to say that the weather was perfect for the entire race. 50 to 57 degrees and the clouds hung around pretty much the entire race.

When the gun went off, Vero and I started with a nice pace and started weaving in and out of runners. We were going at a nice controlled pace of about 8:15. Our strategy was to run by feel and we felt great. We hit the top of the Verrazano bridge and headed down towards Brooklyn. We let gravity pace our speed and we were running under an 8 minute pace. For down hills this was OK. Along the sides of the bridge, you could see all of the men who hydrated way too much before the race, they were all pissing over the side. I'd have hated to be the people on the lower level of the bridge because the wind was blowing across us.

After the Verrazano, we were now in Brooklyn and there were a ton of people cheering us on. Someone yelled "You look great"!!! I thought to myself, did they know this was a 26.2 mile race and we were at mile 3??? Whatever...Vero and I were running a 7:30 to 8:00 minute pace...definitely faster than I had trained but I felt amazing...wasn't sure if it would last but what the hell. If I could knock out some miles under my 8:18 pace, it would give me some cushion.

We were stopping at most of the water stops for either gatorade or water. We would grab our drink and put it down while we were running. Everytime I did this, it seemed that I would swallow some air and spend the next 10 to 20 strides burping...not a great feeling. But, I digress.

We ran past the Team Fox cheering section just after mile 7. Great seeing everyone and it kept us running strong!

Vero and I were knocking out the miles, one after another around 8:00 pace at this point. At mile 9, we were still under an 8:00 pace for the marathon. Felt really strong.

My race strategy was to consume a GU packet every thirty minutes to keep my energy up. The first five would not have caffeine and the last two would. I also planned to eat something later in the race to be determined by what people were passing out.

Vero had a ton of people out for her in Brooklyn as that's where she lives. This was great as it seems that people were always handing her treats for fuel. You could see by the look on their faces that they were pumped to see her. And she was pumped that they were there to cheer her on!!!

At mile 12, I decided it was time to take my salt packet to try and avoid muscle cramps later in the race. I opened the tiny McDonalds salt packet and emptied it into my mouth...delicious!!! Quickly grabbed a gatorade to wash it down.

The halfway point was on the Pulaski bridge in Queens. I looked down at my watch and we ran it in 1:44:56. I missed my half marathon PB by 30 seconds. Not sure if this pace was good or bad but we kept cranking out the miles. At this point, I was 10 minutes ahead of Ryan's pace and I was happy to leave half of the race behind me.