City of Oaks Marathon 2008

What a "Bonk" looks like

Here is a short story:
FAILURE.

Longer, less interesting story:
Previous shorter races lead me to believe that I could run the Raleigh marathon in 3:15. I was wrong.
At mile 18 I realized I could not keep up the pace, and set a new goal of 3:27, which would be a personal record for me.
At mile 21, I set a new goal, to just keep running to the finish.
At mile 23, I set a new goal, to get back to my car.

As I hobbled slowly the last 3 miles, my entire body cramping up, people shouted words of encouragement.
"You can do it!" - actually, no, I cant
"Don't give up" - actually, thats exactly what I am doing.

I was passed by a stream of people much smarter than I, who had started slower.
I strolled through the finish and got this great picture of bonk.

Poor fox had a worse day than me

The one memory I will take away from this race is this poor fox, squished on the street. At least I did not literally die at mile 23 as he did.