As most of you know, since Sarah and I didn’t finish again this year, it wasn’t a totally satisfying experience.....yet, it was. I had a chance to run again with one of the most wonderful and amazing ladies I have ever known. I witnessed first hand the determination, pride and maturity of Sarah.

Sarah ran 16 miles into a marathon that she probably should not even have started. She had lost a lot of training time and miles during the few weeks leading up to the marathon because of physical problems with her hip and ITB and she had suffered with a cold for several days after arriving in the US. She might have overcome those hurdles. But, the killer was the weather. She had not had a warm weather run of any distance for months. She simply was not acclimated to the conditions. That, on top of the other obstacles, was simply too much. However, not trying wasn’t an option. She felt that she owed too much to too many to not try.

The first 11 miles went OK. The first couple of miles were a little too fast as we searched for the target pace range, but not enough too fast to be a problem. We settled into a nice pace by mile 3 which would get us to the bridge with about 30 minutes to spare. It was also about 30 sec/mile slower than her April London Marathon pace and 2 min/mile slower than a four mile run we had on Wednesday. It should have been a good compromise between staying conservative and building in a safety factor in case it became necessary to slow or walk later.

After 11 miles, things began to go awry quickly. Granted, miles 12 and 13 do include Capitol Hill, one of only two significant hills on the course. But, it shouldn’t have caused a sudden drop of 2 minutes per mile in the pace. More importantly, Sarah’s stride became labored and her running form began to deteriorate rapidly. It was obvious that she was working very hard in mile 12.....much too early to struggle in a marathon. By mile 14, she was no longer running by my side, as we had done from the start, but was tucked in behind me. I knew what she was doing. Last year, she said that running behind me with her head down and focusing on my heels under the bill of her cap was what kept her going through Haines point as we pushed to make the bridge. I sensed that was what she was doing now.....but it was six miles earlier in the race and the bridge was much too far away. I just kept glancing over my shoulder every few strides to make sure I didn’t pull away from her and cause her to lose her point of contact and so I could tell when she slowed to a walk break. And, I began to worry.

When we saw Tim at the Smithsonian Castle near the end of mile 15, I told him that I thought Sarah was in the early stages of hyperthermia. That proved to be prophetic. At that point our pace had dropped almost 4 minutes per mile. At that rate, our safety factor would be gone by the time we reached the bridge....and that assumed no more pace degradation.