New York. Again.

I ran New York, then I went and ran 5 other marathons.

New York was hard the first time, but I chalked that up to it being my first, and running it in shoes a size too small. Both of which certainly made it harder than it might have been.

Then I ran it again, and realized how wrong I was. New York is just hard.

This time around I ran into other unforeseen issues. I didn't know I was getting my period the next day and didn't realize my back pain was just cramping.

Not knowing what it was I slowed down instead of pushing through. Smart, but disappointing.

I flew through the first half feeling incredible, until I ended up in a port-a-potty for 10 minutes having an explosive bowel movement at mile 20.

And then there's the perpetual uphill of the second half. I got to mile 23 ready to quit, but there was Coach Doc Halliday, waiting to pick me up and carry me for a few heart beats. God bless the cheerers. We’d be nowhere without them. And certainly god bless Coach Doc.

It was still my second fastest marathon, which means I'm getting more comfortable with the distance. I was unhappy with the result, but as always so grateful for the chance to lace up with friends.

Looking forward to this year when I'll tackle it again. Already working on my bid for 2027. If the road home doesn’t lead through doing the hard stuff until it gets easy, we’re going in the wrong direction.