I officially joined the marathon finishers club today... X-Post

I'm gonna give a full, detailed race report as well as the pics of the day up tomorrow on my blog but I wanted to let everyone know that I absolutely did finish.   Right now I feel like I've been hit by a truck then had a 2 ton ball dropped on my head.   I'm past exhausted. 

I think my overall time was 5:30.   I hit 'the wall' at around 18 and it just got plain ugly from there.   When I got to the halfway point (13.1 mi) I actually had a pretty good pace of around 9 minutes per mile and clocked in at just over 2 hours.   I hit 'the wall' at around mile 18 and it got UGLY from there. 

Here's a link to the article they did about me from from the Times Picayune that was published in this mornings paper.

http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/sports- 36/120383418613170.xml&coll=1

Mike Montelbano, the reporter that did the story, did a wonderful job on the article and having people on the route shout, "Hey...  464 guy!  Are you the guy from the paper?" helped out so much.   3 minutes after I crossed the finish line, which unfortunately I was so exhausted I only remember bits and pieces, Mike had a tape recorder in my face so he could do a follow-up piece tomorrow.  Oh... blubbering crybaby at start and especially for the last quarter mile and the finish of the race?  CHECK!   :)

And a couple pics of right before I bonked.   The rest of the pics that my girlfriend took at the start / finish and at the halfway point I'll post tomorrow.

http://www.team464.com/images/mardigrasmarathon/marathon-cit ypark1.jpg
http://www.team464.com/images/mardigrasmarathon/marathon-cit ypark2.jpg

 

Good job finishing and it was a nice article.  Now at least you have your time to beat! Hope you have a fast recovery. Rob

Wow! Good for you.Im hoping by this fall to follow in your footsteps.I just recently completed my first half marathon.It was an amazing experience.I can only imagine how proud you are of yourself.Keep up the great work.People like yourself are wonderful inspiations and motivators.My hat's off to you! Cheers Donna

You are a wunderkind, Chad!  I read the TP article this morning and started cheering.  Incredible determination. . .  Meyer's quote about those runners that are out there for 4-5+ hours and still hanging in are the real inspirations (or something to that effect) was on the money.  Yay!!! P.S. It was a first for me yesterday; ran the 5K. It was tougher than I was anticipating, and now I'm a little more worried about the CCC next month. ~Erin

Great post Chad and great run. You're really pushing yourself hard this season with the triathlons and marathons. The article is a nice feather in your cap as well. I'm totally going to try to do the same thing for the Baltimore marathon this fall. Congrats again. -Dan

Wow!! I'm so happy that you were able to finish your first marathon!! I know you were looking for a better time but there always the next race and finishing is the main goal!! Congrats on being part of the 1% of the world that has finished a marathon!!

That is a great article!! It alway nice to see positive articles about WLS. I hope it shows people what they can do!!

Oh my gosh, Chad!  That was so inspiring I had tears in my eyes!  I'm so excited for you ... look at how far you've come!  You look incredibly muscular in those pictures by the way ... you're doing awesome! Great job!  You should be very proud of yourself! Deanna  :)

that is so cool!  congrats! I will look forward to reading your blog & seeing more pics

Chad, Congratulations! Great story, great pictures and great race! I Mary