Brian: 2:59:47, Me: DNF. Looking forward to Niagara Falls or Philly!

Brian had a great race and despite the heat, was able to hold it together in the last three miles and come across 13 seconds ahead of his goal time! As a bonus, he finished 2nd in the Master's Division -- just about 12 seconds behind the first-place finisher. But as he said, that 12 seconds may as well have been 12 miles as there was no way Brian was going to catch him.

Oh, did I mention the heat? It wasn't terrible -- about 75 degrees (24 C.) but it happened to hit its 'high' right about the 20 mile mark for me. Ultimately, the consensus of Jenny, Brian, Brian's wife, Bridget, and a few other runners that we chatted with afterwards was that it was certainly warmer than one would have liked, and lots of people were having troubles with the heat.

So, how did I do? Great, up until mile 23. Here is how my miles stacked up:

Mile 1: 7:47
Mile 2: 7:47
Mile 3: 7:41
Mile 4: 7:53
Mile 5: 8:05
Mile 6: 8:00
Mile 7: 7:45
Mile 8: 7:48
Mile 9: 7:46
Mile 10: 7:50
Mile 11: 7:50
Mile 12: 7:54
Mile 13: 7:51
Mile 14: 7:52
Mile 15: 8:01
Mile 16: 7:56
Mile 17: 7:54
Mile 18: 7:56
Mile 19: 8:02
Mile 20: 7:57
Mile 21: 8:07
Mile 22: 7:58
Mile 23: 8:12
Mile 23.8: Was hitting 9:00+ and couldn't get the speed faster. Started walking.

Now it was probably close to 23.5 miles when I crashed as the Garmin was a bit off the actual course distances. So with less than 3 miles to go, I simply ran out of steam -- and even if I'd have been able to do 8:30 miles, I'd have made the mark. But I had absolutely nothing.

I started walking, but even then, I was staggering and by the time I came up to Jenny, I apparently wasn't looking very good. And the ambulance people were keeping an eye on me, just in case.

Here is the pace and elevation from my GPS -- at least the first 24 miles!:
There were two other issues. There was a headwind pretty much the whole way -- but it was relatively light and it had a cooling effect. The other was that it doesn't look like I was consuming enough eLoad sport drink. I'd only felt the need to consume about a 750 ml of sport drink -- but I should have done 2 litres over the entire 26 miles.

Anyhow, I'm feeling fine now and I'm getting ready for one or the other (maybe both?) of the Niagara marathon or Philadelphia.