Today's Boston Marathon: 3:47:21

I'll take it. I'm pleased with my time, even though there was a pretty stout headwind for the entire race. The average time was a 3:49, so I'm glad to just be able to hang in with this crowd and beat the average time. The hills were manageable but are tough just because of where they are on the course. From everything I heard about Heartbreak Hill (mile 20.5), I was expecting to turn a corner and see Mt. Everest. It was long and daunting, and I'm glad I saved enough energy to get through it, but it wasn't too terribly steep. From the top of that hill, the crowd was 20 deep on both sides of the street for the rest of the race. Boston is pretty smart -- they scheduled a Red Sox home game for 11:00 a.m. so that the game would end and the crowd would spill out of Fenway right onto the course for the marathon finish.

I've always said that there are too many marathons out there to experience to run the same one twice, but this one is obviously the exception. I wore a red Arkansas t-shirt, so that drew lots of attention from the crowds that lined the street from the start to the finish. "Go Hags!" I did mention, didn't I, that I love the Boston accent? Took me a while to realize they were cheering for the Razorbacks.

We hit Wellesley at the halfway point, and you could hear the female students from a quarter mile. The Boston College students were at mile 16 and were a little rowdier. After the hills in Newton, the course is downhill for a mile or so until we were downtown. Once you turn left on Boylston, there's a quarter mile to the finish, and the street is lined with full bleachers on both sides -- automatic adrenaline rush! Post-race, most runners are looking for a banana or bagel. I'm looking for the nearest chili dog. I'll check in later.