Prescott, My Prescott (it's pronounced press-cut)

Who knew the most challenging part of my day would be locating internet access.

I tried to gain internet access right after the race, first at the Wild Iris Coffee shop, followed by a frustrating experience with my hotel's ineffective internet service, which places me at Starbucks where access has finally been achieved.

Before the race report, Friday (yesterday) was my travel day, which included some travel changes, delays, followed by more delays. I finally made it to Prescott last night around 10 p.m. local time (two hours behind Birmingham). That made for a short night, but I still managed about six hours of sleep and felt pretty good at 4:45 a.m., when the alarm went off.

Saturday morning, my personal "breakfast of champions" consisted of three Fig Newtons and half a Twix bar, chased down by Smart Water. I headed in to downtown Prescott to the actual Whiskey Row (the marathon is named the Whiskey Row Marathon) and the Hotel St. Michael to register. Time flew between 5 a.m. and the race start at 6 a.m. I was texting Cathy (my wife) right at the marathon start (pictured above), and I forgot to start my GPS watch. I was about a half mile in when I realized my error, so I started the watch at the 1 mile mark and just guessed at my first mile time (I was guessing 11 minutes because I was going very, very s-l-o-w).

The starting altitude of the race is 5,400 feet and it did not take me long to watch my heart rate (my watch includes a heart rate monitor) zoom to 170 while running up hill. My first walking was done at mile 2, which is usually not a good sign. Keep in mind, however, I set out to finish...not set any personal records. By walking, I could keep my heart rate in the 150 range (or lower) while moving uphill...and were there hills...

For purposes of managing my race strategy, I divided the marathon in to the following stages:

-Stage 1--Start to mile 9--This includes an increase in elevation from 5,340 feet to 7,000 feet (strategy: just get to mile 9).

-Stage 2--Mile 9 to halfway (13.1 miles)--From the peak of the run, this is generally downhill (strategy: just get to halfway under 3 hours).

-Stage 3--Halfway t0 mile 17--You turn around and run back up the hill you just ran down (strategy: just get back up the hill).

-Stage 4--Mile 17 to finish--This is 9.2 miles of steep down hill, with a few up hills just for fun (strategy: if you make it this far, go as fast as you can for as long as you can).

In Stage 1, the hills and altitude forced me to walk. It was steep, at altitude and while I could have likely run up any one of the hills, there was no way I was going to run up for 9 miles. Discretion was the better part of valor at this point.

The picture is me at the 9 mile mark (elevation: 7,000 feet).

Once at the race's high point, I met up with Joseph from Scottsdale for Stage 2. We ran and talked to the halfway point. He is an Iowa graduate and a Big Ten fan, but I helped him feel a bit better about the SEC during our four miles together.

I made it to half way in about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Since I just hoped to finish within the 6 hour time limit today, I was OK with the half way time since that was ahead of the cut off time.

Joseph and I parted ways shortly after the halfway point, and I started back up the hill alone. To back up for a minute, at the 6 mile mark, I pulled out my ear phones, turned off my iPod and just listened to the wind blowing through the pine trees. It was quiet, except for my feet landing on the dirt road, my breathing and the wind blowing at the top of the mountain. Moments like that make the journey special. I ran without the iPod for 11 miles, until the end of stage 3 when I was back at the top. I just listened during this time.

The picture to the right is the stretch of road leading back up to the top of the course (roughly at the 16.5 mile mark). The picture really does not do justice to the incline each runner faced. If you look closely, you can see John from Tucson running ahead of me. I guess from me to John was an elevation change of 30 feet...and he's only about 40 yards ahead.

Once back at the top, the race enters Stage 4, which is sharply downhill. From mile 17 to 20, you run down the mountain at a very steep angle. I flew. My intent in being conservative during the climbs was to save enough energy for the last nine miles. It worked. I ran some miles at a 7 minute pace. Several more miles were at an 8 minute pace. My adrenalin really started to pump and I was able to keep it up even on the flat parts around mile 22. There were two hills at the end of the course. With both hills I ran up them until my heart rate hit 170, which was my signal to walk.

Remember my GPS error at the start. The quick pace had me close to completing this marathon in a time just under 5 hours. Because of my watch starting error, I really did not know my exact time. It was not until I rounded the corner of the town square (by the Yavapai County Courthouse) that I saw the official time and realized I had achieved completion of the Whiskey Row Marathon in just under 5 hours.

My official "chip" time was 4 hours, 58 minutes and 39 seconds. I placed 99th out of 134 race finishers, was 7th out of 12 men in the 40-44 year old age group, and placed 1st in the Alabama division. Actually, there wasn't an Alabama division, but I wanted to be first in something today.

The people of Prescott were awesome. Each aid station along the way had water, Gatorade, oranges, bananas, nuts, other running necessities, and group of really nice people. People honked and waved as we ran back through downtown toward the finish line. The weather was great (it was a little windy at the top, but no complaints after Boston's weather), the scenery spectacular and I have finished my May marathon.

This was by far the most challenging marathon I have ever run. It was also one of the most enjoyable. I had no idea how I would perform today....at altitude...with many, many hill climbs...just 12 days after Boston. In the grand scheme of things, today wasn't that important, but I am really pleased with the run.

I now have 6 weeks and 1 day until my next scheduled marathon. My blogging plan is to post each day through Wednesday of this week, take a few days off, and then provide some other marathon-related information leading up to my June run.