I ran 2:52:45 (6:36/mile) in Boston yesterday. Not exactly what I had planned, but not bad either. The course is mysteriously hard and you can't exactly put your finger on it. It's hard to swallow that downhill running would make you that tired. Greg (former teammate) and I held 6:15 through about the half, where he faded; during the 15th mile I started to slow down, although it felt like I had been slowing since the 11th. Once I reached the hills I was already feeling very worn out. Allergies may have had something to do with it as I had a sore throat and sore red eyes for about 4 days before the race. So it was a slugfest from the hills to the finish, but a fun slugfest nonetheless. The Texas crowd was unbelievable. Seriously, I had "Go Texas" and "Hook em Horns" almost constantly throughout the entire race (because of my Texas running outfit). I saw a sign that read "Austin rocks Boston." The Sox were playing the Rangers that morning at Fenway, and a group of guys had constructed an updatable scoreboard and had propped it up along the course. They yelled "Rangers gettin canned" as I ran by. During the 23rd mile I heard "Alright Lance" and Lance Armstrong and his entourage zipped by me on my right. I was a little pissed, I thought he had been ahead of me the whole time. Nope, taking it conservative so he could negative split. Another former teammate, Jobaker, ran 2:39. My dad, Kat, and Alea were in Natick at the 10 mile mark and they made it back to Boylston St. in time for the finish, which was awesome. It was a great experience overall.