Day of Defeat...

I've never dropped from a race before. Even my days as a triathlete, there were some bad times, but not once did I fail to finish a distance. This was my second start of the M2M marathon and I felt this was the marathon (my 4th) to go sub-3hours. Peter and I did'nt waste any time as we flew through the first mile in 6:03. We both looked at each other and decided this was probably not wise. At mile 2, we were at 12:45. There was a constant head wind from mile 2-12 that was just brutal, especially on the hills. Peter and I stayed together until about mile 9. I started feeling a side stich which started to slow the pace. Peter slowly inched ahead....about 20 seconds or so. I went through the 10 mile marker at 1:06. I really felt I could run through the stich and just relax and it would go away. I've had these before, but, this one was stubborn. Mile 13.1 came at about 1:28 and I could feel the other side starting to cramp. At mile 14, things started to really go bad for me. I was sucking air as my whole chest just started to feel really tight. My pace slowed to about a 7:10 and now I could barely see Peter in the distance. I managed to keep going through mile 15, 16. At mile 16, I really started to slow and was clearly not in good shape. I looked behind me and could see the third and fourth place runners closing in. This dappened my spirits even further as I just began to feel helpless. I managed to make it to mile 18 where I stopped to walk around. Clint came running by at that moment and yelled for me to keep going but I could give no response. I was broken. Clearly, this was not my day. Clints wife was keeping tabs on her husband in the car and noticed my condition. It was then that I decided to call it a day and thus, she gave me a ride to the finish. Watching Peter come in at 2:53 was both great and disapointing at the same time. Great to see Peter win....fellow teamate, friend, and good person. Disapointing in that I was supposed to finish with him. Needless to say, the drive back to Austin was one of deep reflexion. All I can think about is how much work I put in....
One day later, I feel hungry for redemption. I've decided to try again in December either at the Marathon at the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, or the Cayman Island Marathon. Until then, I will use my experience at M2M to strengthen myself as an athlete and hopefully, gain the wisdom I need to accomplish my future goals. Thanks to all the gazelles who supported me....I'm sorry I let you down.