Britton cheered me on at the finish.

Some of the 169 crowd.

The in laws. Down from New Hapshire to run the half marathon.

Marathon #10 is in the books. Ran the Eversource Hartford Marathon yesterday for the 5th time. It was my 10th marathon but my 16th race of 26.2 miles or more when my ultramarathons are included. My chip time 4:47:52. A bit slower than expected but not my worst. I'm happy to be under 5 hours at 62(almost 63) years old.My recent foot problems made me wonder what this marathon would be like. I had twisted it badly a few weeks earlier. I had run 15 miles without issue so I figured it would last the full 26.2. During the race I felt a couple of shots of pain but not bad and not too often. In the end it was OK. Ironically today I ran 5 miles with no pain whatsoever. Great news.I started the marathon as usual with a small breakfast of cereal and toast 3 hours before the start. Drank some UCAN 1 hour before. I got there early(5:10am) to secure the traditional parking spot across from the Bushnell. Went out for an easy run/jog around Bushnell Park just to loosen up. As the start time approached I met my 169er friends and my brother and sister in law, Mike and Denise Raymond. Denise was in town to run the half marathon. As usual the 169 crowd took tons of pictures and joked around before the start. Eventually it was time to line up in front of the capitol. I started farther back this year because I wanted to start slow. Maybe a 10:00-10:30 pace. I finally have that under control and do not start too fast. Unfortunately I was so far back the congestion was unreal. I had walkers, groups of friends, kids, etc all slowing down to 12:00 per mile. As we got to Albany avenue, about 1/3 mile out, there were still walkers in front of me. These people need to start farther back. Or I guess I should start farther up! Next year I will make sure this doesn't happen again.I was keeping a good pace all through mile 15. From mile 6 to 13 I was hyped up and having a blast. Fooling around with the photographers and enjoying my music. This was the first year that running in South Windsor to the 17 mile turn seemed easy and fast. Years past this section was usually a drag and wore on me. I must be getting used to the course. As I approached mile 20 I was clearly running out of gas...probably hitting the wall. I did make sure to have three gels at mile 5,10, and 15 which helped me. After mile 23 the end was approaching. I got a little 2nd wind. On the bridge going into Hartford at mile 25 I took off. The music was pounding and I felt good. Passing other runners was easy and fueled my enthusiasm. I rounded the last turn to the arch and saw my daughter and grandson. Britton almost ran the final 500 feet with me but chickened out. I crossed the finish line to complete my 5th Hartford. Felt good. This is my favorite race.So today I went for 5 miles which was easy and peaceful. And as usual the thoughts of "what's next" start. I have the Roxbury half marathon and Roxbury full marathon as my next big races. Time to start planning and training. I will be back at Hartford in 2017.