Running on Emerald - My 20th Marathon and 2nd BQ Attempt
...as I approached the 19th mile, I knew it was all over for me. My quads were blown. With each next step the effort got harder and harder. I pressed on, but my average pace was falling, and falling fast from the 7:45 I have kept up until then. Heather, one of my running partners was behind me, she had been for the entire race, until mile 23... she passed me quickly and spun around. "Fight for it, You have to fight for it, Shane!" But what she didn't know was that I WAS fighting... with every fiber of my being, I was fighting. I wanted to stop but I didn't. I crossed the finish line at 3:32. A disappointing seven minutes over my Boston Qualifying time requirement of 3:25. The bittersweet aspect to the day was that my time was a nine minute PR over my last marathon. Indeed a great accomplishment in its own right... but no BQ on that day. Those were the final moments of the Erie Marathon in Erie, PA. on September 11th, 2015. My eighteenth marathon and 1st attempt at