It was hard, hot and hilly....but somehow I maintained my PR of 4 hour 12 minutes.  Best part was being with my friends Rachel and Jamie in Squirrel Hill for Shabbat.

At mile 11 of the run, it split to have those doing the half return to the start and those continuing the full to start going up hill.  Up to that point it was relatively flat; the most inclines was going over the 5 bridges.  But after the split the elevation took a dramatic turn (upwards).

The initial climb into the hills was the steepest and at about a mile in distance.  My hear rate climbed up into my top zone and I couldn't get it to come down much for the rest of the run.  The heat also kicked into gear at this time...started in the 50's and by this time already in the 70's.  Gratefully there were ice buckets with washcloths at every water station and I managed to keep from getting exhausted from the heat.  I was soaking wet by the end, but I kid of was expecting that considering I dump water on me at every water station now.

Aside from finishing a tough hot hilly run still at my PR, I feel even more accomplished that my hipflexors were not sore, nor was there any physical issues other than muscle fatigue soreness.  I've been working on loosening up my left Gluteus Minimus which seemed to help a lot and have been rolling the bottoms of my feet with a lacrosse ball.

I'm really excited to keep up my training as I think once I hit a flat course I could really drop some time.  Unfortunately the next scheduled marathon (MadRiver) is another hilly hot course.  I'm going to view it as a nice workout run for the one after that which is supposed to be flat (Newport RI).