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It’s taken a while to write a Pittsburgh Marathon recap. And it’s been for the best reason…I’ve been more present than ever before. I believe I started the journey to the 2023 Pittsburgh marathon back in 2015 when I raced Pittsburgh for the first time, taking 4th place. It’s been on my mind since then that I could compete and win on a great day. Well, May 7th was a great day. After a disappointing race at the Chicago Marathon where I went out in 1:05 and struggled with a 1:10 second half, I wanted to run a marathon where I was tough and stronger in the second half. I committed to running Pittsburgh early in the winter and put the goal of winning generally out of my mind and focused on the process. It was by far the most challenging winter in the Front Range in a decade, yet it was also one of the most rewarding. I did the vast majority of my workouts solo in the dark on loops around a local high school or on the treadmill. I rarely ran workouts faster than 5:00/mi (my treadmill doesn’t even go faster than that). Yet, I stacked weeks and weeks of B+ workouts together and had entirely A+ races: Pensacola DBR 15k - win in 44:29 USA Half Champs - 7th in 1:02:52 (PR) Cooper River Bridge Run 10k - 5th, 2nd US Horsetooth Half - 2nd in 1:06:40 When I got to Pittsburgh I felt ready to race, and honestly ready for an awesome weekend with the family. 
It was my time to race Sunday morning. I snuck out for breakfast 3 hours before the gun went off…thankfully not waking up the other sleeping three. I ate two bagels and grabbed a cup of coffee to find a quiet corner of the lobby with a chair. I spent the next hour writing down notes about how I learned to be less outcome focused and truly more process focused in the past six months. Time flew by and it was quickly time to get to the start. On the way to the start, I chatted with Jared Ward. Thankful for great guys like him that I’ve met in the sport. Then warmed up mostly with Neely Spence talking about our families and racing. Another reminder of good people met through the sport. Then, it was a quick change of shoes, a few strides and the start of the race followed by fireworks.
The Pittsburgh course goes from rolling hills to a massive climb at mile 11. I naturally found myself in the front as the others who were tough and led early drifted towards the back of the group. I decided about a half mile before the hill that I was going to make the race start when we hit the hill. It didn’t take long before I had the guys strung out once we started climbing. There’s a special feeling when you’re the aggressor and you’re putting your competitors on the ropes. But…there was still more than half marathon to go. After the big hill, I ran close to 450 for the following mile and had it down to just two of us - Kenyan athlete Peter Muhoni and I. For the next 7 miles he sat right behind me. When I motioned for him to take the lead and work together, he refused. Not great sportsmanship from a guy who asked to share my bottle at mile 11 and I gave it to him. This is where I really had to be mentally tough…it’s easy to get emotional and frustrated but I repeated “be here now.” Simply by acknowledging that I was feeling anxious by his presence on my heels made me feel less anxious. I may not be in control of his race strategy, but I can be in control of my ability to be in the present moment and my emotional reactions. At mile 20, on an uphill I started getting a few strides on him, which turned into enough distance that I could not hear his footsteps. This was both a great feeling…and a bit of a scary final 10k. I was at the true halfway point in the marathon..mile 20…and I had just been ripping the last 9 miles. It was taking its toll and I was hurting, but I focused on being as relaxed as possible, getting my bottles and being smooth on the downhills. There were a couple hand cyclists around so it was hard to judge from cheering on how big of a lead I had. I assumed it was big, but when I finally glanced back at mile 24 I saw Muhoni and he was closer than I hoped. It was a solid lead but anything could happen in those two miles, and I was really feeling the effects of my aggressiveness. My legs were struggling to move fast and I could feel my turnover getting slower. But, again I tried to stay present and dole out the little energy I had left. The crowds got pretty big in that last mile back in downtown and finally when I glanced back just before mile 26 I knew I had it. I clenched my fist to a roar of a crowd as I turned to the final straightaway.  That final straightaway was decades of running in the making and it was absolutely amazing. I kissed my wedding band twice, feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude for my amazingly supportive wife Kristin. I raised my arms in the air and the crowd went bonkers. I was flying downhill and the adrenaline rush was incredible. I raised my arms and broke the finishing tape.  Seconds later P3R CEO Troy put his arms and an American flag around me. I walked a few more steps and Kristin was right there holding Jack and Levi was walking up to me with a bouquet of flowers. I embraced them with the best feeling of exhaustion and exhalation. Kristin especially knew the work and commitment I put in every day, and I can’t express the amount of sacrifice she has to support my goals and dreams…while being an amazing mom to two busy boys. Seeing her and the boys immediately after finishing was by far the greatest joy and I’ll be forever grateful for Ryan Hogan and the P3R staff for making sure my family was there right at the finish.  Typically after a big race I feel traditional post-marathon sadness. Either you’re sad that it’s over after working so hard and accomplishing your goals, or you’re sad that you didn’t achieve your goals and wishing you had another opportunity. I didn’t feel that this time. After doing 20+ marathons in my career, I’ve never felt so continuously in the moment. It was traveling back with the family that afternoon, back to work (in my career job) the next day and spending a little more time with the early waking boys the next few days.
When you enjoy the journey, the destination doesn’t become the only thing. It was a beautiful moment, but I felt there were beautiful moments after knocking out 15 milers on the treadmill before Levi woke up, or managing a solid, solo workout of 5min repeats despite it being 15F and dark outside with a headlamp on. Steve Magness’s book described this as harmonious passion and I feel like I am as close as I’ve ever been to this.
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