I ran the Seattle marathon last Sunday and finished in very disappointing 3:56:41. The whole race can only be summarized in one word: humiliating.

I started fine and kept at average of 7:50 pace. This is my easy run pace. At 10-mile mark, I felt a bit tired but had no problem maintaining that pace. I reached half way point in 1:42:42. At 14-mile mark, I felt really tired and had to struggle to maintain sub-8 pace. I knew I blew it. At 18-mile mark, I could no longer hold the pace. The final dagger came at mile 20 with a series of hills. I was in no condition to deal with them at that point. I covered the last 6 miles with numerous walk breaks, seeing hundreds, literally hundreds of runners passing me. A total humiliating experience.

Now in retrospect, I can see that I was badly under-trained. Left ankle sprain (fall from high bar) cut my training to 14 weeks. Right foot planter fasciitis was with me throughout the entire training. On top of that I got flu 3 weeks before the race and had to miss a 20-mile long run.

I learned a lesson and will certainly do better next time.