Back to Napa Valley for my 5th marathon. As I stated 3 years ago when I ran the same marathon, the race is very well organized. Bib pickup extends late in the evening on Saturday and I was given a duffel bag to use as sweat bag. In the morning, buses took us to the starting line swiftly and efficiently. Along the course, the water stations are well manned and at the end, the volunteers are very helpful after you cross the finish line. Since the marathon finishes in a school, you can even take a shower and they have hot soup served in the cafeteria!

The weather was good for March with temperatures optimally in the mid 50s. We did not escape the rain but still, there was a lot less than 3 years ago so I did not end up soaked this time.

For this race, I ran mostly on heart race trying to keep it under 160 BPM for the first half marathon and letting it go up after that.

I had a very good race managing to maintain an even pace for both halves, 1:36:26 for the first half and 1:36:39 for the second half, finishing in 3:13:05 for 84th overall.

That is a new PR for me by 12 minutes and only 3 minutes away from the time I need to qualify for Boston.

All those miles I have been running in the last year or so have started to pay. Looking forward to see if I can beat my half marathon PR in April and I will of course attempt to break the 3:10 mark for my next marathon.