I'm Hurtin

But I did it. I completed the Baltimore Marathon yesterday in 3:32:26, and somehow found the strength to stand for nearly four consecutive hours while partaking in several grain alcoholic beverages along with my closest several hundred DC ND alumni friends at Sine Irish Pub. As expected, I am paying the price today for my utter disregard I had for my body yesterday. I'm basically doing the shuffle walk today, as I'm too sore to bend my legs.

The marathon went well for the first 18 miles as I was averaging a sub 7:30 pace and seemed on my way to running a 3:10 or a 3:15 which would have been pretty damn good for my first time out. Unfortunately, the course by mile 18 started to get to me. Mile 16 to Mile 22 were basically straight up hill, and I just got worn down of having to run up one hill after another. Then around mile 22, I pulled or strained an abdominal muscle and there is nothing more painful when you're running than having a side stitch that you cannot get rid of. So I ended up walking a fair amount between when I hurt my abdominal muscle and the finish, but I found a way to finish, which for a first time marathoner like myself is probably the most important thing.

As for the game, that game felt like a kick in the stomach. Notre Dame had that game won. I was jumping around and hugging anyone around me, then the refs had to take away the game from the Irish. First, they placed the ball on the 1/2 yard line after the Leinart (who by the way will be nothing more than a left-handed Steve Walsh in the NFL) fumble appeared to me to go out of bounds at the 2 or 3 yard line (of course this could not have been reviewed thanks to the Poodle). Then they let Reggie Bush shove Leinart into the endzone, which should have been a penalty. That being said when you let the refs decide a game, you don't deserve to win. Notre Dame had a ton of missed opportunities. The overthrow by Quinn to Schwapp, which would have been a sure first down. The missed field goal by Fitzpatrick on the next play. The inability to stop USC from converting on 4th and 9. This is probably the second most painful loss in my years of watching Notre Dame football (the first being the 41-38 loss to BC in 1993), and luckily my White Sox were able to get some of the bitter taste out of my mouth with their 8-2 win last night, putting them one victory away from going to their first World Series since 1959.

Despite the bitter pill of yesterday's game, there was a positive from the game. The future appears to be extremely bright for the Irish. They played a team that was more talented than them at almost every position, yet they were seconds away from upsetting them. Charlie Weis completely outcoached Pete Carroll. You have to believe that once that talent gap begins to close beginning next year, this is going to be a completely different story in the years to come. In fact, I am right now predicting a Notre Dame victory over USC next season.