This story is about my wife's marathon debut. Like most distance runners, she downplays her achievements.
In her first half marathon attempt in a long time, she won the America's Finest City ½ Marathon in San Diego, CA on a hilly course in 1:14. Given that time, she thought she might attempt the full marathon. She chose the California International Marathon in Sacramento, CA. She came in second place in a time of 2:34:44, which was good for $3000 US.

The following is a copy of an e-mail that Tina received from her friend, you might as well get it from the source…Later, I will tell you my story.
"Tina,
All I have to say is...F***ing awesome!
Cheers, Sarah"

"Sarah,
Thanks for the note. Here is how it all happened...I started off conservatively, which is not something I'm very good at but I'm working on. I was running in 4th for the first ten miles at 5:40/mile pace. I was cruising on at 2:29 marathon pace and it felt easy!!! At mile ten, I moved into second place with the Mexican girl running with me until mile 15, where she dropped off. I went through the half at about 1:14:40. Miles were still clicking by at a consistent 5:41. At mile 20, where I was told most marathoners "Hit the Wall", I still felt invincible! However, I was having trouble drinking out of the small paper cups throughout the race. I was going to run 2:29 and get the Olympic standard. I was also closing in on the Australian girl who ended up winning in 2:29:21 (course record). At mile 22...it happened, suddenly my legs cramped up, I got dizzy and was struggling to keep my stride. I think I slowed down to 7 min. miles by then and it was all I could do to finish! Basically, I jogged across the line and as soon as I stopped, I blacked out and collapsed. All I could hear were muffled voices (like Charlie Brown's parents and teachers, you know, "Woh, woh, woh") and someone yelling, "Get a wheelchair". I always see the medical tents at races and think to myself, "Look at those poor bastards!" Well, that was me. The last 4 miles were probably the worst experience of my running career! Tina, the marathon geek"

…And now the race from my perspective.
I was trying to see the race, from as many vantage points as possible. I was getting the split time between when the leader went by and when Tina passed.

When Tina passed by me at 10 miles, the Australian had a 1:55 lead. Tina was right beside a Mexican and a Russian was about 10 meters back. She looked good and even smiled and waved to me as I cheered for her. She has never waved to me before. In the shorter faster races, she is just too focused.
The next viewing location was at the halfway point. The Russian girl had dropped off and Tina was a stride or two ahead of the Mexican.

My next stop was at 20 1/2 miles. This is where some people start hitting the wall. By this point the Mexican had dropped off from Tina's pace. The Australian looked like she was slowing down a bit and Tina had cut her lead down to 1:40 when they passed me. Then, as you know from her story, she "Bonked".

It was pretty freaky after she crossed the line and just went limp. I felt kinda helpless being on the other side of a fence, not being able to do anything for her. She's always so strong, so it was very tough seeing her like that. I managed to make my way to the medical tent, and saw that Tina was not alone. She felt embarrassed that she had to get wheeled away, but I have total respect for people like that who can push themselves to their extreme limits.

At first she was a little bummed with her time because she was on pace and was so close to getting an Olympic standard before she ran out of gas. She said "I'll never run one of those again" but later that night, after she felt better and had some time to realize how fast she had actually run, she was thinking: "With some more experience and proper fuelling during the race, I could do really well at this distance".
Just to give you an idea of how fast Tina's time was, here are some little trivia tid-bits. Only two Americans have run faster than Tina's time this year. It is easily the fastest time in Canada this year. The next fastest time by a Canadian is 2:36:19. It puts her at 12th in the All Time Canadian Rankings.
There was a quote in the paper from an elite level, local guy from Sacramento who was also in his debut marathon. I guess he had a similar experience as Tina, hitting the wall late in the race but managing to hang on and finish 7th in 2:17 and qualifying for the US Olympic trials. When asked if he thought that the marathon was as tough as he expected, he said, "It's a thousand times tougher! Believe the hype!"

Brendan Connelly, inspired by his wife, has now run his own
marathon. Tina Connelly's successes include:
8 time National Champion on Track, Roads & Cross Country.
1999 Pan AM Games 10,000 M Bronze Medal, 2000 Sydney
Olympics,10,000 M 19th heat 1, 2001 Francophone Games,
5,000 M Gold Medal.,2001 World Track & Field
Championships,10,000 M 20th, Marathon, 33rd. 2004 World
Cross Country Championships (Team Bronze) 2005 World
Half-Marathon Championships 39th.