I ran the Potomac River Run Marathon this morning, finishing with my second best time across the six marathons I’ve run so far—4 hours, 11 minutes at something like a 9:20 pace.

It was noticeably colder this morning than a month ago when I ran the same route for the Abebe Bikila Day International Peace Marathon, and that’s after starting an hour later than last month, at 8am versus 7am. There were something like 130 total marathoners running this morning, a low-key course compared to the major marathons.

I felt good throughout, although my pace was worse than last month. There were long stretches this morning where I found myself running alone, and to some degree that probably slowed me down in terms of the lack of runners to pace-set against. As I came up on mile 17, I was alone and alternating between boredom and thinking too much, so I prayed my Rosary for the day. I had read about a woman who ran a marathon a few years ago who prayed the Rosary throughout her marathon, and that came back to me in the midst of my discontent.

I’m glad I ran this, and am looking forward to one more (shorter) run before autumn really sets in.