Had a great marathon in the World Military Games in Zagreb, Croatia, running a PR of 2:37. Ran my last 10K (36:45) faster than my first 10K (38:09) for the first time ever, and I've run 27 marathons now. I guess experience (read maintaining a sane pace) will allow me to keep running faster though I've reached the ripe old age of 44. I still think I have faster times in me.
I set an "attainable" goal before the race of beating the Canadians. Proud to say I finished ahead of 2 of their 3 runners.
Kim Markland won a bronze medal in the women's marathon for the U.S. with a PR time of 2:46. I ran with her for the first ten miles of the race. She wanted to see if she could run with me, but I felt good and decided to see what I could do, accelerating throughout the race.
More than 70 countries participated, including teams from North Korea and China. The Chinese were very friendly. Russia totally dominated in wrestling, taking 6 of 8 gold medals in Greco-Roman and a sliver and a bronze. We got one bronze. Croatia killed us in basketball for the gold. We crushed everyone else and got silver. Croatia used their national team.
Zagreb was wonderful. Made a couple day trips outside the city-- one to the Dalmatian coast and one to Plitvice National Park. The rest of the two weeks I spent watching other events and exploring Zagreb. Zagreb is a city of a million inhabitants, though one wouldn't know it from going downtown. Not very busy. Apparently everyone was on holiday. It's a beautiful city with a score of museums and nice parks.
Everything was dirt cheap. One night we went out to a Mexican restaurant (!) and after a meal, 2 margaritas, side dishes, desert, and about four beers, the total with tip was less than $20. And that was the most expensive restaurant we found.
We were given a large wardrobe of "USA" clothing. I traded nearly all of it for clothing from other countries. I got nearly a complete Italian outfit, including warmup jacket and pants, two Kenya singlets, a Polish Army polo shirt... I kept my USA warm up jacket and pants as they are of superior quality.
Two photo galleries of my two weeks in Croatia: