The 2018 NYC Marathon was a bitter sweet day for me. While I finished with a 10+ minute personal course record, I fell 44 seconds short of my personal marathon record. I was pretty emotional after the race because I worked so hard over the past year to hit that goal and to come up 44 seconds short just stung. But after my pity party, I remembered that I was over 10 minutes faster than when I ran NYC in 2016, and I finished the NYC freakin Marathon!

I know exactly where I left those 44 seconds on the course. It was at the aid stations of miles 22 and 23. I was dealing with the wall and chose to walk those 2 aid stations, the only time I walked the entire marathon. Had I even just slow jogged those stations, I would've hit my goal.

At mile 24, the song "Walk on Water" by Thirty Seconds to Mars came on. The chorus says, "Do you believe that you can win this fight tonight." At that moment, I said, "Well Jason, do you believe??? If so, this is it. If you want this marathon PR, you have to leave everything here and give it all you have." And I did. I literally gave all I had those last 2.2 miles. But the moment I finally realized that I would come up short was with 200 meters to go, finish line in sight.

Oh well, you live and learn. Every second counts, both in marathons and in life. Take for granted just one moment in time and you could come up just short of something truly incredible.

As for the race itself, the weather was perfect. Upper 40s at the start, mid 50s at the finish and no winds or clouds. You can't ask for better marathon weather.

And the crowds...off the chain. There's really no way to describe it. For 4 hours, I felt like a champion in the eyes of hundreds of thousands of strangers, and I high fived every kid I could see.

Overall, I'm very happy. This was my second fastest marathon and my fastest NYC Marathon, and I am so grateful to have the abilities to run as a hobby.