Welp. Its never a good sign when you get an email like this the day before a marathon:
2010 MARATHON SAFETY ALERT
2010 RXR / TIAA-CREF Long Island Marathon: Festival of Race
The Nassau County Office of Emergency Management has advised us to expect higher than normal temperatures tomorrow, Sunday, May 2.
If temperature conditions warrant, Full Marathon runners who reach the 10-mile point after 2:18:00 (6 hour pace) will be redirected to the Half Marathon course.
Please understand that this decision will be made tomorrow through consultation with race management, the Nassau County Parks Department and the Office of Emergency Management. In the interest of safety, we ask for everyone’s cooperation in following the instructions of the Course Marshals at the 10 mile point.
We urge all runners to stay well hydrated throughout your run tomorrow.
Thank you.
RXR / TIAA-CREF Long Island Marathon: Festival of Races
So yeah. Needless to say, it was HOT during the marathon. Around 80 degrees with 90% humidity to be extact.
At the starting line, you are grouped in with the half maratoners as well so it was around 4,000 people. I would guess what 80-85% of those are half-ers. The split for the half and full doesnt come until Mile 10, so it was pretty congested up until that point. Just getting our 8:55 pace proved very difficult during those miles with so many people surrounding us.
Side note about about heart rate. During training, on my pace runs (8:55) my heart was typically 160, 165 max. During this marathon, by Mile 3 my heart rate was 185. My body was wroking extremely hard in the hot and humid weather 
Considering the hottest day during my 4 months of training was probably 65 degrees… my body just wasnt ready for a day in the 80′s.
Miles 10-17 were heading down the parkway (with no shade) and the wind blowing directly in our faces. At the half (13.1) our time was 2 hours on the button. We where on pace for 4 hours, but I knew then that it wouldnt happen. Our bodies where working so hard, there was no way to repeat the same effort again. Due to the wind, we even began to try drafting off each other to conserve energy. It was a difficult stretch, but we figured that at least we’d have the wind at our back after the turn around. No such luck 
Miles 17-23 (back up the parkway) were brutal. The wind had totally died and the heat was just getting worse. This quickly turned into walk / jog / run. We tried to mentally break miles into quarter miles just to small accomplishments in out fried brains. Even worse, the drink stations were now handing us HOT (not warm) water and gatorade. There was just no escaping the heat…
Miles 23-26.2 felt like a blur and crossing the fininsh line was amazing. Then it was right to the medical tent for all three runners in our group 
The medical staff said that they were very busy today (especially after the half marathon) due to the heat and humidity.
Today I feel more beat up and sore then I ever have after a run. Overall, just finishing the race was an accomplishment. There were many points in which I wanted to quit, both physically and mentally. Yes I am disappointed and will sulk for a day or two, but then its time to re-evaluate my training regime and start working towards the 2010 New York City Marathon 
By the way, you can view my very unimpressive Garmin Connect stats if you are interested. Also, here is the course map.
