Yesterday I ran the Diamond Valley Lake marathon and had a little bit sore legs. Today I'm running the Carlsbad marathon and my main goal is to break 5 hours. I had to get up at 3:30 AM because the race is at 6 AM. The drive was 1 hour and I also had to pick up my my race number at this tent where I took the picture.

15 minutes prior the start I'm walking to the starting line. It's still pretty dark and cold. Luckily I brought my running jacket along.

Seven minutes to go. I'm tired and my legs are a bit stiff. Other than that I'm ready to do this race.

With just 5 minutes to go everybody is getting ready to move. Some probably are looking forward to move since they're freezing not wearing enough clothes.

The race was delayed for 6 minutes but now we're on the move. There are 1,500 runners at this sold-out race.

Running along the beach is always a treat. There are dark clouds above us but it's not raining at all.

All volunteers were awesome and super friendly. As usual a huge Thank You to all of them.

Almost one hour into the run and I'm enjoying myself. The weather is perfect and the course is beautiful.

Along the way the course splits for half and full marathoners. I actually didn't mind at all to go the full course, of course.

My main goal is to finish in 5 hours so staying with the 5:00 pacer is a good idea. However, I felt that I had more energy and pulled ahead. The plan is that this pacer can catch up on me later in the race when I get more tired.

After 1 hour and 7 minutes the leaders already come back. We were on mile 6.3 while they were on mile 12.3. Amazing! #1 (on the left side) dropped out of the race eventually and #21 (on the right side) went ahead winning this race in 2:24:56 (that's a 5:32 pace). He is Josh Spiker from Ventura, California USA.

I'm having fun and the miles actually go by pretty quick. I'm wearing my race t-shirt from yesterday and a few spectators did give me a strange look seeing the race date of yesterday.

The race was organized very well and the weather was just right.

Very well written and that's how I ran this race.

After 2 hours and 16 minutes, which is exactly the same like yesterday's race, I cross the half-point mark of this race.

Which way to go? LOL. On the very right lane half-marathoners are joining the full marathoners. And on the left lane everybody is coming back towards the finish line.

Running along the beach.

After 3 hours and 7 minutes I'm almost on mile 18. I am still having a good time and ran the whole distance non-stop so far.

I pass this runner moving my face up and down in agreement with that statement.

Looks like a finish line but it's not. I have 2.8 miles to go.

Oh yeah baby! That's it! Just around the corner...

Marathon #23 is done! Not bad with less than 4 years of running.

This was perhaps one of my most consistent race yet. The first 13.1 miles took me 2 hours and 16 minutes and the second 13.1 miles took me 1 minute longer. I ran the whole race non-stop not even stopping at the aid stations except when I had to refill my running bottle. I'm very happy with it.

After the race a local restaurant served this food at the finish line, which tasted amazing. I was really hungry and super happy to see that food. Normally we get bananas and oranges but not at this race.