One down and hopefully many to go

My legs are still terribly sore, but my spirits are up after finishing my first marathon yesterday - Perth 2006.
I set myself the priorities of starting, finishing, 4 hours, 3:45 and 3:30 (given my performance at the Freo Half three weeks ago).
Coming in at 3:58 I managed three out of five, which is not all too bad.
I set my trusty Fred to 3:30 always intending to fall behind in the first ks to make sure I did not go out too fast.
In the end I probably did anyway as by 32k my thighs just seized up. So the last ks were slow and hard going and many people passed me (not just those fresh guys running the relay!).
Up until then, I was going really well at 5m/k and just on target, but then it fell apart. I thought I had taken enough glucose, but obviously not so.
Epi's graph on his blog looked like mine, just a bit faster, but then he also had a very tough lead up to the race. Here's my comment to his blog.

"Epi -

I didn't realise until today what sort of a horrible lead-up you've had. That makes your effort even greater. Well done!
Pity you couldn't hang on to the cracking pace you set at the beginning.
I think our stories are pretty similar, certainly the graphs look alike with the only difference that my pace was always between 30 & 45 secs slower.
Since yesterday I have been trying to figure out what happened and it may just have been a case of hypoglycaemia. In hindsight I probably did take too little glucose on the way, respectively when it was already too late.
My reading of Noakes last night certainly seems to support that.
Although I certainly wasn't thinking this way after 32k, the experience has made me more determined to prepare better for the Rotto Marathon. Lots of hill work, too!
All the best, Henry"

I'm just waiting for the soreness to go away and then I'll be off and running again.

Rottnest, here I come.