Notes
A lot of the splits above are wrong - I missed several in the middle of the race and when I realized I'd passed the mile marker I would lap the watch. So there are some slow miles followed by really fast ones - those are the ones where I did that.
1:27:03 first half
1:27:04 second half
Wow! Unbelievable that I ran 2:54:07 - you of all people know I wasn't in shape to run that time. Weather was absolutely perfect - clear, cold and no wind. The sun didn't start to hit me until mile 10 when you turn onto that long segment that heads south. Sun was right in the face there but other than that it was pretty much sun-protected from the trees.
I decided ahead of time to run the first 5mile segment (1-5) at a pretty fast pace as I thought it was a really nice downhill segment. Then I'd throttle back until the last 5 mile segment (21-26.2) then if I had anything left just try not to slow down too much (you know how those last 5 or 6 can be). I felt like I was holding back on mile 1 through 5 and then really felt like I was in idle until about 18 or so. Then I started to feel the miles. But once we got over the bridge and I knew it was nothing but flat I decided to go for it (as much as someone as slow as I am can 'go for it'). It was hard to believe my legs responded and didn't really hurt. When I turned the last corner and saw the clock I knew I had a chance for that PR so I gave it all I had and when I went under the clock (the mats were a few seconds past that point) it read 2:54:05 and I was sprinting as hard as I could. When I crossed the mat and stopped my watch it read 2:54:09! But I was pretty sure I had a second or two coming to me at the start.
I am really happy to run that fast off such slow 10K and half marathon times. I think those Sawyer Camp runs we did really built some strength, maybe at the expense of speed?