Notes
Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge - a perfect morning for racing. Flat course and cool weather - no excuses. Goal was 3 hours so I went out with that intent. Sadly, by mile 9 I knew the legs didn't show up for racing - no pop in them and quite dead. Not sure why - I have some training methods to review. It could be too many miles at the wrong pace (didn't get to the track very often), or possibly a bad taper.
After a couple of miles getting frustrated at myself and looking at another 16 miles or so of anguish I decided to be a grown up and go with the legs I had and see what happened. In times past I would have likely been stubborn and stuck with race pace until I completely blew up. This time, though, I just pulled back a bit and hung on to paces in the low 7s until the very end. Never had a huge crash and burn, just kind of a long, slow, fade.
Finished in 3:13:55 and even got a BQ. Disappointed that I missed my goal by so much but pleased that experience kicked in and I found some patience to avoid the usual epic crash and burn. I think I still have a 3 hour in me, just need to tweak a few things. Actually have another race in 6 weeks - will try to recovery as best I can and see what happens.
Gu prior and every 5 miles.
Humid and 42 at the start. Maybe mid-50s at the end but never felt warm - just perfect.