Notes
GPS: 26.33 mi in 3:17:42.63
Official: 26.2 mi in 3:17:42
Start: 70F 73% humidity
End: 70F 60% humidity
Same course as the new 2-loops Frankenthon course. Race was organized for a gal who needed a Boston qualifier (she needed to run sub 3:45), and required at least 10 runners to finish to be official (we made it).
Strategy was to start at 3:15 BQ pace and try to hold on to it for as long as I could. I didn't really expect myself to be in BQ-shape, so I was expecting to fail and shoot for a PR under 3:28. BQ pace is 7:27 but to account for GPS/course discrepancy I targeted 7:25 or lower.
Initially had a hard time locking down to 7:25, and just happened to be varying around 7:20-7:25, which is fine by me. Toke gel around mile 2, 13, and 18. I didn't know there would be water/gatorade stations so I carried a water belt. I was up front until a guy passed me by around mile 2.5. We were both running for PR and weren't really racing each other. Caught up to him again at around mile 7 because he got lost, and he went ahead of me again. Lost sight of him past mile 10. After first lap started to slip outside of 7:25. After mile 16 turn-around noticed that the front runner was actually behind me, apparently he got lost again. He never caught back up and slowed down way more than I did later. Starting to struggle a bit to keep the pace by mile 19. Already doing better than my pre-race expectation. I thought I would have to slow down and not be able to keep up by mile 17 or so. I pretty much blew up past mile 22. Legs just felt like dead weight, couldn't push or turn them like I was doing before. Hamstrings and glutes had no power, just really tired. Don't think it's the wall because my upper body seemed ok, I just had dead legs. The pace plummeted way faster and harder than I had expected. I thought it would be a gradual slow down, but it wasn't, it was like a nose-dive. It wasn't like I gave up trying, I ran hard but I wasn't really moving. My bowels had been sending me warning signals every now and then since the start of the race, and the alarm was going off in the last 2 miles at the most inconvenient time. It wasn't an excuse though because I didn't think my legs could have gone any faster with or without such distraction. I was able to keep my shit together until I ran past the finish line.
Big PR for me, and the lady did get her BQ, 3:3x which is well under what she needed.