Notes
Well I went into this race with some very lofty goals and as race day approached they seemed to get harder and harder to obtain. I did start the race much faster than what I had planned but for the most part the pace felt comfortable and I thought the people I was running with I could eventually beat. A lot of the course was just a blur mainly the last 5-6 miles.
I went through half way in 1:16:04 and instantly started to back off the pace since the heat was becoming more noticeable and I was way under my goal pace of 1:17:30. Against my liking i let the group of guys who I had been running with (already very spread out but no one pulling away) slip away. Mile 14 I started having some issues with not being able to take water well and my second GU was rough. I kinda went into a very dark spot from mile 15 - 19 just trying to stomach the water and Gatorade and fight the heat. I was still passing a few people and being passed as well. I was lucky enough to grab a few bottles of water and get more fluids than I could from the cups.
Just after mile 20 I took a huge chance of not even taking half of my last GU and trying to get as much Gatorade and water as possible. By looking at my splits its looks like a bad decision but I actually started feeling better and the last stretch up Michigan I was able to really start picking up the pace and actually passing most of the guys who I had let slip away earlier in the race. I think I probably passed 20 - 30 runners in the last few miles. The last hill sucked.
I was a little disappointed with the pack running, they seemed very sparse and usually didn't last long before breaking up. For the most part I was never running all alone someone was always within 15-20 meters. I think the biggest breaking points for me was around mile 16 heading toward downtown as the heat was really getting to me and at this point I was having trouble with water. The other big one was just before mile 21 when I spaced out and thought I was further along on the course than what I was.
1 - 5:38
2 - 5:42
3 - 5:48
4 - 5:50
5 - 5:50
6 - 5:42
7 - 5:40
8 - 5:56
9 - 5:54
10 - 5:50
11 - 5:47
12 - 5:53
13 - 5:52
14 - 5:59
15 - 5:59
16 - 6:12
17 - 6:06
18 - 6:09
19 - 6:03
20 - 6:14
21 - 6:14
22 - 6:14
23 - 6:18
24 - 6:15
25 - 6:09
26+.2 - 7:28