Notes
Very happy and surprised at how well today went! My stomach was not feeling overly great the first few miles and I felt kinda shaky ... like I get when I'm having low blood sugar issues. But around mile 3 or 4, everything settled down and I started feeling good. I paid attention to my pace for maybe the first 6 miles or so, then I clicked my watch over to just the time of day and ran by feel... I knew i was under the 9:30s I initially wanted to do and figured I might be better off not knowing how fast or slow I was going ... it was all kind of gravy at that point, assuming I could hold onto my overall pace. I felt pretty strong, so I was fairly confident I could.
I did a much better job than anticipated at running the downhills. I was able to really take advantage of the vast majority of them (those account for the bulk of my faster miles). And then even on the worst hills, I wasnt too horribly slow.
This was a 14 minute PR! The last time I ran Ron Daws was in 2014, the spring before I tore my hamstring. I was in pretty decent shape at the time, and I believe my effort was pretty much the same -- I didnt race it, but it was a solid MP effort. So fairly comparable. I ran a 2:37:17, or 10:09 avg pace. That means I was 51 seconds per mile faster today .. and that was pre-surgery too!
I'm particularly happy with myself over two things: First, I never walked on the hills at all. I usually have ended up walking at least part of the worst hills, usually more than once. (I did walk about 5 steps at each water stop though). Second, my legs were noticeably tired on the second big loop (the last 4ish miles or so), but I didnt let that stop me.