Notes
Splits: 8:01, 9:07, 8:34, 8:08, 8:17, 8:32, 8:21, 8:23, 8:14, 8:21, 8:30, 8:24, 8:21, 8:12, 16:39 (2 miles), 8:17, 8:04, 8:24, 8:25, 8:21, 8:27, 8:34, 8:28, 8:38, 8:40, 1:33 (0.2 mile).
First half: 1:50:12; second half: 1:49:55
I think something may have been up with the first two mile markers. I went out feeling very relaxed, but the first mile was 8:01! So I tried to ease up a little. When I hit mile 2 in 9:07, I berated myself, "Not THAT easy!!" But after that my miles were all in the ballpark until the very end.
I did seem to have some trouble hitting a groove for more than a mile or two at a time. I ran a little behind the pace group for five miles, then moved past them to run my own race. That was better, but at no point did I settle into that "clicking off the miles" feeling that I remember so well from Sunburst. I felt good, but still very aware of myself running.
I tried to keep things relaxed until mile 17. When I still felt good at mile 17, I let myself push it a little bit. Somewhere in mile 19 is where I started working. I was working but still keeping pace until mile 25, where I started to fade a bit. Mark found me in mile 26 and ran with me for maybe a quarter mile. I was just ready to be done by then. I had been so conservative and careful not to go too fast for the whole race, and now I was dead-legged and knew that I might have cut it too close.
I kept pushing and finally got a second wind as I headed down into the stadium, dodging half marathon walkers. It is a miracle I didn't blunder into someone. I looked down and saw that I had about 90 seconds to run up the field and halfway back down. I put my head down ran like I was being chased.
I never felt completely sure of the BQ until the final straightaway. I was thinking as early as the third mile that it was going to be up in the air and that I might have a tough time at the end. I believe that I actually didn't peak very well for this marathon the way I did for Sunburst last year, but my better training carried me through enough for the BQ.