Notes
Watched the forecast all week prior to the race, I was dissapointed to see that heavy rain, wind and 70* was forecasted. On the drive down sat. morning I had high hopes the weather dude was wrong. It was looking good up until 3:30 am the morning of , and then kaboom, the monsoon started. I drove to the race pissed and swearing at mother nature. I trained too hard and too long to be dealt this fate. but never the less, we parked the car and started the 1 mile walk to the start line. Waited around with all the other pissed off runners. The race director anounced that there would be over 25'000 runners. Carey told me that it took 15 minutes for every runner to get over the start line after the gun sounded. I found my spot in the f ront and took off, hoping the rain would let up at some point. NO such luck, it rained for most of the 26.2 miles, at times very hard. It was hot and humid, the rain helped cool down a liitle, but we still had to deal with some strong winds here and there. I was mentally and physically prepared and I told myself that I wasn't going to allow the weather to be an excuse to not realize my marathon goals today. I pulled my hat down and went for it. I had a specific game plan for a 3:10 finish, the splits would allow me start a little slower and ultimately finish a little slower , with some strong minutes in the middle. For the most part I stuck to the plan, although I picked up the pace in the middle miles with @ a 6:55 avg. I consumed a pack of sports beans at mile 10 and mile 19. I had gulps of gatorade every 3rd mile. I feel my calorie intake was pretty good, I fealt aggressive through mile 21. I started to feel the burn at 22, I really had to dig deep the last 4 miles, I did my best to think about the hard work I put in to get here and I used my kids as motivation as well. I came this far and I wasn't going to blow up now. So I dug a little deeper and pushed on. Before I new it, the finish line was in sight, and I was sure happy to see that. Crossing the line was a great feeling knowing that I left nothing on the roads of Cincinnati, I gave it my all
splits:
7:14
7:06
6:59
6:59
6:57
6:40 10k (41:57)
7:22
7:05
6:54
6:59
6:42
7:05
7:08 half (1:33:49)
6:48
7:00
7:17
7:03
6:59
6:59
7:05
7:15
7:07
7:10
7:15
7:11
7:04
2:03 (1:34:05)
3:07:54