Notes
THREEPEAT!
Windy and wet and about 45 degrees - a pretty miserable day for a marathon. The course was different and tougher too. At the start one guy took the lead and I jostled with him a bit during the first mile. Right after the mile mark I passed him and led the rest of the way. At about mile 3 both lead bikes took a wrong turn (exiting the conservancy trail a block before Deming Way) and I yelled to them that Deming was ahead. They figured it out just as I was passing them. During the first 15 or so it felt like a long solo tempo run. By mile 6.5 (first turnaround) I had 2:15 on second place. At halfway I was at 1:23:30 which surprised me as I thought I would be faster. Knowing how much tougher the second half is (more hills, a few miles on gravel/dirt/wooden bridges) I thought it would be tough to break 2:50.
In Pheasant Ridge the course was very slow - muddy gravel and slippery wooden bridges. By the second turnaround point (mile 16.5) I had 3:00 on second place. I was a bit worried though as I was not feeling as good and the guy in second was not the same one who was second at 6.5 - so he had likely run the last 10 miles at roughly the same pace as me.
I made it up the big hills through Middleton Hills neighborhood and by mile 18 I was done. Had this been a tempo run I likely would have stopped. I started to cramp up and the weather changed from slight misting to rain. I slowed pretty substantially at this point (or at least it felt like it). I wanted to make sure I had something in the tank for the last few miles where there are a lot of hills. I saw Stella and Henry at 20 which was nice and right after that intersected with the half marathoners. Perhaps it was because I was 10-15 minutes slower but this year the half marathoners were far more spread out - not much of an issue to pass them.
I pushed over the last 6 miles and just kept looking for the next mile marker. I struggled pretty mightily up the hill exiting the conservancy and on the hill on South Street/Parmentier. I was pretty confident that if I made it up the Westchester hill in the lead I would keep it. After an agonizingly slow ascent of that hill (around mile 24.5) I looked back and saw no marathoners. As I came through the finish chute I was yelling 'threepeat' and holding up 3 fingers. At the line I did a Bradley Wiggins style fistpump.
They actually announced me as the winner and had a finish tape for me to cross as I came through this year. The announcer called it the hat trick and joked he's going to be racing me next year. I ended up 2:13 ahead of second so only lost about a minute over the last ~10 miles. I won a trophy.
First half: 1:23:30
Second half: 1:31:08.6
Final: 2:54:38.6
With more even splits I think I could have been around 2:52. I thought I was in 2:45 shape so perhaps the course and conditions were that much tougher this year or maybe my lack of consistency up until 2 months ago made the difference. Either way I was pleased to get the victory after a rocky year of training.
******
I measured the route using the route mapper and it measured 26.9 miles. I think the course should have had either the turnaround at 16.5 OR the hill on South Avenue in the last 5 miles - not both. Assuming the course was a half mile long, that would put my marathon time at 2:51 low - and change the second half to 1:28. I thought I maintained pace up until mile 18, which means if the course was accurate then I lost about a minute per mile for the last 8. If the course was long than I lost ~30 seconds per mile over those last 8. Lots of other runners have contacted the race director about this so we'll see what happens.