Cliff notes:  Ran my first marathon and finished with a 3:14:07 (BQ 3:15), average pace 7:25/mile.  20th in my AG out of 237, and 123rd overall out of 2,781.

Longish version:

Lil back story first, for those who don't know.  Former fat guy (270lbs -> 185lbs) turned runner.  I've been running for a little less than two years, next month is my two year runiversary.  Seem to have a bit of a knack for this running thing, and have been enjoying it so far, so we'll see where it goes.

Training didn't go exactly as planned, started off on a Pfitzinger 18/70 plan, modified it to fit in a 50k trail race in December (ran it as an easy long run), then between recovering from the 50k and then getting sick twice in Jan, my training kinda crapped out.  Recovered somewhat in February with several strong long runs and semi-consistent running, but no speed work.  A couple of tuneup races in Jan/Feb pointed to a possible BQ, part of me thought about taking it easy and shooting for a 3:20ish, but then I knew I wouldn't be happy if I didn't at least give it a shot.

So I decided to go out with the 3:15 pace group.  I'm not going to break out my splits, partly because my Garmin got jacked up around mile 12, so I don't have good data after that, and partly because they were pretty consistent splits, that's the beauty of a good pacer.

I will say that the wind was a little ridiculous, 20+mph headwinds, especially along a 3 mile stretch of the boardwalk.  Luckily the pace group was still fairly large at that point and we tucked in tight to get through the wind, so that helped.

Then at mile 20, our pacer informs us that we need to go on without him, he's not going to be able to stay on pace (To his credit, he's a 2:40 marathoner with tons of races under his belt, sometimes you just have a bad day).  So the group, or rather what's left of the group at that point, stays together and continues on.  I felt really good and thought about going out on my own, but the wind was really bad through this section again, so I stayed with the group for a couple of more miles and struck out on my own at mile 22.

This was the first time in any race that I've been able to finish this strong and pass a fair amount of people at the end of the race.  I guess part of that is the fact that it's a marathon and a lot of people tend to fade at the end, and the other part is that I usually go out too fast and turn into one of those people that fade at the end.  I've only recently begun to master the skill of going out conservatively and finishing strong, and let me tell you, it felt great.

Overall, the race went exactly as I had hoped, pre-race and race fueling was perfect, energy levels were good throughout, stayed with the pace group and finished strong, couldn't have asked for a better race.  Well, less wind would have been nice, but that's pretty much a given at Shamrock, at least it wasn't raining.

Hopefully some pictures will get posted tomorrow and I can throw them in here.  I was flying solo, so no pictures of my own.

Big time congrats to you, D2!  That is a mighty impressive performance for your first marathon.  Can't say I'm surprised though...you're a hell of a runner.

  You're awesome! Congrats on a well run race!

Great job and congrats

Overachiever     Nice work!

It is a great undertaking to pace a marathon, at any pace.  I wonder how long he fought with himself before bagging it.

It sure must be a nice feeling to have everything come together for you like that!  Then again, you did run 26 miles as a training run just 'cuz you felt good!  lol

Who knows where you will top out, but until you do, enjoy the flight my friend!

Wow, BQ  "just like that".  Pretty impressive. I had forgotten that this was your first marathon.  Now I guess you have to BQ every time......

Awesome job! Thanks for sharing