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Notes

Official time 3:10:33, which McMillan puts at 7:16 pace. Splits: 10k 42:29, half 1:29:56, 20 miles 2:18:57, and 25 miles 2:59:34. So my second half split was 1:40:37, a positive split of 10:41. I ate 5 gels during the race plus one just before the start, and drank tons of powerade. I followed my plan of taking a gel with water at odd numbered aid stations and drinking powerade at even numbered ones. Aid stations were every two miles starting at mile 3 until 17 or 19, where they were every mile until the finish. My plan, which I followed, was to keep alternating like that until aid stations started coming every mile, and then to just do what I felt like doing. I took my last gel at mile 19 and just drank powerade almost every mile after that. I still had 2 gels in my pocket at the finish, having brought 8 (!) with me to the race, including the one I ate just before the start. I was fine running with 2 gels in my hand and 5 in my pocket at the beginning, but it was a relief not to have any gels in my hand anymore after mile 7. That fueling plan, I think, kept me from a much slower time than this, given my lax training since Philly. I ran with a guy from DCRRC, Rob, whom I met at the start, until halfway, when he took off. I stayed basically on pace until mile 17. Unlike in Philly, I didn't crash then but, still feeling tolerable, dialed back about 15 seconds per mile in hopes of maintaining that to the finish. But that only lasted 3 miles. I think it was a hill in mile 20 that slowed me much further to my post-wall Philly pace. I still thought then that I could beat my Philly time, because of miles 17-19. But that also lasted only 3 miles. I really fell apart right at the mile 23 marker. Feeling dizzy and dazed, I actually stopped at an aid station, then walked for about a minute. My pace for both miles 23 and 24 reflects this. Alex Albertini then passed me, which galvanized me into running, I mean shuffling, again. Later I stopped twice more: once to walk up a short hill in mile 26, and once during the .2 miles before the finish because of a pain right below my sternum. My time was slow anyway, so why take chances? The course was low rolling hills most of the way with a couple bigger but short hills near the end. Weather was ideal except for humidity, which made it foggy, even a bit misty but there was never rain. Given the low temperature, the humidity didn't seem to bother me. It was in the upper 40s at the start in Two Harbors and probably about the same temperature at the finish in Duluth. I was never too cold wearing just a singlet.