Notes
2011 Rite Cleveland Marathon--2:31.59--3rd Place--$300First and foremost, all the Glory to God for the result and experience. Always walk away from big races feeling very blessed no matter the result.I'm happy with the race although I came short of my goal. I still feel I'm in the best marathon shape of my life and much closer to my intended goal (2:26--5:36's) then things ended up being. This was my 4th marathon and my 3rd fastest..2010 Columbus (2:29.34), 2006 Chicago (2:31.32), and 2010 Boston (2:35.10)...still trying to put my finger on why I have seemed to not fully hit my potential in the marathon. I do think that will change over the next few years. Honestly feel that when I get the ball rolling with the marathon improvements that it will be big jumps.Goal was finish top 3, so that was a positive to accomplish that goal. Always fighting to get on the podium at the bigger races is what I try to accomplish. Was 3 for 3 this year so far. MB Half(2nd), Outer Banks Half(2nd), and Cleveland Full(3rd).I used the garmin with auto-split off...so the splits uploaded were the course mile markers that I manually took.A few key splits: 1:14.10 at half marathon and 1:53.37 at 20(56:44/56:53 on the first and 2nd 10 mile splits...slower then planned but consistent through 20)22miles is when my calf cramped and things got bad, unlike Columbus(PR Marathon) I struggled home badly. Columbus I only had 1 mile over 6minutes (other then the 2 bathroom miles). So not sure why I cramped up and then fell a part. Really the only disappointing part of the race...I would have still be super pumped with missing 2:26's but hitting 2:28's like I was on pace to do through 21-22. Very nice event, biggest Cleveland Marathon weekend ever with 18,000+ total runners for all the events.Course was mainly flat but had some tough spots, some wind, misty rain throughout, and really the biggest slowing factor lot's and lot's of turns. Over a full marathon all the turns really add up. I have a pretty good feel for pace and sort of felt like I was running goal range of 5:36's through 21 but had a average closer to 5:40...I really think the turns played the much of effect but that is part of racing. Overall this was much tougher then Chicago and also quite a bit tougher then Columbus course. Good May Marathon driving option for our region though.Again very happy with the day....great experience and Marian rocked the half which she will recap at some point I'm sure.