Notes
This was my third time running this race and I know the course well so this year I just let myself easily roll as fast as was comfortable down the declines and didn't even fight up the hills. Played it very conservative due to the weather, but I did pass a lot of people going down the hills. I really feel I've masted the art of rolling down hills without using much energy. I'd fly by people going down and they catch back up coming back up but it seemed like they were working to get up the hills and I was not. Experimenting with all this for the move to ultras... using as little energy as possible to maintain the same overall pace. The carbo loading cycle with the depletion phase worked. I never bonked. The only thing that slowed me down towards the end was the heat and I even had a nice kick at the end so I probably could have kept pushing the last three miles but I felt so pucky that I decided not to risk it and just brought it home at a steady pace. Legs felt fine all race and feel great today(day after). I went through random stuff but everything passed. I was totally focused on breaking 3:30 and was not going to let that go. I caught up with some of the 3:30 pacers and stuck with them but had to pass them because they were falling off pace. The heat really took its toll on a lot of marathoners. You could actually see the humidity, 85% at start, for much of the morning and then the sun got us at the end. Not using that as an excuse for not breaking 3:30 but it was a huge factor that cannot be discounted. Overall I'm happy with this race. It was a PR and I've never finished a marathon this strong.
8:13, 7:17, 6:30, 7:34, 8:05, 7:53, 8:22, 8:06, 7:58, 8:07, 7:16, 8:02, 7:58, 8:38, 7:20, 7:57, 8:01, 7:58, 8:03, 8:13, 8:15, 8:32, 8:07, 8:41, 9:30, 8:55, 8:29 pace last half mile. Had some at finish... again no bonk, just heat.