Notes
Out in CO for the marathon again. Mark cut his foot pretty bad the day before the race and had to get stitches in the ball of his foot. That kind of put a damper on the plans for racing. We were going to go out together but a couple miles in his foot was already hurting and he had to slow down a bit. I went out much easier than my usual race day this time around. It was kind of cool to be in the chase pack for once. There were 2-3 guys that took off from the gun and then a couple of smaller packs behind them. I was in the second pack with Mark and Mark Mullholland. Went through the mile in 6:05 and the second mile in 6:26. That was when Mark dropped back so Mullholland and I rolled through the next 3 miles in 17:59. I saw a pack of 4 guys up ahead so i started to go after them on mile 6. Clipped a 5:46 and came up on them. I said hey, but no one responded so that kind of pissed me off. I went 5:55 and 5:59 for miles 7 and 8 and one guy from that pack came with. He was 27 from North Carolina and it was his first time out there. He and i went back and forth for the next 10 miles or so. Went through the half at 1:19:39 and felt him start to falter at 17. Once he dropped i could see third place up ahead and caught him up the hill at 19. From there it was a tough mental game of don't quit for the next 3 miles until i could feel the finish. I got to the point i could see second, but he was way up on me. I probably would have beat him if i would have gone out harder, but i was pretty happy with third. Fought to the finish and Riegert was there to give me my medal. Mark battled in around 3:09. Really tough to race on that foot, but he did it. We will go after a PR for him on the next one.