Notes
So that went much better than I expected. First off, i was on the starting line, literally, for the start which was awesome. The gun went off and i just went with the group. I knew I was too fast the first couple miles and eased back just a bit until I found my groove. I wanted to back off more, but the 5:50s were coming so easy that I just went with it. I figured I would die around 18 and struggle in, but i held it together at that pace until about 23. By that point, the fact that i was running so far under 2:40 kept pushing me to the finish.
Splits:
Mile 1 5:41
Mile 2 5:39
Mile 3 5:48
Mile 4 5:48
Mile 5 5:48
Mile 6 5:58
Mile 7 5:48
Mile 8 5:46
Mile 9 5:49
Mile 10 5:50
Mile 11 5:50
Mile 12 5:52
Mile 13 5:52 Half 1:16:14
Mile 14 5:53
Mile 15 5:54
Mile 16 5:51
Mile 17 5:49
Mile 18 5:54
Mile 19 5:49
Mile 20 5:52
Mile 21 5:55
Mile 22 5:55
Mile 23 5:54
Mile 24 6:11
Mile 25 6:14
Mile 26 6:18
.2 1:23
Obviously this was a surprise and i was very happy with the effort. I think i did a great job managing my fluid/gu intake during the race. That combined with the colder weather kept me in the race much longer than i thought. Fastest marathon since Colorado in 2008. Going to take some days off then get back on the horse.