Notes
Really wanted 1:34, and realistically thought I should have been able to go 1:36, so the 1:38 was a little disappointing, but not bad. Strong and steady effort throughout. Felt like I had quite a bit more to give during the whole race, but was afraid of pushing too much and then blowing up before the finish. I guess my threshold was higher than I thought it would be. Ate well before and during the race; Honey Stinger waffle 20-30 minutes before the start, about a third a pack of HS chews right before the start, and then another third or so at about miles 3, 6, 9 and 11. Had my little water bottle with Nuun in it to sip on whenever I felt the need and when I ate; at every aid station, I grabbed a cup of water and drank some, and tossed the rest over my head. People around me probably thought I was a bit crazy doing that at the first station around 7:15 but I didn't care, cause it felt good!
The first couple miles, I tried to hold back a bit to ease into the race, and then work on picking it up steadily after that. There was enough of a downhill during mile 2 that even though I was trying not to push it, I got down to 7:25. My splits were relatively consistent during the race, though I know that within almost any given mile I was surely fluctuating a bit. During the last mile, I was really trying to catch up to the young girl who ended up beating me, but I just couldn't seem to increase the pace enough; maybe I had been running just a bit too slowly all day, and that's how my muscles felt like maintaining?
Overall I am quite pleased with the race I ran, and am very happy with the training cycle I went through. I plan to use the Run Less, Run Faster 3+2 method again.