Notes
2:20:23. 53rd place. Weirdly, rearranged the numbers from my previous PR of 2:23:20. Hopefully that trend doesn't continue, otherwise my next marathon time will be 2:32:02. Obviously, I did not hit my goal of sub 2:18 today but this was still a pretty damn good race. I did not feel great - which has been the story of this training cycle - but was able to grind it out and keep the legs churning along at a solid pace the whole way through.
Race start was delayed 10 minutes because some shuttle busses were delayed, but once it started the first 10 miles or so went almost perfectly according to plan. I started in the back of the seeded start in order to help facilitate a slower start. I saw Garret moving up on the outside and made my way over to him during the first mile. I tried to maintain effort on the ups and coast on the downs through the rolling sections, which worked great. I would fall back a little on the ups, but then pass 5-10 people on the downs. Garret and I eventually just locked in shoulder to shoulder during the Fair Oaks net uphill section. We talked a few times, and both felt like we were in a great spot. Ended up working with Garret for the first 15 or so. At mile 18 he apparently was still near me because I heard him yell some words of encouragement to me from somewhere behind me.
Sometime during the Fair Oaks climb I started to have some cramping issues in my left leg. Quad and glute both feeling like they might seize up. Honestly scared the shit out of me. I know that I overutilize that leg because of my bum right Achilles, and I'm pretty sure that was all that was happening. I focused on trying to push off the ground more with my right and slowed down at the next couple water stations a bit to make sure I got as much down as possible. The feeling never went away, but I was able to keep it under control.
My goals kept changing once I got to half. I pretty much knew at that point I wasn't going to hit the standard unless the way I was feeling took a remarkable turn for the better. The sun had come out and it actually got a bit hot, and the hills over the first half had taken a pretty good toll on my legs despite my conservative approach. I was pretty sure I could still go sub 2:20 though, so I focused everything on that for the next 7 miles - tried to ease up the pace slightly to feel smooth and get 5:15 pace out of my head. Packs started to blow apart around that point also, and I was moving past tons of people. A good number of people were also dropping out ahead of me.
I was absolutely dead at 20 miles, and at that point I gave up on any time goal and my new goal became to finish without walking. I felt like I slowed down a lot, but every time I hit a mile on my watch, I was shocked that I actually was still running pretty fast. Someone passed me and I tried to go with, and did for a bit, but lost him going over the bridge into downtown. Caught him again in the next mile and ended up beating him by just under a minute. Saw a suspiciously Runablaze-looking singlet ahead of me with a mile to go and realized I wanted to be the top Runablaze guy, so I better catch up to that guy to see who the heck he was. Caught him with half a mile to go, and he was indeed a Runablaze guy, Adam Bohach, who still somehow runs 2:20 marathons at age 39 apparently. Beat him and clamed my prestigious title as the top CIM Runablaze man. Caught 2 more in the final 100m, and got my name read over the PA system as I was crossing the line.
To my knowledge, excluding the first mile, I wasn't passed by anyone that I didn't end up later passing and beating. Went from 186th at 5k to 53rd overall, which was a good ass feeling. That stat excludes the other 100+ people I passed in the first mile. I'd be really curious to know what position I was at crossing the start line, I literally had fat people ahead of me in the start corral. I passed a lot of people, but there was a good amount of attrition as well with so many people shooting for the standard this year. 31 hit it today, I be curious how many people up front DNF'd. Seemed like a lot from the number of guys I saw walking on the side of the road over the second half of the race. All of this just further solidified my conservate approach to the first half as the way to go today, and really with any marathon, let's be honest.
I was one of the last guys to finish in the elite shoot, which I'm pretty sure existed for press reasons for the winner and the trials qualifiers, so it was easy to find them and interview them, etc. After about the top 60 finishers they switched over to a different finish line that actually had the finisher medals and gear in it. There was literally nothing in the elite finish area and some security guy just let me out of the fence right after I finished. After I regained my ability to walk about 30 minutes later, I asked security if they could let me into the other finish area so I could actually get my stuff, which thankfully they did. Got some pics with Caleb and Kyle, slammed a beer, and then hobbled half a mile to the car.
Took 7 gels at 4, 8, 14.5, 17.7, 20.5, and 23.3 ish miles. Alternated Gu jet blackberry and Maurten 100. Got everything down and never felt on the verge of a carb depletion bonk. Took fluid at every water station except the last one at 25. Pinch method was a success, and I got a lot down compared to normal.
Even though my fitness never quite took off this training cycle, by golly it was a fun one. Caleb and I had so many fun Tuesday mornings together. A few great workouts with Blake in there, too. I gained a lot of mental toughness, and basically had no bad workouts. The consistency will pay off soon - this has been my best last year and a half of training ever. Period. Very excited to get back on the train and gear up for some track races and Shamrock again. Have plenty of weakness to attack this spring - hopefully I will have a bit more time since I'm heading back for a semester in the classroom again.
As always, thanks to Spitz for the guidance, training, and support. Can't wait to beat him in a 10k this spring.
Packers beat the Chiefs, great end to a good day. Super dope that SNF starts 2 hours earlier out here.