Notes
Results:
Overall place: 623 out of 1556
Division place: 66 out of 152
Gender place: 477 out of 982
Time: 4:06:46
Pace: 9:26
3.3m: 32:12
9.1m: 1:25:33
Half: 1:59:32
20m: 2:59:26
Summary:
Number of Finishers: 1,556
Number of Females: 574
Number of Males: 982
Average Time: 4:21:03
Prior to the start, I was thinking, “what am I doing?” It’s raining, 39 degrees and I have not met my training schedule. Work has been crazy, I have two kids that have the swine flu (H1N1) and if I was honest to myself, I probably have had it or may have still have it. However, I decided to think positively and to go out slow and see what I could do.
So, I lined up behind the 4:10 pacers (actually, the 3:55, 4:00, 4:05 & 4:10 all started at the same spot) and decided to hang back to see what unfolded.
During the first couple of miles, I struck up a conversation with one of the pacers; she was an older woman, who had 10 marathons under her belt with her favorite being the 2008 Marine Corps. Her advice was to stick with marathoning and when I was old that I would too qualify for Boston she (she was 55 and just qualified). She was being modest of course, her PR was 3:20 and her average was 3:35 which is why she was a 4:05 pacer. I began to get warm, sheded the hat, socks for gloves and long sleeve shirt I was wearing.
From there I broke ahead and found myself running with the 4:00 group, which was noticeably larger. I ran with them until the Plaza, around which time I ran into Stan Wood and fellow Cernerite would was running the half. Stan and I traded several stories, he has run Pikes Peak which means he is freaking crazy. At this time, I was feeling great, the weather was overcast in the low 40s and turning out to be a great day for the run. Running with Stan, I picked up the pace quite a bit and was well ahead on the 4 hour group.
Out of the Plaza, hit the toughest hill and slowed down to pack back up with the 4 hour group. There was a change in the course to run through several blocks in Mission Hills before heading out on Ward Parkway towards Brookside. Around mile 13 I started to feel slight pain in my left knee (Houston we have a problem!). I started to have serious concerns about being able to finish. However, I continued on and the pain subsided around mile 16. This part of the course is pretty flat and I was still feeling good. Around mile 20 the knee started hurting again, I slowed down and then around 21 the 4 hour pack swallowed me up again. At 22, my knee was hurting so bad I needed to walk and I decided to run to each water station and then take a walk break. With this I made it to the finish, crossing the line at 4:06:45.
Interestingly enough, my half spilt was the slowest of all 4 marathons (1:59) and my overall time was 2nd fastest. Also, Lincoln was my fastest half spilt (1:41) with my slowest finish (4:12).