Notes
Since I created a running blog a year ago and never write in it I will pretend this is my blog so I get my thoughts on the race down.
Man what a great race. I got in a very easy jog before the start just to get loosened up. I was nervous because it rained all morning and some sites were showing rain through the race but it stopped before the race and only misted occasionally.
I stayed with the 3:10 pace group at the start. I started to wonder about his pacing abilities at the start when he seemed to not know how to see his splits on his watch and he also had gu stuffed into his headband. Very strange. I was a little nervous initially because we seemed to be consistently fast and he didn't even seem to quite know what pace equated to 3:10. However, it was feeling really effortless at first and I thought the benefit of running with a group and not having to mentally focus might outweigh pulling back and running alone.
I loved running through the neighborhoods-especially appreciated it at the end because it kept my mind engaged when I got tired. I was nervous that we were consistently going slightly fast at the beginning but I was feeling really good. I just kept in mind what Scott said about shutting my brain off for the first half and that it should feel smooth for the first half. I wanted to be sure I wasn't pushing too much too soon.
We got on the highway and that was definitely my least favorite stretch-it was boring but also we had a killer headwind. I could barely hear anything because of it. I tried to stay behind tall guys as much as I could. It was unbelievable, as soon as we turned and headed back up it got so quiet and the lack of wind was such a relief.
I had a couple of spots in my head I was keeping in mind. One was mile 16 because that's where I started to feel bad my last marathon and mile 20 just because that felt like an important milestone. After we turned off the highway, I was working for the pace slightly more but I still felt strong. I went through mile 16 still feeling good which I think was a big mental positive for me. Because we were ahead of pace I didn't worry about pulling away from the group for awhile. However I had a girl running with me and I did want to eventually get ahead of her.
It just happened kind of naturally-around mile 21 I started to pull away. I realized I was running sub 7 pace so I tried to reign it in a little. Jackson gave me another gel at mile 21.5 and I held onto it in case but I didn't feel like I needed it. I had gels at 5, 10, 15, and 20 and that seemed perfect. The miles kept clicking and I was working but very in control. I kept waiting for the wall and I tried to be smart and avoid it but it never came. I overtook another girl at mile 22 and I was excited. Someone had told us earlier we were 5 and 6 so I thought that meant I was 4th now but I guess they miscounted. I started to have to work harder around mile 24. By mile 25, I was starting to get tired and that was the main mile where I did mental work. I am really proud of running a smart race and staying positive and patient.
When we rounded the last corner I heard someone say to someone behind me, "Go Leslie! Good job Leslie!" and even though I didn't think there was any way a girl could've caught up to me, I started to book it in case. No way was I gonna get out-kicked in the last .2.
I started to pass one guy and his ego couldn't take it so we sprinted in to the finish and man my booty locked up. I felt good at the end. Several people were checking on me and making sure I was fine, but I was. My legs hurt but I was clear headed and not faint or anything.
I am thrilled with this race. I kind of can't believe it. I knew I had trained hard and much smarter but I'm over the moon at how well it went. I think I could've made a move and pushed a bit more sooner but I wanted to be cautious and not crash. And honestly it felt nice for the end to not feel like a death march.
Just checked the results and my two half splits were 1:34:29 and 1:32:15. Pretty cool to negative split like that.
Oh and I changed the battery in my HR monitor last night thinking that might solve the issue-haha no. Judging from the data it's still all over the place. I was hoping to have an idea how my HR looked during the race but I don't think I can really trust any of it. Oh well.