Notes
This PR attempt was long overdue. After Boston 2011, I felt like I had room to improve, targeted 2:55 for the fall. But missed all summer with runner's knee. Trained hard for Boston 2012... 89°. Next target: CIM. Hurricane conditions?! Screw that. Tucson it is.
But I still was not really where I wanted to be, fitness wise. I've been banged up since Western States. Up 6 pounds, I think, from my previous PR. I also had an unplanned 5-week taper, oops. Finally, my left hamstring was iffy. But I decided to pace for a PR anyway. I'd waited way too long for this chance. So... this could have been a big disaster. I was counting on solid training before the taper, and a fast course.
My PR going in was 2:58:41. I figured I'd run 6:50s the first half, 6:45 the second, for 2:58 if all went well. If not, hopefully I could still run sub-3. The weather was good -- maybe mid 40s, light wind. Can't pass up this kind of opportunity.
The start area was disorganized: the buses sat there forever not moving; eventually I got off and walked to the start, turned out to be close. But the potty lines were already very long. Just barely had time to drop my gear bag and get to the start. No time for dynamic stretching to loosen up the hamstring, not good.
Just after the start, Bash and Sully pulled alongside to say hi -- Bash backed off to pace for a 1:31 half, Sully ran near me for a while, then pulled ahead. Did I mention this course is fast? First mile, mile and a half very downhill. Just short of too steep to run fast. Then rolling for a couple miles. By about M4 we had a long, gradual downhill ahead of us. I was clicking off 6:45 - 6:50 miles pretty well, modulo very wonky mile markers. But basically on pace, maybe a little bit of cushion. I fell in with a group of four or five women all also pacing for around 2:58 -- they'd overheard Bash call me out as a reliable pacer at the start. OK. Gradually they pulled ahead. I was sticking to my 6:50s.
At M10 we had a 4-mile out and back, to Biosphere 2, pretty hilly. I'd built a bit of cushion preparing for this, but I still lost so much time that I was about :30 behind when we got back to the highway at M14 -- and now targeting 6:45s. I wasn't too worried; with all the downhill I'd resolved not to push any of the uphills at all. Plenty of room to make it up.
We were back on the long downhill, but now there was a bit of a headwind, and comfortable running turned out to be 6:45, no faster. I wasn't erasing my deficit. Finally at about M20, the wind had picked up (but still not too bad), and it seemed we had run out of downhill. Actually my recollection at that point was that the course flattened out, though it looked to me like a very gradual uphill. I just checked my Garmin data and I'm very surprised to see that it's actually still downhill there. Sure didn't seem like it.
Anyway I had a slow mile here, and realized that catching up to my goal splits was not going to happen. I'd also had a couple of calf twinges, and was pretty aware that pushing it harder, even if I could make myself, would be a bad idea. So I reset my targets to overall 6:50 pace, which would still bring me in under 3:00.
The last 6 miles were very hard -- of course, that's normal for any marathon, right? Well, generally no, for me. I'm conservative enough, and comfortable enough with the distance, also I've run so many marathons, that I can already smell the finish at 20. Just click them off one by one from there, kick in the last mile. Not this time. I really, really wanted to quit. I was praying that my hamstring would give out, or a calf would cramp, so I could ease up.
Nope! My body held out, and I guess I wanted that sub-3 badly enough, even though I'd already given up on the PR. There was a nasty hill during M25, but I was prepared for it. By then sub-3 looked safe. Because of the wonky mile markers, I wasn't 100% sure, but it looked pretty good.
I had no kick the last mile. This is very rare. If I haven't blown up in a race, I always have a kick. I think this means I paced this one right on the edge; I couldn't have done much better. As I approached the final turn, I saw the clock: 2:58:20. Oh no! I tried to give it everything I had, managed to pump my arms pretty hard, but my legs were already about maxed out. I crossed the line, stopped my Garmin: it read 2:58:44. Missed it by 3 seconds. I couldn't wring an extra 3 goddamn seconds out of that last mile?! Well, I would take my sub-3.
Saw Sully at the finish -- he'd run 2:56, a 5-minute PR. Also excellent pacing. A few minutes later Bash crossed the line in 3:02, PR, first BQ. Great day for the swampies.
It got even better. I checked the official results: 2:58:38! A PR by 3 seconds. I kind of think they screwed up the timing; I didn't miss hitting my Garmin by 6 seconds. But I will take my shiny new PR, thank you very much. Also 4th AG. That group of women I started out with? One hung on to come in ahead of me, 2:57:xx, 2F. Her first sub-3.
On the bus back to the hotel the gorgeous scenery finally began to sink in. I guess I get pretty locked in during the race -- I enjoyed the environment, but it didn't really penetrate my focus. Gotta work on that.
Afterwards I chatted at the bar for a while with a guy who ran 2:55, 48. Dammit, he took my AG award!