Notes
Lining up I was still a little worried about my injury. And last night I went through some of my past marathons and the last 10K has been embarrassing to say the least. I decided today that I was going to start out conservative and go from there. This is my GD 8th time running this course if I can't figure out how I should race it I'm an idiot.
The first mile I ran with the top girl. She said she wanted to break 3 hours. After we went through the opening mile at 6:34 I figured I better drop her and start going a hair faster. There was a lead pack of about 20 that took off at 6 min pace. I wanted to just get through the opening 10K easy then start picking it up. I just kept the pace easier than I thought. Mile 7 slowed back down, but the aid station I drank water and it went up my nose and took me a second to recover. Around mile 11 I went up the hill and down the other side and it broke the stride enough to where I started moving. My goal was at mile 11 to mentally think about the 5,4,3,2,1 mile workout. I kept looking forward and trying to chase the people down in front of me. I almost broke mentally around mile 12 but kept the idea of just make it to 16 and you have the last 10 miles in. I saw the family for the first time at mile 17 (no spectators for the first 17 miles). I was excited and started to move at that point. My goal was to make it to 22 at that sub 6:20 pace then run 6:30's in for the last 4 miles. I kept fighting mentally 1 more mile, I lapped my watch at every mile and only saw the last mile's time and not the total time like I usually do. I had no idea when I went past the 1 hour mark or the 2 hour mark, all I knew was what my last mile was at. i think it helped me not get overwhelmed. The marathon has always been a struggle for me. About mile 24 I snuck a look at the total time and thought maybe i could PR today. I would have to haul in and I didn't think I could but I gave it a shot. I think mile 25 was early (6:07) and mile 26 was late (6:30) but I still tried. It was nice passing people the whole way. I was in 22nd place at the mile and 7th at the finish. I passed the last guy at mile 25.75. I took him on the uphill of the underpass. I sprinted in but no PR today. 2:45 isn't fast for most people, in fact terrible for most on the website but for me it was everything today. I have always seen myself as a short distance guy a 15:45 5K or a 4:24 miler but in the long haul nothing. Today I was proud of how I raced. I think I raced at 100 percent of my level. Going in my goal was sub 2:50 and hence the 1:24:30 half, but I did good. I stayed tough and passed people and held the pace. Sure one could argue that I should have gone out faster or been faster but today was a good day.
6:34
6:25
6:32
6:23
6:26
6:28
6:34 (mile 7 troubled aid station)
6:26
6:25
6:26
6:25
6:18 (uphill then downill)
6:23
Half about 1:24:30
6:21
6:21
6:14
6:17
6:08 (saw family and got a bust of energy)
6:27 (only big uphill of the course)
5:52 (coming down the other side of the hill)
5:58
6:10
6:12
6:12
6:07
6:30 (died last mile) I think the markers were off from 25 and 26. 25 was faster than I was going and 26 felt too slow
1:12 (last 385 yards). Tried to get the PR.