Notes
6:03am shuttle with Mike and Mark - granola bar, clementine and the rest of my coffee, dropped off near the start, snapped a couple of pictures of the scenery while Mark looked for a pair of sunglasses. loudspeaker alert that the start area is being evacuated... heart skipped a beat until I realized it was just weather related (the guys didn't believe me when I told them Accuweather was predicting that we would get soaked for about 5-6 minutes at the start... yeah... go Accuweather Minutecast. Spot. On. Mike and I found a bus to wait on. I still had my bag/phone, so, had to play a little ACDC to lighten the mood, THUNDERSTRUCK!!! A little hectic reorganizing the start from 7:30-7:45? CRAZY mad dash for the portapotties after the park/start was reopened. Score. Met back up with Mark at the start. Feeling good, ready to go.
7:45/7:50? Gun. I know it feels slow every race at the start, when you're really, really rested/tapered and prepared to go... but this just felt like jogging. Looked down at my watch about 2 minutes in and we were locked in to 6:25 pace, EXACTLY where I wanted to be. Goal was 6:20-6:30 for the first half, start creeping down below 6:15 and work on 6:10-6:20 for the second half. Just cruising for the first 10-15k. Saw Nicole and the boys on the return into town through Church Street. High Fives! Heading out of town for another 10k, still feeling light and loose. First gu at 5mi @ 31:45 ~ 6:21/mi. Good hydration, just a few sips every mile or two at each station. Seemed to slow a little on the first slight uphill (mi 8?) not too bad around 6:23. Made a concerted effort to maintain pace on the 9th mile up and back into the city, gapped Mark and the guy we seemed to be pacing with as I inadvertently latched on to a group of three young guys who seemed to be doing the same thing (oops... saw 6:00 pace at the beginning of mi 10 before we started to go downhill... tried to pull back a bit downtown. Saw Nicole and the boys again (at the relay exchange?) tossed my jacket (rolled up in its pocket) with a PERFECT spiral from about 25-30yds out (I suck at football... but I guess I have excellent passing technique while running!) then the downhill came, and I still hit 6:03 split (largest net drop in the race). Second gu at mile 10 @ 1:03:20 ~ 6:20/mi - split 5mi @ 31:35 ~ 6:19/mi. Mark and pace buddy (found out later his name was Russell, and he was running his first marathon) caught back up/I eased back down to a more sensible pace around mile 10.5. Rolling together through the S. Burlington neighborhoods (some great karaoke in here) as I once again pushed ahead a couple of times on the windy roads and rollers. All together entering the half-way clock and relay exchange. 13.1mi @ 1:23:28 ~ 6:22/mi (goal was around 1:25). Feeling the weight of what lay ahead here... still physically strong, light/loose... but a few niggling/phantom pains decided to make an appearance. Pulled along to another surge when one of the relay runners started to pull ahead - I think it was the girl I met that won (maybe runner-up?) Mt. Washington last year... Kim from Craftsbury Racing? Anyway... Hudson reminded me that the hill was just ahead and then, "Time to sharpen the steal and go hunting." That was all I needed to relax and get ready for the hill... Took the Untapped Maple "Gel" that I picked up around mile 11 (12?) just before finishing mile 15 @ 1:35:20 ~ 6:21/mi split 5mi @ 32:00 ~ 6:24/mi. First hot spot forming on the ball of my left big toe. No big deal... You can hear the drums before you make the turn to look up Battery St. Hill. Felt good, decided to attempt to put on the toy mustache Nicholas gave me to wear in the race... I guess it helped to fumble around with the damn paper on the back... because I kinda zoned out dealing with that, and just cruised up the hill, passing a few runners mid/upper hill. My face was too sweaty for the goofy mustached to stick, so I just waited until I saw the boys in the park at the top of the hill (also distracted looking for them on the previous quarter mile), then I stuck it on, swooped down to Nicky for a hug and a kiss, an attempted high five to Andrew, then back to the race. I know I pushed a little harder on the hill here, so Mark was back just a bit, but not far. I looked back and Russell was right there. We proceeded to move up in position here as he helped to drop the pace a few seconds 6:05 entering the neighborhood and 6:09 leaving it (found someone giving away maple syrup in here!). That's when I found out Russell was pacing himself very patiently through his first marathon. He told me he was expecting the wall to come soon... I just told him to keep the cadence up. We were flying. Passed a few more guys in here. Fourth gu (another Untapped Maple "gu") 20mi @ 2:06:45 ~ 6:20/mi split 5mi @ 31:25 ~ 6:17/mi.
10km to go... the real race begins.
muddy stretch damnit!, downhill towards the bike path (ouch), getting ready to open up, saw spinney at 3 or 4 to go, "you can catch 10 more if you hold that pace" 6:05-6:10?
Negative split, damn near perfection, shoes were perfect
Favorite Fans / Signs: "You run better than out Government!", "Ned Stark is alive!", "Hi Five if you're not wearing underwear", kissing booth (Freddy Mercury?), free maple syrup (that was a bit too sweet), random high fives and lots of excited little kids at the aid stations --- VCM is the best big, little city marathon around!
6:00pm Drove back into the city with Nicole and the boys. Walked over to Battery park playground, looked for some icecream on Church street... belgian chocolate affogato @ Lake Champlain Chocolates (OMG!!!) then dessert another block away = street cart Poutine!!! Put the boys to bed around 9pm and Nicole and I closed out the night at the hotel lobby/bar = Frost Junior Lush, Whistlepig Rye