Notes
Race: California International Marathon
Official Time: 2:31:54, 44th Overall Place and 4th in AG.
Weather: Temps in low 50s; overcast with little rain at the start of the race. Roads were a bit slick running with the Saucony Type A6.
Race plan going in was to run 5:43-5:45 for the first half and then hopefully pick it up and negative split the second half. I still had a slight cold going into the race, but I basically brainwashed myself into thinking that it wouldn't affect my race.
It started to rain about 5 minutes before the race started. Luckily the rain was light and the temperature only in the low-50s. I felt really good for the first half of the race, just as I should, clicking off mile splits in the range of 5:43-5:46. I came through 10K in 35:55, which was about 10 seconds slower than planned but still okay since it was still early in the race. The good thing was that I had some company (Justus Meyer and Scott Trummer) along the way.
We were cruising right along and at around mile 8-9 Scott put in a little surge. I wanted to run my own race and was already running 5:43-5:45 pace, so I decided not to go with him. The next few miles (10-13) were my fastest of the race with splits at 5:41, 5:44, 5:41 and 5:42. I came through the half-marathon mark in 1:15:12, exactly where I wanted to me with my plan to negative split. Strangely, my left hamstring felt very tight around mile 10. It got progressively tighter over the race, but luckily it never cramped or seized up.
At miles 14-18 I was still feeling okay/good. I thought that I'd continue to run around 5:43-5:45 pace, but instead my watch was splitting the miles between 5:45-5:47. After a 5:48 split for mile 19, I knew my hopes of a negative split race and sub-2:30 were gone.
Things started to get tough after mile 20 and I ran my slowest miles at 6:00 and 6:02 for miles 21 and 22. Even though my pace slowed, I was still catching and passing the faster guys. Knowing that I still had something left, I regrouped and told myself to finish the last four miles strong. I ran 5:51, 5:58 and 5:51 for miles 22-24. About halfway through the last mile an Ethiopian girl who I passed at mile 13 caught up to me. I knew I was cutting it close to a 2:32 marathon, so I used the Ethiopian girl to pull me along the last half mile. I pretty much gave everything I had left in the final stretch of the race. I finished in 2:31:54, a new marathon PR by 35 seconds!!!