Notes
Weather: Conditions couldn't have been more perfect. It was cold (low 40s) with very little to no wind.
My race strategy was to go out at 1:15 for the 1st half and then try to negative split the 2nd. I felt really good early in the race and pretty much was running my own pace. There was a group of about 4 marathoners that came up on me around 4 miles and were shooting for 2:30. I was going to run with them but then they rolled on by at what felt like faster than 2:30 pace. I hit 10k in 35:34, which is right at 5:43 pace. The group was about 20 seconds ahead. From this point till the end of the race, I ran pretty much alone.
Came through the half in 1:15:15, which is right around where I wanted to be. Around mile 20, I started to feel a little cramp developing, but luckily I grabbed my fuel bottle and hydrated. The cramp subsided, but at this point I had slowed to 5:50s. On mile 22, I caught and passed a couple of the guys from the group early in the race who were aiming for 2:30. I was still feeling okay, but I really couldn't push any harder. At the 26 mile marker, the clock read 2:30:30 and from there I knew that I could still PR if I booked it in. I shifted into another gear and crossed the finish in 2:31:44, a PR by 10 seconds.
Overall, it was a bittersweet run. I was happy to PR, but a bit disappointed I didn't run 2:30/sub2:30.
More detail report on my blog: www.guam-runner.blogspot.com/