Notes
happy!! I succumbed to reasonableness last night and plugged some times into the slate marathon calculator and came up with a goal of 3:52-3:53. Having only been running weeks in the low 40s I just couldn't wrap my head around 8:30 pace. And I think it ended up being the right call. I did end up running for at least 20 miles with the 3:53 pace group as a last minute decision. It was a small race of 200 something and it turned out to be a really really good thing mentally to run with a little pack. In the end, I ran 3:56:12 with only a slight fade at the end, no crash no wall. The last 5 miles were hard. But it was a loop course (3.2 miles) and I ended up running that last loop with a 60-65 year old guy that had been running about the same all day. I think we were both the better for it. This was so helpful mentally. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for my second marathon, 50 degrees at the start and didn't get much warmer than that. To top it off my 9 year old son ran me in. So sweet! I am elated and happy with the race. Friends and family there. Beautiful course. Lots of squeezing of hands and plenty of hugs with my pacing friend (Steve from Omaha) from the last loop. Damn, I may have to do another!
Oh, and this was close to a one hour PR!
50F at the start, 60F at the end.
Ran this in brand new shoes (taking a tiny risk). Same make and model as I always wear and was no problem.