Notes
I wore a superman costume and was at my highest weight to date. Don't give a shit about the costume, but the weight makes me happy about my time. 6'2" 180 is not a normal runner's weight.
Mile 1: 6:15.97
Mile 2: 6:28.19
Miles 3 and 4: 12:48.52 (6:24.26 average)
Mile 5: 6:11.96
Mile 6: 6:18.57
Mile 7: 6:21.23
Mile 8: 6:36.88
Mile 9: 6:44.03
Mile 10: 6:50.65
Mile 11: 6:55.50
Mile 12: 7:03.23
Mile 13: 6:20.33
Last 0.1: 33.79
Soooooooooo yeah. I was aiming for a 1:20:59, but, as is quite clear, that didn't happen. I just am not in that kind of shape. Bob and I were together up until about mile 5 (which was my Loyola 8k split what whaaaaaaat?), but then he pulled away because he was feeling good. We had caught up to Serena at that point, so I hung with her and Matt Lewis until halfway through the tunnel (so like mile 7.5?). Then they pulled away. Ugh.
Coming out of the tunnel and finishing the eighth mile was the beginning of the end for me. I split like 50:44 (6:21/mi) for 8 miles and was proud of that, but then I finished averaging over 6:40/mi. I wonder if I had gone out at 6:25/mi, would I have done better? Who knows. I was basically alone coming out of the tunnel back into America, and after briefly asking the cops to shoot me or detain me so that I'd have an excuse for sucking, I saw a huge crowd. I picked up the pace, smiled, and egged the crowd on — it was perfect and just what I needed.
After the effect of the crowd wore off, however, I began to die. Slowly but surely. I watched my mile splits rise and my legs feel worse and worse. Eventually, Patrick Hayes caught back up with me and I hung with him for about the last mile. Turns out we DIDN'T have to go up this big giant hill that Bob went up last year in the full. I saw the finish line about 400m down and poured out whatever I had left. I'm happy with starting my sprint early and I felt like I gave it my all. I sped past Patrick, had some sick shots for a camerawoman, ran through steam rising up from the sewers, and I finished strong. 1:25:28 and 47th place.
Things I did well:
o Kept my head up going up hills
o Kept good form
o Didn't let my head tilt back EVER
o Ran well while being heavy as fuck.
Things I didn't do well:
o Properly prepare for this. I needed more miles during the week. More long runs also would've been good.