Notes
Ran this one with Gwen, Greg and Mike (with Egad, Vangie and Tom as a GREAT pit crew).
The weather was absolutely perfect for the race - after a few days of carb-loading and fighting allergies, I was ready for this to come and go. Came into this race from a completely different angle. Absolutely knew that this was going to be a race to survive and try to enjoy - been fighting back issue for the past year+. Goal: slow, easy and come out of it injury-free. Regardless, I was finishing this thing, no walking and using it as a launch point.
Got a ride to the start from Egad - perfect timing too. Just enough time to piss, warm up and go.
Sat around a bit as the stat was delayed - but soon enough the gun went off (a real gun mind you, scared me to death) and the race is underway. Latched onto Gwen and did ALL I could to not go out fast and run with the crowd. Gwen helped me a ton with this one. The first 8 or so was a blur. Just tried to find my groove.
We hit the hills and I felt fresh - went over them with little issues and was feeling "fat and happy" - but fresh. So far so good.
The course is beautiful - loved the mountains covered with fog as the rain was going to keep us well lubed all morning. Got to the top and the decent begins. Again, no real issues with this, stuck with Gwen until about 14 and then lost her. Tried hard here to just keep my pace an run my race - not trying to do much of anything - just finish sub 4:00 if possible, but finish pain-free. This was much harder than I thought it would be from around 13-19. I felt great and really wanted to pick it up... but I didn't - GREAT choice here.
Hit the 20 mark and stated to get fatigued - had some time to think. This was the longest I've RUN since Boston 17 - yikes, no wonder I'm tired - fat, happy and under-trained - just run the race and finish this thing healthy!
Have to say, loved the course until about 22. From 22-26, this course sucked. Not a fan - could have been my fatigue and fat-ass talking, but the camber, rollers and the traffic right up against you really got to me here. There was plenty of carnage around the last 4, that it kept me grounded - don't push it, stay the course....
Was fighting every roller here and tried hard to keep it under control. Started to think by 24 that I might have a chance to break 3:50 - wow, didn't expect that to be honest. I gave it what I had the last 2, but not race pace as I did not want the wheels to fall off - cruised in just over 3:50.
Almost broke 3:50 - but that wasn't the goal. I have to say, I am more proud of this effort than many other "better" races. I worked my ass off to just get to the start for this race - a ton of adversity with 5 weeks off at the worst place for my friggin back. For me to stay disciplined and find fun in this race was a real accomplishment (this was a blast - I really liked being under control and feeling strong for the first 22 of this race). Besides - I got to run another marathon - super blessed just to be out here and soaking up another race.
Had a great time with the gang and pumped to be healthy (but really sore) - now the long road back to getting some semblance of shape back (fat and happy no more).
PS - Thanks to Tom, Vangie and Egad - they really treated us like kings (and a queen) all weekend - was really fun to see them throughout the course. Looked forward to heckling them.
NEXT!