Met Teena, RivertonPaul, Rich Borget and some others for the ride up to the start. Had a good time on the bus. Paul said he wanted to run 6:40's to start and I thought that was way too fast for me (more on that later). It was freezing at the starting line which is a great indication of fantastic racing weather. We couldn't have asked for better weather. After a couple of POP stops, met up with Kathie, Smooth, Huans and Maynard and waited for the start.
After much deliberation, I decided that I would rather go down swinging while shooting for a great time instead of running conservatively and having a strong finish with a slower time. My plan was to run 6:45/mile through 8 then back off through the hills. The gun went off and my return to marathons after 18 months off was under way. Half a mile into the race I glanced at my garmin and saw that my lap pace was 6:10. Oops! Way too fast. I backed off a little but still finished the first mile in 6:17. The strange thing is that the pace felt very comfortable. I wasn't exerting myself at all. I decided to just go with it and see how things turn out. Settled into a more realistic pace and ran the next 3 miles in 6:40, 6:32 and 6:36. Still a little too fast but the effort felt right. At this point I got the "Lap Database Full" message on my garmin. I couldn't get rid of the error message to clear out the database without stopping the watch so from here on out, I only have a few splits from memory. Mile 5 was 6:37 according to a guy I was running with and I started to feel the effects of the pace. Just tried to stay comfortable for the next few miles until the rolling hills start after 8. My total time at mile 8 was 53 minutes exactly which means that I averaged 6:46 for miles 6-8 (the pace I should have been running from the beginning). I felt like I backed off the pace for miles 9 and 10 but they both came in at 6:55 (10 seconds too fast). The runners ahead of me were gapping me but I knew I had to hold back through this section. Averaged 7:03 for miles 11-13 and hit the half in 1:28:48 - 3 seconds slower than when I ran this in 2008. I started having deja vu. I knew I wasn't feeling as well as I should at this point and was pretty sure that I was not going to finish well. After the half, a female runner that had been running ahead of me most of the race went flying by. Turned out to be Amber and she was running completely effortlessly and looked like she was having a great time. Climbed the hill at 15 and on the ensuing downhill I couldn't get the pace below 7. Was able to pass Rich at this point but I think we were both in survival mode. The way I was feeling I knew that the sub 3 was not going to happen today so I made the choice to have a great time running on an amazing day and cheer on anybody that passed me. I have no splits from here to the end. Was still able to maintain a decent pace coming down the canyon but not where I wanted it. Saw Allie at mile 22 and my family at mile 23 which always gives a little lift. Played leap frog with a couple of runners over the next few miles. My legs where completely dead but I was having a good time. Whenever I was passed I would shout encouraging words to the runner. Not sure if it helped them but it made me feel better. Turned onto Grant and the nightmarishly long stretch to the finish. Tried to work the crowd coming down the final stretch and pulled my girls onto the course to finish with me. Crossed the line in 3:03:20 which is a course PR by almost 1 minute. Not what I was hoping for but I have come to the realization that it is all about perspective. I had almost the exact same experience 2 years ago and was absolutely devastated. This time, I know that it is still a good time and can really appreciate still being able to run well. After I finished I went back to the 26 mile marker to watch the harem come in. Teena and Kathie looked great and unfortunately Smooth was attacked by Charlie again. What would I have done differently? I didn't eat very well yesterday. I had a late lunch/early dinner then went to the Bees game and didn't eat anything else until 11. Maybe I wasn't as carb loaded as I should have been. The biggest factor obviously was the fast start. This course is very difficult to run right. While not my best performance, I can live with the result and really enjoyed the day. I feel like I am still on track for 2:55 at SGM.
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