I wanted only today to pace a marathon more like what I've been training for. The open question was if I could do it 5 days after a serious hard effort at Boston. I was fairly certain the slower race Monday was due to being a wuss. I just wasn't able to cool down. The advantage to that was that I felt the slower pace would lend to a quicker recovery. I did a 2 mile warm up and took stock of how I felt. It seemed reasonable to aim for a 3 hour marathon and if I felt good, pick it up and run. The start was fast, Fritz, Seth, John, and Dennis were outa there. I noticed immediately that a 6 min pace felt great, probably because it was downhill. I lost touch after maybe three miles with any marathoners after that and settled into what felt good. Such a nice change from Monday to just enjoy the run. I passed Dennis and eventually caught up to John about 12 miles. I was so worried about the heat that I was dumping water on my head at every aid station, but it turned out to be pretty unnecessary. Through 18 I realized that the pace wasn't taking a toll on me today, I had no idea who was ahead anymore, and began to plan on what to do when anyone tried to pass at 20 or so. Demetrio yelled at me from an intersection that Dennis was way back and to just hold pace which really helped. I faded maybe 10 to 20 seconds a mile after 22 and focused on holding some reserves to make a push. Nobody popped up, thankfully, so I could be lazy.
First time for two marathons in a week for me and a much better feeling about how the conditions in Boston affected me.
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