I'm not sure how to feel about this race. I ended up about 5 minutes slower than a goal pace I've been chasing but on the other hand I cut over ten minutes off my time last year.
Great start to the race, riding up with Keith Anderson and hearing his war stories. I met a lot of friends at the start which was pretty cool. I still can't decide if all that smoke inhalation around the bonfires is good for you before a race.
The race started out pretty normal. It was nice running with Ben (thanks for the draft again!) and Jeff. The downhill start felt pretty good and I knew I was comfortable with a 5:45 pace. I really had no strategy as I have not tried running a marathon this close to threshold before. I knew that my threshold this year was about 5:35, any faster than that and things catch up pretty fast. The pace felt fine for the first 6 miles somewhere around 5:35. Since it was downhill and I knew the race leveled out in the valley I decided to stick with it and shoot for a 1:15 half. We dropped off two runners through the half point and I crossed the half at 1:14:35 but was feeling it. My wind was great but the legs were pretty dead, maybe not enough taper this week. By mile 16 I was dead and started losing 20 seconds a mile but still held visual contact with Ben. I lost him and the other runners completely around 18 miles and hit it pretty hard at 20. It was all I could do to not stop and walk through an aid station. I knew it was one of the worst paced marathons I've ran. But you never know how to pace a race with a lot of downhill sections. I just focused on keeping 6 minute miles from there on. I was as tired as I've ever been from a marathon, but strangly enough had no soreness at all. I was able to go on a run with my family tonight and that never happens! Makes no sense.
I learned a lot from this race so from that standpoint it was one of the most valuable. It gave me a lot to think about for a couple of weeks.
Really nice talking to everyone after the race! Jeff, you're awesome and hope to run with you again! There is such a fun group of guys running this year! Also a great race by the Clydsdale (207lbs) just over 3 hours from Smithfield and his son ran a 2:19 half marathon at 13 years old. | 