Bret

So I had a pretty successful race today in NYC.  3:01.17 which was a PR by over 8 mins (and over 12 years ago in fact).  I was hoping to go sub 3 hours, but I came up a little short.  No worries, I am quite pleased with my time and my effort.  Richie came up to NY with me as my adopted coach - and brought a pancake breakfast to my hotel room this morning at 4:45 am.  Rode with me over to Staten Island on the ferry to see me off and then ran with me from miles 17 to 22 - constantly giving me encouragement and barking out "coaching" advice the whole way.  I had a slowish start, as my garmin gps did not work in the first mile where my starting wave was on the lower deck of the bridge - so no reception and I really was quite cold and did not know how fast or slow I was going. 

I thought I was into an avg 6:52 pace by the halfway mark - but looking at the text updates, it appears that I was a bit slower than that in reality.  Anyway, I kept my pace at a manageable heartrate of no more than 160 beats per minute but mostly around 156 for much of the early part of the race.  Somehow I slowed going over the 59th street bridge much more substantially than I had thought - and had a couple of miles over 7 mins.  Again, the gps did not work on the lower deck of that bridge.  When I connect with Richie at 17, he pressed the pace and I wondered why - and he kept telling me if I wanted to break 3 hours I was going to have to work for it, and run 6:40 miles the rest of the way.  I really was starting to suffer - but he kept me in it - and at least according to my watch, I clipped off some sub 6:40 miles. 

The last 3 miles are primarily uphill - and I think I slowed on  them slightly - but I worked very hard the last mile and felt like I gave it all I had - satisfied that I had not made any errors or mistakes but did the best I could do on the day. 

Heading out now to celebrate...

Awoke spontaneously at 4 am and could not get back to sleep - so I did some work and went to breakfast - and then walked for about a mile in the city - down to the Today show where there were a bunch of marathon finishers lined up to get on TV.  Was very dreary, windy and spitting rain with some snow flurries.  Glad we had such nice weather yesterday.

Recovery week.  Did 2 miles on the elliptical at the gym followed by a mile outside around the lake at lunchtime - very easy.  Leg soreness a bit more pronounced today from yesterday, but once I got moving, I felt ok.  Mainly just wanted to get outside in the nice weather and away from my desk for a break.  Still enjoying the memory of the race this weekend and recounting it to anyone who asks.

Complete day of rest

Lunchtime - easy 2.5 miles around the lake at Carillon - Caught my expected post-marathon cold - so I wanted to get out into the fresh air and move around a little.  Still some lingering soreness in the quads and calves but nothing significant. 

Lunchtime run - 4.0 miles easy - to moderate.  Still have a pretty bad cold, but could not resist running in the very comfortable temps again today in the sunshine - Legs feel almost normal - calves are still slightly tight and sore.