Coming into this race I was really questioning my marathon fitness but it ended up going as well as I could've imagined. I really wanted to go sub 2:40 and thought I had a decent chance if my legs held up. I planned on going out between 1:18-1:20 and hope to negative split. Ended up going 1:19:21 and 1:18:03. First masters division race ended up 5th masters. There are a lot of fast old guys.
Met Jeff, Curt, Alana and Gama along with my sister Jamie and her running buddy Anona at the buses and headed up. Once we were up there Jeff and I headed to the corrals to chill and wait for the start. Had a nice prayer with Jeff right before said our good lucks and I got into a mental prep. 1-5:59 I thought ok just about what I wanted maybe a bit too hot. 2-6:05 perfect. 3-5:44;4-5:38; 5-5:46, 6-5:36; 7-5:38 wanted to bank some time on the down hills to blow on Veyo and the hills after, mission accomplished. 6-6:45; 9-6:26, 10-6:26, 11-6:47, 12-6:15 I really took it easy here and maybe could've gone a bit faster but my plan was to relax on Veyo and not worry about it. 13-5:59 trying to pick the pace back up and thinking to myself " now it's time to go".14-5:54; 15-5:37; 16-5:35; 17-5:50. I planned on taking Ledges Parkway easy and see where that left me. 18-5:54; 19-6:18. Still feeling good and wanted to get in as many sub 6 miles as I could 20-5:55; 21-5:38; 22-6:04 I could really feel the fatigue setting in but I was reeling in a guy so if was helping out 23-5:55; I told myself 5K I can do it, just hold on. Saw my family at 24 and it gave me a boost. 24-5:51. It was getting tough but not like it has been in the past for me. 25-6:00 somewhere during this mile I figured I could run a 10 minute last mile and still hit my goal. 26-6:06; .25-1:30. Crossed the line and when I stopped my legs gave out. Thanks to the little old ladies who kept me from hitting my head. Still pretty astonished I held up so well. I've never taken that many gels before and really held to my plan and thankfully my legs held up. Huge blister on my right foot. Felt it around 6 and wanted it to hurt so I wouldn't feel anything else. Maybe that was my secret today. Great job by the Idaho Falls crew. Jeff Shadley, thanks for everything. Curt an Alana Wells BQ again awesome job guys. Gama knocking a PR out of the park. And great job to all the FRBers.
11 minute PR today, still blowing my mind.
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