Going into to the race my goal was to run sub 3:00. I ran 3:03 last year and wanted to improve on that. I felt my training was improved from last year coming into the race, but you never know come race day. I thought if I ran a great race, I could maybe get down into the low 2:50's. So, overall I am very happy with the race. Conditions were good for a fast day. Got up to the start about 6:00 am, hit the bathroom and got ready to go. Miles 1-7 - I felt good through these miles. Had to force myself to slow down a couple of times so that I kept these miles nice and relaxed making sure I didn't take it out too hard early. Hit Veyo Hill with an average pace of 6:30. This was just about where I wanted to be at this point, maybe a little quicker than I thought. Miles 8-13 - Felt decent going up Veyo and the gradual incline miles. Still tried to keep it nice and easy through these miles, not pushing myself too much to feel good for the back half of the marathon. Hit the halfway point in 1:28:04, average pace of 6:43. Once again, I was hoping to be at an average pace here between 6:40 - 6:45, so feeling pretty good at this point. Miles 14-20 - Had some good downhill miles here and made up a little time through these miles. Got down to an average pace of 6:40. Was hoping to make up more time through these miles, but just didn't have it too push it much more. Felt like I would crash later in the race if I pushed it to hard. Miles 21- 26.2 - Continued to maintain about a 6:40 pace through these miles. Started to really feel it between miles 23 and 24. Just keep going and managed to run the last to miles in 6:40's. Finished in 2:54:52 with 6:40 average. Like I said, overall very happy to run sub 2:55. Would have liked to finish a little stronger, but no complaints. Ran second half in 1:26:48, so happy with a negative split. PR by a little over 8 minutes. Congrats to Fritz, Josh E and everyone else from the blog on their great races. 1- 6:42 2- 6:57 3- 6:30 4- 6:21 5- 6:34 6- 6:15 7- 6:17 8- 7:12 9- 7:01 10- 6:54 11- 7:05 12- 6:43 13- 6:42 14- 6:34 15- 6:27 16- 6:37 17- 6:23 18- 6:27 19- 6:52 20- 6:38 21- 6:28 22- 6:38 23- 6:40 24- 6:37 25- 6:44 26- 6:47 0.2- 1:33 (6:24 pace) | 