Phoenix Marathon 2:30:24
Curse this long course; you cost me my 4 marathon sub 2:30 streak! All things considered though, I am decently pleased. It was such a different experience than last year with rain instead of heat; and wind, wind, wind in every direction; and mostly... running with Logan instead of being solo for 23. I really tried to dig out the last 4 or so knowing that I was going to be very close to sub 2:30, but I just haven't had the workouts in the last 7 weeks since I've been sick to get there and finish like I would have wanted. It makes me antsy to run another one soonish since I am finally starting to feel better, but I'll take some time to recover now. Don't know my exact time, because I was pretty out of it at the finish, so I'll come back and edit that and add in a much more detailed report later. Bummed that Ally's fever never broke and that she was super sick all week and couldn't run, but I'm sure it was the smartest choice. (Adios 172.5)
Got to the start with The Circle and just chilled up by the gun range trying to stay out of the occasional drizzles and always present wind. After listening to an annoying announcer talk about America and our country (!) we went and got ready. Ran down the road a little and threw in a couple striders to test the legs out. As we waited at the start, the rains picked up significantly and would stay pretty wet for the first 5 miles or so and then on and off throughout the race, but it was the wind that made the statement. It was pretty much against us the whole time; not huge, but strong and always there. 1-5:36, started off with a pack of about 15, but it had dissolved through the first mile or so. 2-5:27, pretty much Logan and I finishing the downhill. 3-5:34, we pick off a couple stragglers that shouldn't have started so quickly. 4-5:32, it was kind of fun watching the race develop up front. 5-5:47, up the first section of the longest hill of the course. +13 seconds here (The course always measures long, so I reset the watch at 5 with the mile markers). 6-5:54, took the hill easy. It was fun thinking about the circumstances of last year and how they were so different this year running with Logan. 7-5:34, we took the downhill much more conservative than I did last year. In retrospect... would it have been better to push out a couple quicker miles here? Thinking back - yes, about 25 seconds worth between these few miles! But I really took today conservative because I didn't know how long I would last out there. I truly hadn't had a decent workout since back before the St. George Half, and I wasn't so sure what my body would have in it. 8-5:28, still moving along the downhill out of the neighborhood. 9-5:32, back up the short gentle grade toward another neighborhood. A couple guys come back in sight here. 10-5:30, again, could have used this little downhill to gain a second or two. 11-5:30, I didn't want to stress here, but Logan seemed like he wanted to pull away and I was pretty much maxed. Throughout the race, I don't think I could have gone much quicker than this pace. So I guess it was good that I didn't push more because it would have cost me significantly later. +22 seconds (this section had the biggest time difference last year too, because of the turns I am sure). 12-5:31, continuing to see guys up ahead and wanting to go get them, but trying to be patient. 13-5:40, a little slower because of the small hill up the underpass. Went through the half in 1:13:58, much slower than last year (low 1:12). 14-5:33, still moving along the straights. 15-5:35, told Logan a couple times how nice it was to have someone with me this year. 16-5:30, the girls never came out and cheered us. That was kind of weird to me. 17-5:37, with the longer straights, I really don't remember too much about these middle miles other than I was getting tired and Logan kept moving away at the aid stations and so I had to work hard to get back up to him knowing that I had to keep with him another mile... another mile... another mile. 18-5:41, more miles, more wind. 19-5:43, Logan left me for good after this aid station. I pretty much resigned myself to finish behind him at this point. 20-5:51, somewhere in this mile Logan came back to me (obviously not because I had some big push). +8 seconds over the last 9 miles. 21-5:45, as I passed Logan, he didn't come with me and that suprised me a bit. 22-5:54, as we were now in heavy half traffic, I didn't notice the Limey (guy wearing lime green) that suddenly popped out of the crowd in front of me. I had been gaining on Clyde for awhile, but just couldn't finish the gap - got it down to maybe 20-30 seconds, but this guy gave me new hope to get someone. 23-5:58, was trying to push to get the Limey, but not a lot of energy there. Told myself I would give a big push at 24. 24-6:04, apparently so did Limey. At 24 he suddenly took off and I figured... ah well. 25-6:01, in survival mode. 26-5:58, knew that the last few miles had cost me my sub 2:30 and that was kind of a bummer, but I was still trying to work whatever I had. .2-5:41 pace. Pushed hard in and watched the clock tick to 2:30 and beyond.
Again... not too shabby, just wish I had a few more weeks to train once I finally got feeling better this week. Tried taking a shot block here and there to keep my energy levels up and I think that helped me hold on. Also was able to place bottles throughout the course and that was huge to have my gu/water mix. This race treated us so well. The race director was just ready to help out with anything... And it was a fun trip with The Circle and our wives.
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