Philippians 4:13

Got up at 3:30am and was out the door with Tom, Kim and Terry to get to the buses by 4:45. I had my traditional breakfast (Poptarts, banana) and some PowerBar Ironman Peform drink.  Met up with Clyde, Dave, Logan, Steve, James, Mike, etc. for the ride to the start.  Chatted with Bill Mandler in the elite area, then got in the corral and met up with the guys including Walter and Ben with whom I was going to run with to try and hit 2:30 or less.

Started off in a large group and ran the first 7 miles with the guys (Clyde, Dave, Walter, Ben, Joe, Justin, Tyler and myself and another 1 or 2 guys).  Running up Vejo, Walter and I hung back and ran a slightly slower pace and let the group go hoping to make up the time on the downhill.  By the top of Vejo, we were about 15 seconds back.  I had placed PowerBar Gels and PowerBar Ironman Perform sports drink out on the elite tables and they really helped today with my energy level and the heat.

At mile 10, my insides really started to tumble and I had to stop at mile 12 for a pee break and in the the port-o-potty at mile 13 for about 1 minute.  Walter had put some distance on me and a few others had gone by, but I started to feel better and picked up the pace.  I was running better but so was everyone else and I was not making up any distance.  I knew now that sub 2:30 was gone, but still had hopes for faster than last year.

Around mile 18 I started to catch back up with some of the others but a couple of guys caught me as well.  I passed Joe and Walter at mile 22 and was running ok, but not at the pace I needed to hit 2:30-2:34 range.  Coming into town, I passed 2 more guys then caught and dropped a guy at mile 25.5 (I have learned that you hammer by them so they are not tempted to go with you) and ran home into the finish just behind another guy (Ryan Jonson) at 2:38:54.  

My splits this year were either pretty much on the mark or about 30 seconds slower than I needed to hit my "A" goal.  Overall I am not really happy with the time as the weather wasn't as hot overall as last year (but it was the hottest starting temp in race history), but also can take the time considering the lack of good quality training this summer due to other life priorities (family, camping, work, etc.). 

It was really good to see all the guys and gals and hang out for a while.  I stuck around for a massage and some of the awards ceremony, then went back to the condo for about 3 hours at the pool with the kids (talked to Tom and Terry and another master's runner acquaintance named Kerry Green).

Another decent run, at least it was the fastest for this year and lower than my average for 26 lifetime marathons.  Heading home tomorrow, hoping my hips, ankle and foot start feeling better.

Here are my splits from the 3 years I have run this race:

2007 actuals	2010 actuals	2011 actuals
1-  6:00	5:44	5:49
2-  6:05	5:50	5:53
3-  5:42	5:32	5:41
4-  5:37	5:30	5:24
5-  5:47	5:38	5:45
6-  5:32	5:23	5:25
7-  5:29	5:19	5:30
8-  6:35	6:32	6:36
9-  6:20	6:23	6:24
10-  6:16	6:15	6:17
11-  6:33	6:30	6:41
12-  6:10	6:01	6:40
13-  5:51	5:48	7:05
14-  5:47	5:52	5:57
15-  5:27	5:26	5:34
16-  5:14	5:22	5:30
17-  5:30	5:46	5:56
18-  5:31	5:49	5:57
19-  5:56	6:14	6:29
20-  5:42	6:01	6:07
21-  5:21	5:39	5:55
22-  5:51	6:11	6:17
23-  5:31	5:52	6:02
24-  5:27	5:52	6:06
25-  5:44	6:08	6:15
26-  5:54	6:21	6:13
0.2- 1:17	1:14	1:26
2:32:09	2:34:12	2:38:54