Despite the aided course, this was a really, really good race for me today. I've never gone under 1:20 and was able to get it today, and I just generally felt really in control and good throughout. And I was able to hold the pace together throughout the race. Really happy with how things went. 5:57, 6:01, 6:00, 6:07, 6:05, 6:02, 5:59, 6:11, 5:56, 6:09, 5:59, 5:58, 6:10, 0:57 Started fast, but not nearly as fast as a bunch of others. It was pretty incredible to see Fritz, Riley, and one other guy just take off right from the start. For some reason, I didn't think the downhill was as steep as it really is (It never seems this steep during the marathon). I was really able to just lock into a pretty good pace and rhythm and keep it up. It helped that I was able to catch and pass people all the way up through about mile 10. After that, there was one girl way up ahead, and she started coming back to me but I just ran out of real estate to catch her. I was worried that I was going to die once we came off of S. Temple and things flattened out, but I was able to keep it together and finish relatively strong, although that last straightaway is rough. Like I said, really happy to have finally broken 1:20, albeit on a very aided course. Although I'm sure it has to be comparable to all the others downhill screamers around here. I'm feeling really good about my training right now and just need to continue to put the work and miles in and hopefully I'll continue to get faster and stay healthy. Cooled down 1.40 and walked about 4 miles afterwards.
|