Good race. About an 11 minute PR for me. I was going to try and stick with the sub 3 pace group, but I thought they were going too fast for me after about 5 miles. I wish I could have stuck with them though because I think it would have helped me in the later stages of the race.
1-6:52
2-6:44
3-6:28
4-6:18
5-6:30 This is around the point where I dropped from the pace group. I was feeling pretty good overall.
6-6:27
7-6:32
8-7:24 Ran with Matt K. from the blog for a few miles. Got up Veyo without too much trouble.
9-7:15
10-7:07
11-7:25
12-7:12 Miles 9-13 were pretty tough. I think the steady climb was getting to my legs a bit.
13-6:43 Hit the half way point right around 1:30:10 and figured I was in good shape if I could negative split.
14-6:55
15-6:58
16-6:21
17-6:29
18-6:50 It was around this point in time where I start having trouble with my toes. Both my big toes are going numb on me. I think it is a combination of the heel inserts I’ve been wearing all year and my shoes being tied too tight.
19-7:20 Uh oh
20-7:07
21-6:33
22-7:24 I’m starting to spend more time at the aid station and I am not doing good mentally. Bottoms of my feet are killing me. There is some walking in some of these miles.
23-7:17
24-6:54 Apparently I’m feeling better than I thought.
25-7:55 It’s over. I’m mentally done and I am walking more and more now. Getting passed a lot, but I know I’ve got my BQ in the bag.
26-8:09 Death march to the end.
.2-1:45
Overall, a great race for me. I don’t think I was ready for miles 22-26.2. I need to get stronger mentally. My legs were obviously the first thing to go and they were getting shaky around mile 19. However, looking back at my splits, I think I let the race get the best of me. I was still trucking along pretty good around mile 21 or so, but going from a 6:54 mile to a 7:55 mile from 24-25 is frustrating.
I think I have lots of room to improve and get the marathon time a lot lower. I need to change some things (eat better, lose some weight – I was racing at around 160 lbs, and do more runs at marathon pace). I guess more than anything, I am motivated to get better. Will take any advice from anybody on the blog to help me get there. | 