The short version is that I set a new PR and got in the top 500 which was my goal for the race. It was a great day for the race. Right around 50, cloudy with no wind. Couldn't ask for better conditions.
I went into this race concerned because the last couple of weeks I just felt tired everyday while running. My legs just seemed to be wiped out. Because of this I really cut back the mileage the week before the race and ran easy everyday. I was hoping that this would freshen my legs back up for the race. I decided that I would go out on PR pace and just see what happened.
I did a short warmup and felt pretty good. I was very relaxed for some reason. Maybe because of the last couple of weeks my expectations were kind of low.
I was in the first corral so got off to a good start and just tried to run the pace of everyone around me and not try to fight the crowd (there were 35,000 runners). I was checking the garmin often so that I could settle into around 6:40 pace. I felt good starting out and seemed to be running comfortable. Here are my splits for the race:
1st - 6:38 (good mile considering all the people)
2nd - 6:38 (just trying to relax and stay on pace)
3rd - 6:42
4th - 6:44 (dropping off a little so started to get concerned about holding this pace)
5th - 6:48 (really starting to wonder if I started too fast)
6th - 6:43 (on the track and trying to get back on pace)
7th - 6:48 (still feeling ok but holding back, took gel)
8th - 6:45 (starting to believe that I can hold this pace to finish)
9th - 6:40 (decided to try to work the next two miles to see if I could hold faster pace)
10th - 6:37 (starting to pass a lot of runners and using that as movitition)
11th - 6:37 (starting to feel it but want to keep pushing)
12th - 6:38 (on the edge so try to maintain pace)
13th (1.1) - 6:29 pace (big crowd and pushed hard to the finish, thought I might get under 1:28 but came up just short)
Needless to say I was very happy with the result. I went in not knowing what to expect but the body responded and felt pretty good the whole way. I even ran a negitive split which is a first for me in a race of this length. Also, this is probably the smartest race that I have ever ran. I usually go out too hard and pay for it in the end. It was nice passing a lot of runners the last couple of miles. I wouldn't say my legs felt good today but I noticed that I could push through the sluggish legs and hold the pace. Maybe I am learning more about how my body responds at faster pace (who knows?). I come out of this very excited for the future because I ran a PR on less than optimal training the last couple of months. Now I need to get my act together and start getting the training where it needs to be.
On a side note the local TV station broadcasts the race live and I taped it then watched it when I got home. I got on TV a couple of times during the broadcast so that was cool. Now for my reward I get to go out and do yard work the rest of the afternoon since this is the first day it hasn't rained in about a week. | 