I'm retired from racing. Really.

Finally, the big day arrived.  Didn't sleep too well so got up before my alarm at 4 am.  1 mile warm up to loosen my innards at 4 am.  Ate breakfast, then went to the finish and rode up to the start.  Great weather- probably 40 deg or so at the start.  1 more mile warm up, then met all the blog guys (Paul, Logan, Adam, Steve Ashbaker, Sasha, Cody, Kory, BC, plus others).  I had 3 goals of increasing difficulty (sub-2:45, sub-2:40, sub-2:37:12). 

Logan and Paul had generously volunteered to be the pacers for me and anyone else trying for sub-2:40, though we were aiming at sub-6:00 pace, with 5:50-6:00 for the first half (then see what happened from there).  Here is how it went:

Mile	Time	Comment
1	5:54	Nice and relaxed- Paul and Logan jumped out in front to lead the pace group and had to slow us down a bit to stay under 5:50
2	6:05	A bit too relaxed- pace group was Paul, Logan, Steve, Adam, Bill, me, with 7 people ahead of us
3	5:53	Paul stopped to take a leak, so we picked up the pace to try and lose him (just kidding)
4	5:49	Paul caught up (easily)
5	5:59	The leaves were chaning more than I thought they would be- very pretty.  Lots of red and yellow, some orange.
6	5:57	Paul stopped for leak #2.  Something is wrong when Paul had taken 2 bathroom breaks and I haven't taken any.  Bill drops off.
7	5:54
8	5:50
9-10	11:46	Not quite as relaxed- starting to feel the pace more.  10 miles in 59:12, right where I wanted to be, but working hard.
11	5:55	Awesome scene- sun came up behind us creating a picturesque shadow of 5 runners from behind, 3 in front with 2 heads in between.  Pretty.
12	5:44	Picking up a tail wind out of the canyon.  Now Logan stopped for a leak.  Did the pacers have a drinking party this morning?
13	5:44	Logan caught up (easily).  The group has passed 3 runners, with the other 4 far ahead.  We relax for the the next few miles.  Half marathon time of 1:17:14 (or so)- right on pace.
14	5:51	First crowds.
15	5:56	I dropped behind a few seconds, definitely feeling the pace.  Steve and Adam slowly pull away, Logan and Paul drop back to my pace.  My innards wanted a pit stop, but I decided to run through it.
16	6:01	First 6:00 mile
17	6:00	Leaving Hollow road.
18	6:07	My least favorite mile of the marathon- running on a busy highway, flat and straight.  Quite the contrast to the beauty and tranquility of the canyon.  Slowing a bit- legs tired.
19	6:18	Uphill in Millville.  Just hung on behind Logan and Paul.  Not feeling too good, but surprised to see a 6:18 mile.  It felt like a 6:30 mile.  Ran a great tangent across some dirt to close 10 feet on the pacers.
20	6:20	Felt more like 7:00, so that was good.  20 miles in 1:59:12, but pace was hard now.
21	6:11	Tried to pick it up to sub-6:00 on the downhill, but didn't have it left in me.  Laboring very hard.  Realized 6:00-pace was gone when Logan and Paul kept looking at the pace on their garmin's every 10 seconds and whispering amongst themselves.
22	6:26	Ran by my house to cheering crowds (my wife and kid, plus some of Cody's family).  For some reason my stride changed at this point- my turnover rate dropped off and I just could not get it going fasterer.  Never happened before.  No particular leg pains, just fatigue everywhere.  Compensated by taking longer strides.
23	6:31	Long strides continued.  We closed the 10 second gap on Adam and passed him- hoped he would stick with us, but he didn't.  Doing everything I can to stick with Paul and Logan.  I was now running about 5 meters behind them, rather than right on their heels.  I think it was their way of trying to get me to go faster.
24	6:31	Really feeling the miles.  Nice bit of a downhill from River Heights.  Tempted to "take a wrong turn" towards the finish line (cut off 2 miles) but couldn't shortchange my effort or my pacers.  Stride length increases even more.  Paul tells me I look good, a bad sign.
25	6:41	Crawled up the main street hill.  Know I can finish the race.  Little bit of brainpower available tells me 2:40 is doable.
26	6:32	Stride length is now about 10 meters per step (or so it felt).  Crowd stares in wonderment, trying to figure out why in the world the very relaxed Paul and Logan aren't able to pull away from the guy who is very obviously struggling behind them.  Nice downhill.
.2	1:15	Finish line is in sight.  Motorcycle cop pulls up to escort us in- Logan tells him that he and Paul are going to let me go ahead of them.  After a quick glance at me, cop asks Logan, "Do I need to push him in?"  Cop takes nap while waiting for me to cover the last 0.2 miles. Crowd stares in wonderment, trying to figure out why in the world the very relaxed Paul and Logan aren't able to pull away from the guy who is very obviously struggling behind them.  I finally, happily finish.  Paul sneakes in right behind me, beating Logan by 0.04 seconds.  Group hugs all around.  Second 1/2 marathon of 1:22:07- 5 minute positive split.

 Overall, I was very, very happy with the race.  I set a PR by almost 6 minutes (on a slower course) and broke my 2:40 goal.  I could not have run faster, plus I leave my 6:00 pace goal for another day.  The stride issue was strange, but nothing feels particularly bad on my legs now, just fatigue.  A post-race massage and dip in a cold canal help my legs feel a lot better.

Most of all, though, I cannot say enough good things about Logan and Paul.  They pushed, pulled, shouted at, and encouraged me the whole way.  It would have been ugly if they weren't there.  By the end they were even getting water for me at the aid stations so I wouldn't have to slow down.  They performed the ultimate unselfish running act today, pacing a slower runner the whole way, even slowing down at the end to let me finish first (though I may have resorted to holding on to singlets and out sprinting them if they tried pulling away the last 100 meters).  I wish them the best of luck at St.George- go get em, guys.  And thanks so much for the help today. 

Bloggers ran great today- Sasha took 4th, Steve and Bill won their age groups, Adam, Kory, and Cody set PR's, and we swept the 25-29 age group (me, Paul, Logan, Adam, Cody).  The biggest story was Hobie Call- 2:16 marathon winning time!  Wow.  Congrats to all

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