So, last night I went to a pasta party sponsored by Back on My Feet. That was a lot of tun and I tried to get to bed early but had to run to the grocery story and help to get my six year old to sleep when we got home from dinner. I did get to sleep before 10. Then, I was awakened by my dog needing to go out at 3. Fortunately, after 10 minuts of dealing with pets I was able to get back to sleep for about an hour. So, I had a good 6:20 of sleep (more than normal) although it was somewhat disturbed. Once awake, I made some homemade bagels so that we coud take sandwiches to the local Six Flags that we were going to visit later in the day to see Jars of Clay and Mandisa (in addition to going on some ride). With the bagels made (and a single sweet homemade crepe with honey and a small glass of pineapple juice consumed) by 5:30, I spent just a little more time preparing and then left just at 6. It was good that I left as early as I did. I hear from others that traffic got a bit crazy. I was able to chat with people I knew for a while and take a final pre-race "biobreak" before lining up. I debated whether I was really ready for a 1:10. I didn't think I had quite that in me so I lined up between the 1:10 and 1:15 pace groups. I went out making sure to stay behind the 1:10 pace group, but it was still a blistering pace (for me) at 6:48 for the first mile. The second mile came nearly as fast at 6:55. I don't know if those cost me later, but I did try to reign it in a bit. Third mile was a 7:12, and fourth was back at 6:56. Fifth mile at 7:02, although the official half way split was 7:11 pace and my watch suggested I was a good bit under that. Everything seemed to be going well. Between now and the Baltimore marathon I'm going to have to practice running around Lake Montebello a few more times--just to get a feel for how far it is and how to pace myself around it. It always seems to go on forever. Mile 6 which was the completion fo the lake and back onto the uphill on 33rd street was run in 7:22. Mile 7 was a 7:24, and mile 8, 7:30. The only good thing about miles 9 and 10 was that despite being almost all uphill I managed to keep them under 8 and run them at about the same pace (not slowing down between them). Mile 9 was in 7:42 and 10 in 7:43. My Garmin says I ran nearly an extra tenth of a mile, coming in with final splits of 35:54/37:15 for my 1:13:09. The pace of 7:19, for 145th out of 4199 was not bad. I was also 15th of 280, 40-44 year old guys. It beats my 7:29 in a half marathon a month ago (which was definitely cooler temps). And, plugging it into the McMillan calculator I've brought my projected marathon time to down under 3:25 for the first time based on a solidly hilly 10K+ course. 2 mile time trials on the track are nice, but I need to plan based on hilly races. I felt a lot better about hills today, but I still need to find a way (a) not to go out too fast and (b) to hold my pace better with or without hills. Maybe I just need a bit more "killer instinct" to keep pushing. Maybe I just need to continue my training at a hard pace. Regardless, I am happy with the result I had today. On facebook, someone posted a picture of me at mile 9. One of my two advisees who ran the race commented on my smile. A smile at mile 9 is not typical for me. I think that the thing I am definitely doing right is enjoying the running more at this point. And, I honestly believe that will help me fulfill whatever my destiny is with running over the next couple of years. Boston or not. More PR's or not. Running is just joy. Food diary... Very sweet crepe and honey pre race
Pineapple juice
Immediate post race: watermelon, chewy granola, 2 beers
At home--soy milk, OJ, cereal
Lunch--2 pepsi,salmon with cream cheese on a plain bagel, another bagel
Snack--popcorn
Lots of diet pepsi
Huge Mexican dinner
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