Aw man, this thing ate my RR. Knew I should have saved it. Cliff's Notes version: Below BQ pace for 22 miles, right calf threatening to cramp for last 10 miles, cold, windy, and worst, directly into the wind from about miles 18-25. Pacing not the best in the early miles, but I gave it everything I had, and if I run the same time next year at age 49, it WILL be a BQ for 2011. Finished 337th out of 2213 finishers, at least posted so far, and 51st in male 45-49.
Temp in mid-30s, cloudy and blustery at the start. Early traffic keeps the first mile pace down to 8:13. That's OK. Mile 2, 7:47. Whoa horsie. Slow down there. Mile 3, 7:57. More like it. Mile 4, 7:33. I know we had a little downhill here, but TOO DARN FAST. Mile 5, 8:02. More like it. Average through 5 miles, about 7:54.
Mile 6, 7:50. Back off a touch. Mat at 10K, time 49:36. Mile 7, 7:45, make that two touches. Mile 8: 8:03. That's better. Only physical issues to this point are some twinges in my right plantar fascia. Mile 9: 8:00. Perfect, and two good miles in a row. Mile 10: 7:59. Three good miles in a row. Average through 10 miles: 7:55. I wanted 7:57 or so, but this isn't too bad.
Mile 11: 7:59. FOUR good miles in a row. My online friend Bill from Georgia, who offered to help pace me, drops back at this point, so I'm on my own. I pick out a blonde 20-30 yards ahead of me who seems to be running a consistent pace and lock on to her, just trying to maintain the spacing.
Mile 12: 8:02. Still all good. We're back downtown now. Wind is picking up from what it was at the start.
Mile 13: 8:05. Still OK. Hit the halfway mark in another quarter-mile, so my Garmin is about 0.14 miles ahead of the course measurement at this point. Shouldn't be an issue as long as I can maintain an 8:01 or 8:02 average, and my average at 13.1 is just a smidge over 8:00. Chip time halfway: 1:45:08. Just about right if I can run even split.
Mile 14.1: 8:09. Need to pick it up just a tad. Mile 15.1: 8:02. That'll do. Mile 16.1: 8:07. Giving back a few seconds here and there, but still OK. Mile 17.1: 7:54. Better. But I have a sneaking suspicion when we turn and head west toward downtown again, Old Mr. Wind is gonna slap me upside the head. Plus I have a new physical issue: the right calf keeps twitching like it may go into full spasm at any time, and the quads and glutes are screaming at me (OK, that's two physical issues). Above the waist, I'm fine.
Mile 18.1: 8:05. Yep, I'm running dead into the wind now. Yuck. I bet it's blowing at least 15 mph. Mile 19.1: 8:08. Still giving back a few seconds, but I'm pushing against the almost insurmountable urge to slow down. Mile 20.1 (Garmin): 8:04. Still good, and according to the Garmin, I'm still under BQ pace. I don't feel any pianos dropping on my back, but boy do my legs hurt. Mile 20 (course): There's a mat at the 20-mile mark, so I click the lap button on my Garmin here. According to the Garmin, I've run 20.24. This is now officially the longest I have ever run in my life without walking even a single step. Chip time: 2:42:40. Didn't know it, but I was already well over BQ pace here (8:08 average).
Mile 21: 8:11. I'm still OK. If I can find the energy to maintain this pace for five more miles, I might just get that BQ. I start using my mantra now: "Do you want it? Go get it." Oh, yeah, that blonde chick I picked out 10 miles ago is still up there, although it's more like 150 yards than 20. I think she made a portapotty stop at one point because she passed me and kept on going. I tried to lock on again, uh, no.
Mile 22: 8:20. I get to this point in 2:59:15. Four miles and change left to run in 31:44. I'm not up to that kind of mental math, but I do know it's slipping away. Mile 23: 8:26. It ain't slipping now, it's slipped. I know Boston won't happen this time, but I also know that sub-four IS happening, even if I walk in from here. And I am not going to walk. Mile 24: 8:17. Downtown buildings are in sight now and that gives me a boost. The calf is still twitching and the quads and hip flexors are screaming, but I'm chugging. Blonde is long gone, but one of my 3:30 pace bunnies dropped back and is now in sight. I'm going after him.
Mile 25: 8:55. The good news is, we finally turned south out of the direct headwind. The bad news is, the right calf finally decided to cramp. Fortunately, it let go after 5-10 seconds of jogging and I was able to pick up my pace somewhat. I'm just gonna try to break 3:35 now.
Mile 26: 8:40. My family greets me at about 25.8 miles, at the bottom of the ramp from Danny Thomas Blvd up to downtown street level (who decided to run us UP A RAMP at 25.8 miles?). I'm struggling up the hill, but pace bunny is struggling more, and I passed him. YES! Now the ballpark (=finish) is in sight.
Mile 26.2: Didn't stop my Garmin right at the line, so don't know my final split for that last 385 yards. I know I was going to run as hard as I could get my legs to run into that ballpark, and I did. Then we had to walk UP THE STANDS to get to the concourse. Rode the elevator down to take a shower and change clothes, came back up, still no time posted. Met my family, handed them my clothes bag, headed back in to get food (hot soup after a December marathon is WONDERFUL). By the time I stuffed my face, my time is up: 3:33:42. Missed my BQ by 163 seconds -- less than seven seconds a mile. But it's in range to BQ next year when I'm 49 for 2011. Good for 337th place; I bet I moved up a few dozen spots in the active.com rankings for Arkansas marathoning geezers in 2008 with this one. I'm very pleased with it, but I have no idea when I'm gonna want to put myself through this kind of torture again. It may be a while, because I am in PAIN 10 hours later.
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