I run therefore, I am!

Was not planning on running this race at all. Got a call Wednesday from a pace team out of California that needed help and I got an entry for helping her get some of our pacers there. So I looked at the elevation. It starts at 10,300' and finishes with a 5000' drop. I've been doing an enormous amount of high altitude races and trail runs in the last month so I felt the elevation wouldn't be a factor.  It wasn't. I started out with a pack of 4 runners and felt super comfortable at mile 1-5:09 the pack quickly went from 4 to 2. Mile 2-5:25 3-5:35. A few flatter miles. Mile 4 was 5:24. At this point there was a runner in front of me and his form was super tense but I didn't rule him out because he had good speed. Everytime I got close behind him he would surge which to me told me he was an inexperienced marathoner. So on the steeper parts id get close to him just so he'd surge. I thought I'd wear him out on the down since every flat or incline he would pull away which showed his strength. Miles 5-5:38, 6-5:36, 7-5:19, 8-5:29. Right at mile 9 marker he completely stopped and was adjusting his shoes. I said are you ok? You have hot spots on your shoes? He said no I'm ok keep it up. And I was alone! No one behind me in sight. I still pushed hard and wanted to PR my Previous 2:31 I've had so I kept it going. Mile 9-5:36, 10-5:47,11-5:40,12-5:28,13-5:50 13.1 time was 1:13:01.  Mile 14 had a steep incline that was short but after dropping down the minute you change to up it is dramatic 6:13. I had a hard time getting rhythm after that.  Miles 15-5:45, 16-5:30, 17-5:59, 18-6:18, 19-6:00, 20-6:38,21-6:06, 22-6:17, 23-6:21. I was struggling with those miles even though there was flat with drop in each mile.   I knew I had to kick it if I was going to break my pr at this point so I pushed hard. 24-5:29, 25-7:08,26-7:40. My last miles minus 24 from 19 on need work.  My marathon training has been non existent so to hit a 2:33 today with 15-20 mile weeks is a huge boost to my ego.  I'm going to race Chicago so I really need to take it serious knowing it's flat. I'm grateful to use this course to test myself and come out with a win. I won a bear trophy and headphones and 500 bucks. Free trip! Plus I love Colorado and got to hang out with the triplets I've seen from here from the last three races we have run in together. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an 8 hour drive home. Blah.