So I figured I should write this today while many of the details are still fresh. Once we got to SA yesterday things just seemed to fall in to place...I got to eat at my favorite Italian restuarant without a wait which was a huge suprise. I called for reservations but they were booked, and when we got there they had 1 table left! Woo hoo. So once some things started to fall in to place, I started to feel more confident. I got a decent nights sleep (slept well until 3am which was better than expected). Steve picked up my mom and I this morning at the hotel and Brian and his mom, Robin, were following behind. I was a bit late to my corral, but right when I walked in the corral I saw Ron, Larry, and Angie. What a relief! I knew I'd have a better shot at staying controlled early if I went out with Larry and Ron who were dead set on 3:15 pace. The race started fine. My legs were a little stiff but I think it was due to the short shorts and cold weather :) I started out the first 5k right on 3:15 pace. It took about that long for my legs to feel like they were working again. We started to get a little quicker...and in the next three miles dropped the pace about 3 seconds a mile...no big deail. At mile 10 I wanted to still be at 3:15 pace...but we were a little closer to 3:12:30. Ron had to stop for a bathroom break so I started to pull away a little bit. I felt really controlled and started focusing on the 3:12:30 paceband. I figured if I stayed right on that until 16-18, then I'd have a good shot at meeting my goal (3:10) by the end of the race. So far on the course I'd seen Brian, Robin, Tim, my Mom, Steve, Foho, Dee, Roger, Julia, John, Laura...so lots of support. It was great. I was smiling the whole way! Around 16 miles I realized I was actually under 3:12:30 pace but I still felt good. At 18 miles I had a bit of a dip in the run, just was feeling a little tired. I was debating if I should try to go for the 3:10...I had yet to look at my 3:10 pace band because I didn't want to chase that too early. I finally looked down and realized I was 60 seconds off of 3:10 pace. I decided I'd go for it and at that time I threw off the 3:12:30 band...it was kind of a mental way of telling myself there was NO looking back. At mile 19 I was only 45 seconds slow for 3:10 pace so I knew this was a good sign. I saw Steve here and told him where I was at and he told me to keep going and I'd run them down. With some renewed confident, I took that to heart and started pushing a bit more. I'm not really sure how this happened, but by mile 22 I was alread 1 minute AHEAD of 3:10 pace. I never saw the pace group so I was kind of confused on how this happened, but I figured I'd take it :) Then I just had to bring it home. Brian, Robin, and Tim were all riding with me on the course on their bikes. I started getting a bad side stitch at 24 and kept thinking about how I needed the Train. Right about then Brian rode up on my left, Tim on my right, and Robin right behind me. It was like I had my own escort and it was a HUGE help. At mile 25 I took my watch off and gave it to Tim and just told him to get me there. I kept looking down at it like every 30 seconds which was not helping time go by quickly. So they rode me in to the chute and I crossed the line with clock time of 3:09:32. I was hoping this meant I broke 3:09 but either way I knew I nailed my A goal. I was so happy! Later I found out my actual finish time was 3:08:47 and I placed 2nd in my age group and 16th overall for the women. Not bad :) Some random pace breakdowns from the website are below:
first 5k: 7:26
from 5k to 6.1 miles: 7:23
from 6.1 to 10m: 7:12
from 10m to 13.1m: 7:15
from 13.1m to 17:m 7:02 THIS MADE THE DIFFERENCE!
from 17m to 20m: 7:15
from 20m to 24m: 7:10
last 2.2 miles: 6:48
BOOM!
Looking back I learned A LOT from this race. First of all, I learned that marathons are more fun when you train :) Something I missed out on my last few go arounds. The next thing I learned is that I am good at closing on a race. Steve told me if I went out at 3:10 pace there wasn't any way I'd meet my goal but I HAD to run negative. That is something I was really bad at in college so I was a little bit nervous and I really didn't beleive him that I could make up 5 minutes in the last part of the race. I'm glad I trusted his plan...cause he was right! I also learned that running with friends makes a huge difference. I have a lot more confidence than before because I really doubted the 3:10 goal. My previous PR was in Austin 2007 at a 3:29:52 and the last marathon I ran was around a 3:42 in Boston. I also learned some things I could do to help me out more next time around. First of all...I HAVE to add weight training and core to my regime. My back has been bothering me a lot lately and today wasn't much different. I didn't notice it during the race, but it's not feeling too good now. That and I need to be more consistent with my long runs early in the training period.
So while today was a HUGE success, I look at it as a new beginning. It is a learning experience and something that I will grow from. I am happy now but am already contemplating the next goal that lies ahead.
pluses: race high, no more distractions before wedding
minuses: moving tomorrow and still have a paper due :(
